As milfoil invades Bear Lake, states and activists fight back

BEAR LAKE — Something is growing beneath the crystal blue waters of Bear Lake.

“It is an invasive species, it grows quickly and can cause greater damage as it continues to grow in the lake,” said Brady Long, executive director of Bear Lake Watch.

He talks about Eurasian milfoil and his group advocates for the health and future of Bear Lake.

“(It) grows up to the surface, then it likes to spread out and form mats,” Long said. “These mats block sunlight for invasive and endemic species found in the lake.”

Long is fraudconcerned about the plant's growth in recent years, as hundreds of acres have been spotted on both the Idaho and Utah sides of the lake. While Idaho plans to treat dozens of acres this year, he fears that won't be enough as Utah treats hundreds of acres.

Milfoil was discovered at Bear Lake in 2019, but it was likely here earlier. And the Idaho State Department of Agriculture says it has been fairly forceful in addressing the issue.

“Since this discovery in 2019, we have had investigation and treatment programs in place. And I know Utah has followed suit,” said Chanel Tewalt, director of the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

“Remember that these are multi-year programs. They don’t happen overnight,” Tewalt said. Treatment of the invasive plant in Idaho is scheduled to begin next week.

To further complicate matters, there is a native milfoil that is not treated in Idaho.

Long said he believes Idaho is doing what they can. But with the help of an online petition started by Bear Lake Watch, he hopes to get the attention of Idaho lawmakers to get more funding for their program.

The Idaho Department of Agriculture monitors Bear Lake. (Idaho Department of Agriculture)

“I think they want to do more. They just have a budget constraint,” Long said. “And if they don’t have enough resources, they just can’t do the work they want to do.”

It has long been said that solving the milfoil problem is much more important than cleaning up unsightly plants.

“It affects ranchers and farmers, business owners, large corporations like Pacific Corp and the people who live around the lake and the people who come and play in the lake.”