State plans oil booms
to drag weed off lake

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

The governmental officials and private individuals who said they would help get the invasive weed Salvinia molesta out of Lake Wilson are scurrying to live up to their promises, state Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Peter Young said yesterday.

Among the developments:

>> The first of three staging areas for attacking the weed, near the Kemoo Farm Restaurant on Wilikina Drive, should be cleared this week and a city excavator put to work there. Additional staging areas at Wahiawa State Freshwater Park and on the North Fork of the river are planned.

>> The state is seeking $150,000 from the federal Dingell-Johnson-Wallop-Breaux Sportfish Restoration Fund, which helps sportfishing activities.

>> Boats and oil booms to drag the weed off the lake are being rounded up from several state departments.

Aquatic biologists have said they believe the 300-acre lake can avoid a fish kill if enough of the plant is removed before summer. Game fish stocked in the lake for anglers include largemouth and smallmouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill sunfish, threadfin shad, tilapia, koi, and carp.

"We're basically ready to assist the state. We'll do everything we can," Honolulu City Managing Director Ben Lee said yesterday. "If it takes two to six months or more, we're hoping we can get some reimbursement from the state on this effort," he said noting that the six weeks the city helped in November and December cost it about $28,000 but "didn't make a dent" in the volume of the water weed.