UNION SPRINGS - In an attempt to become more than just a place of history for the town of Union Springs, members of the Frontenac Museum are addressing some residential concerns.

Since a major portion of the town is located on the shores of Cayuga Lake, they thought that a good place to start would be the abundance of weeds that have been hindering the use of the lake.

“This year alone I have removed about 100 lawn tractor carts full of weeds from my lake frontage,” said Glenn Bundy during a talk given at the museum Wednesday evening. “The problem with the weeds seem to get worse and worse every year.”

Bundy's friend and neighboring lakefront property owner, Larry Huntley, said that he also has had tremendous problems with the overgrowth of weeds along the lakeshore, although he said that the weed problem seems to be the worst for Bundy#'s property.

The talk, titled “Water and Weeds of Cayuga Lake,” was given by Sharon Anderson, watershed steward for the Cayuga Lake Watershed.The Cayuga Lake Watershed covers approximately 864 square miles around the lake.

“The past two years seems to have been particularly high with calls and complaints of weeds,” she said. “People are finding it difficult to do personal recreation such as boating and swimming.”

Anderson said that the warmer winters that the area has experienced during the past few years are partly to blame for the growing problem.

“When we have warm winters and not a lot of ice cover, the weeds grow sooner, causing a higher percentage,” she said. “High winds carrying foreign seed to the area is also a part of the problem.”

Bundy said that the problem on his lakefront property is so severe that the stench becomes overwhelming. Another lakefront property owner, Marlene Tutt, agreed, saying her grandson had a hard time helping her remove weeds due to the heavy stench they cause.

Anderson hopes to educate the public in recognizing and removing weeds that do not belong in the area.

“A lot of times vegetation brought on the bottom of boats will introduce the growth of weeds that are not native to the area,” she said. “A good habit to get into is to clean any vegetation from the boats before putting them into the water.”

Although the overgrowth of weeds around the lakeshore is a growing problem, Anderson reminded guests that some weeds are beneficial to the environment.

She encourages anyone with questions or concerns on what they can do to help to contact the Cayuga Lake Watershed.