"It is kind of unusual for any homeowner's association to come to us [for permits]," he said. "But they proved to us that they can do this."

With a year's worth of yard sales and an "awareness" booth at this year's Maritime Festival in Greenport, Ms. Luscher said community members are "getting close" to matching the grant. She said they're about $40,000 short.

"Most of the neighbors who live on the lake and surround the lake have been generous," Ms. Luscher said.

But even for the generous, the process of removing phragmites properly is time-consuming and laborious, according to Ms. Luscher, which is why the community group has hired Putnam County-based consultant and contractor Tim Miller to do the bulk of the work.

That work involves cutting the stalks down to about a foot above water level during the fall, using hedge trimmers and snips -- "No heavy duty mechanical stuff," she said. "We don't want to disturb the wildlife." -- then coming back in the spring to "wick" them.

According to Peconic Bay Keeper Kevin McAllister, wicking is the process of hand-applying a chemical that is environmentally safe (for everything but the phragmites) into the weakened stalk. The straw-like root system will then soak up the chemical and kill the weed, he said.

Comparing what Ms. Luscher and company are doing to a recent successful phragmites eradication project in Long Pond Greenbelt near Bridgehampton, Mr. McAllister says that the twofold approach to Marion Lake is good. But he says that the community group will have to maintain and monitor the site long after the invasive plants have been removed.

"Phragmites will come back in," he said. "The plants thrive in nutrients, gain foothold and march across the marsh."

Ms. Luscher, a summer resident of East Marion for 30 years, said she and her neighbors are well aware of this and are in it for the long haul, which she said she hopes isn't more than two years. She said that once the phragmites are killed, they plan to replant with some native species like Hibiscus mosheutos, Baccharis halimfolia, Iva frutescanes, Rosa rugosa, Typha latifolia, Juncus effusus and Scirpus tabernaemontanii to crowd out any remaining stalks -- and to take over the phragmites' beneficial role of absorbing nutrients, which helps prevent algae blooms, according to Mr. Fonda.

"We also plan on flooding a portion of the lake, which is another proven method of eradication," Ms. Luscher said. "Once the clearing is complete, it will be up to each landowner to monitor for regrowth and periodically test areas for other methods of maintenance."

Ms. Luscher says that the entire phragmites removal project could cost up to $250,000, "depending on how far we go with it."

By removing the phragmites around the bridge, Ms. Luscher said Southold Town saved her community group about $20,000.

Southold Trustee Jill Doherty said that the town wanted to do its part in clearing the lake. She said the town also is in charge of "de-watering," or drying-out, the dead stalks on the East Marion fire department's property and transporting them up-island to be incinerated. If they're disposed of in a landfill, she said, they will begin growing again.

Ms. Doherty added that septic runoff and natural waste from geese and other animals have contributed to the nitrates that have allowed the invasive plants to proliferate in recent years.

"I grew up in East Marion," the trustee said. "We used to ice skate on the lake, surrounded by cattails -- it was beautiful. [The phragmites] have gotten out of hand."

eschultz@timesreview.com

(Side)

How invasive phragmites became mighty

"In the 1800s, Phragmites was documented growing in places where ships ballast was dumped or used to fill marshlands being converted to railroad and shipping hubs. Because Phragmites already grew in coastal marshes as a native component of the plant community and the introduced variety showed little or no morphological differences with native types, the establishment of non-native populations was not recognized.

"The distribution and abundance of Phragmites australis in North America has increased dramatically over the past 150 years. This research tests the hypothesis that a non-native strain of Phragmites is responsible for the observed spread.

"It has been suggested that the rapid expansion could be the result of human activities causing habitat disturbances or stresses such as pollution, changes in hydrologic regimes, and increased soil salinity.

"Today it exists in all of the mainland United States as well as throughout southern Canada and is considered an indicator of wetland disturbance. It is also expanding into undisturbed sites, particularly in inland areas."

Source: 2002 study comparing native and European strains of phragmites by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

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