P-J file photo Dr. Rob Richardson of North Carolina State University speaks during this year’s Chautauqua Lake Symposium. Richardson and his team are in the midst of a DEC-backed study that Chautauqua Lake Partnership officials say could result in more effective lake management strategies in the future.

Work has begun in earnest on a state-backed study by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership and North Carolina State University.

In April, the CLP announced that it had received $42,813 from the state DEC for a project that will focus on evaluating potential ecological trends and thresholds to help guide future lake maintenance work. CLP officials said in April that the study will work to optimize the timing and precision of harvesting and herbicide treatments to maximize their impact on invasive Eurasian watermilfoil and curly-leaf pondweed; investigate how aquatic plant management and nutrient cycling interact to better understand and prevent the conditions that lead to toxic algal blooms; move beyond simple maintenance to actively shift the lake’s community composition back toward healthy, native-dominant plant communities; and transform years of data into a sustainable, science-backed management plan for the lake’s littoral zone, or the transitional area of the lake where dry land meets open water. It typically extends from the high-water mark down to the point where sunlight can still penetrate the water, allowing rooted aquatic plants or heavy marine vegetation to grow.

Part of the study is also a field assessment of management approaches. Ten areas in the lake have been designated for this part of the project: three harvest-only zones, three areas with no management and four herbicide only areas. There are also designated herbicide application zones and habitat protection zones delineated.

Jackie Damore of the Chautauqua Lake Partnership said the plots were selected by North Carolina State University scientists based on the historical and current presence of curly-leaf pondweed from the plant surveys in all study areas. Having three distinct areas will allow researchers to compare what happens in areas where weeds are only harvested with what happens in herbicide-only areas or areas where no management takes place at all. The researchers’ preference, Damore said, was to keep the plots in the same general areas of the lake while maintaining sufficient separation for statistical replication. There was also discussion between Glenn Sullivan from Ready Scout, the contractor for CLP herbicide treatments, and the Chautauqua Lake Association to make sure the areas selected would have the least impact on their operations and on lake users.

“As the public is aware, this kind of collaboration between the CLP and CLA would not have happened a year ago, but things have changed,” Damore said. “It’s now possible to have open conversations between groups, share information and investigate questions that matter for managing our lake. We hope that results from this field study, which will be augmented by lab scale studies back at the NCSU facilities, will provide evidence based guidance for how to best manage nuisance levels of curly-leaf pondweed while minimizing nutrient cycling from plant die-off and decay.”

A map appears with the jump to this story. Surveys of all locations will be conducted during peak curly-leaf pondweed growth in May and June and then again in August and September to capture seasonal shifts. At each site, the team will use hydroacoustic mapping and point-intercept methods while recording physical parameters (pH, temp, oxygen) and nutrient levels in both water and sediment. Data will be subjected to statistical analysis to compare the impact of management approach on aquatic plant community dynamics.

The field study locations have been mapped out totaling just less than 1 acre of the lake. “Before” samples have been collected. The CLA is also supporting the study throughout the 2026 season by observing the instruction for each study plot, and either harvesting it as usual, or avoiding it entirely.

“It should also be noted that the plots have been situated as far away as possible from shorelines and docks to allow for normal maintenance by CLA,” Damore said. “It’s our hope that the no-harvest plots won’t be problematic for adjacent homeowners and we appreciate the excellent cooperation from the CLA. NCSU has already visited the lake once to collect “before” data on the study areas, they are currently on the lake this week to collect post-treatment and post-harvest data, and they will revisit the sites again in the fall during the annual lake-wide plant survey.”

OTHER AREAS OF STUDY

Part of the project is analyzing data from 2020 through 2025 to assess changes in Chautauqua Lake’s aquatic plant community over time, with focus on native species establishment and expansion, invasive species dynamics and trends within and around chemically managed areas. Data will feed into a spatial suitability model to determine how changes in the plant community affect critical habitat for key fish species in Chautauqua Lake like the muskellunge.

N.C. State researchers will also use replicated 16-liter “mesocosm” tanks to study how the seasonal timing of aquatic plant management techniques can influence overall efficacy of invasive species control, change in water quality dynamics that may fuel algal blooms, and the associated response of key native species. In a controlled environment, the team will compare species-specific nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) uptake, storage and release dynamics for major Chautauqua Lake aquatic plants. Comparison of results by species can guide strategies related to timing of mechanical harvesting and other management activities.

Through all the scientific jargon, Damore said the goal for the work is simple.

“In parallel to the work on curly-leaf pondweed, the study also includes a first-ever for Chautauqua Lake, a comprehensive statistical analysis of historical plant survey data,” Damore said. “This will yield information much quicker for milfoil management. NCSU will assess the actual effectiveness and duration of suppression from the milfoil treatments using ProcellaCOR, and the effect of those treatments on native plant communities.”

The research team is also going to perform a curly-leaf pondweed turion viability study. Mature curly-leaf pondweed winter buds will be collected directly from Chautauqua Lake and transported to a controlled laboratory at NC State. Researchers will monitor the turions for three consecutive years and measure the longevity of the viable “seed bank” under laboratory conditions. What researchers find can inform long-term management decisions of curly-leaf pondweed in Chautauqua Lake.

“What we learn will be factored directly back into long term planning for macrophyte management – for example, the product manufacturer claims an average three-year suppression, but we may find it only lasts two years in our lake, or conversely (maybe) it lasts four years – we would adjust our planning accordingly. From the DEC’s perspective, we need to confirm that targeted suppression of milfoil has not resulted in a negative impact on the presence or diversity of native plants in the treated areas, which is beneficial for fisheries and the overall lake ecosystem. An obvious question on this part of the study from a local perspective would be why historical CLA survey data was not also included. In fact, CLA was invited and wanted to participate, but Oneonta did not provide the data. Fortunately the NSCU data-set is sufficiently large, so while it would have been beneficial to include the additional data, it was not necessary for a sound scientific analysis.”