By Bob Allen
It looks like spraying an invasive grass won't happen around much of Grand Traverse Bay this year. Federal funds to treat phragmites have been hung-up along with other stimulus monies in budget bills in Lansing. And time is running out because the herbicide has to be applied a couple of weeks before first frost.
Biologists stress the importance of treating phragmites as soon as it begins showing up because it spreads rapidly.
Township officials in Acme and Peninsula did a lot of work this summer to map out patches of the giant grass and get landowners' permission for treatment.
Acme Supervisor Wayne Kladder says nearly all shoreline property owners okayed the program. Now they're calling him and coming into his office asking why the spraying isn't happening.
"Say it's postponed a year," he says. "Phragmites infestation will have grown. We'll have lost all the working relationship and trust we built up with our residents."
Peninsula Township still may come up with some of its own funding to do a partial spraying this fall. And treatment is now going on in parts of Leelanau County. But that money came from a different source than the money earmarked for Grand Traverse Bay.
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