The Lake Wanaka Management Group today released the draft 10 year Lagarosiphon Management Plan for Lake Wanaka, for public consultation.

The plan sets out how the Group proposes to control the invasive lakeweed Lagarosiphon in Lake Wanaka, says Group spokesperson Paul Jackson from Land Information New Zealand.

"Lake Wanaka is a national treasure and we must use all available methods to protect it. There has been a dramatic increase in the spread of Lagarosiphon lakeweed in Lake Wanaka over the last 30 years. The spread of the weed will affect swimming, boating, water skiing and could threaten the Wanaka region's tourism industry.

It's essential that all of us, agencies, research advisers and the community take a long-term view of weed control in Lake Wanaka. We want to particularly hear from the public and we will take their views into account in the final plan."

Key elements of the plan include:

• Continued use of a herbicide to attack high biomass beds of weed
• More suction dredging and hand weeding
• Continued education of lake users to prevent the spread of the weed

Public submissions open tomorrow, Thursday 28 April and close Friday 27 May. The draft plan is available on the Land Information New Zealand and Queenstown Lakes District Council websites. Interested parties should send submissions care of the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

The 10 year plan follows on from last year's interim plan which saw a herbicide applied to the lake. Indicative results from the weed control programme show the normal mix of results for a weed control programme.

Key areas (Paddock Bay and Bishop Bay) have shown a marked improvement.  Some other areas have already been identified as needing further work.

The Management Group has agreed to do this follow-up work over the next few months, which will include the use of a herbicide and suction dredging. The public will be kept fully informed of the follow-up work.

The Management Group will analyse the full results of the 2004/05 programme when final reports are complete.

The Lake Wanaka Management Group comprises: the Lake Wanaka Guardians, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), Otago Regional Council (ORC), the Department of Conservation and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

ENDS

For further comment please contact Paul Jackson 04 460 0158 Lake Wanaka Management Group.

By: Tamah