You folks know that we make mistakes from time to time.* But you also know that we don’t give up. We plug away until through perseverance or blind luck we solve the problem.
So it is with our invader from the Eastern Hemisphere, the Eurasian Milfoil. Last year’s battery-powered harvester was no match for the invader, so this year we hope to try something different. We have asked the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (“VMRC”) for permission to engage divers to pull the weeds, roots and all, from 4,600 linear meters of river bottom. The technique is called Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (“DASH”) and it has been employed successfully in the Great Lake states.
Even though the divers would take care to minimize sediment and to avoid native species (if any remain) VMRC approval is far from certain. The agency often views even invasive species as worth saving, which seems wrong-minded to us. We have made our case, however, and we will see what they say. It’s interesting—at least if you’re an Administrative Law nerd—that our application lands in a bit of gray zone between VMRC and the Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”). It’s not often that we hope DEQ will step in and regulate us, but it might be for the best here!
If you’re interested in the details, feel free to check out the 64-page application here.
*Here you can insert your own joke beginning, “Remember when Jay….” With that out of your system, you may continue with the article.