Pests
Here is information about handling pests around the lake.
Canada Geese
Canada geese are a protected species, yet without their natural predators to control the geese population they can become a pest. Their droppings may foul lawns and contribute unnecessary nutrients to the Lake. The Association annually receives a Federal EPA permit to have geese eggs addled, which has enabled control of their proliferation. Geese prefer open areas like lawns and beaches. They avoid crossing thick and thorny barriers. An 18- to 24-inch fence of chicken wire, plastic, or nylon can be an effective barrier to geese, but only while the goslings are young. Please do not feed the geese.
Deer
Deer, usually an icon of nature’s pastoral beauty, can also be a pest when their population is in an expansion cycle. Residents are encouraged to landscape with plants that are generally unattractive to deer, such as mountain laurel, ferns, daffodils, and evergreens (but not arborvitae). Despite lists (such as this) of vegetation deer may spurn, keep in mind that hungry deer will lower their standards and eat almost anything—including rhododendron and dogwood. Plants fresh from the nursery, or well fertilized, are more attractive because of the high nitrogen content. Commercial products have proven helpful. (Also see handbook Part IV, Section E.)
Deer Ticks
Deer ticks are the vector for Lyme Disease (as well as 15 other diseases, including erlichosis, babesiosis, and spotted fever) because ticks feed repeatedly during their life cycle and carry infection from one animal to another. No bigger than a poppy seed in their nymph stage, and the size of a pin head as adults, they attach to passing animals and birds by poising on tips of dead leaves in leaf litter, or on grass stems, and will not be found on cleared ground, well-mowed lawns or gravel paths. They take several hours to attach, and will not transmit disease
Leeches
These are a group of predatory worms (annelids, related to earthworms), one type of which attacks mammals. They lie on shallow, mucky (not sandy) bottoms in quiet water and react to moving shadows by swimming towards the shadow-casting object. Their bite is totally painless and non-toxic because the saliva includes anesthetics, anticoagulants, and powerful antibiotics, all of considerable interest to science. They feed for 20 to 40 minutes before dropping off, but may be removed by a steady pull at any time. The wound will continue to bleed and needs a band-aid. Their abundance varies greatly from year to year,
Mosquitoes
Aside from the irritation caused by mosquito bites, we need to be concerned about the role mosquitoes play in transmitting West Nile virus (which has now spread throughout the USA) and several forms of encephalitis. There are 62 mosquito species in the state: some feed during the day and others at night; some breed in swamps and others in tire tracks; some are attracted by estrogen, or sweat, or carbon dioxide, and others are not. The day-feeders prefer deep shade, so keeping in the open is effective. The best prevention is clothing (NOT skin) sprayed with permethrin, which kills mosquitoes
Tent Caterpillars
Erroneously considered to be larvae of gypsy moths, tent caterpillars emerge every several years in vast numbers and can severely defoliate trees. While healthy trees rarely die as a result of caterpillar action, the infestation is unsightly and damaging. Egg masses of tent caterpillars are easily seen in fall and winter, as black “bracelets” clasped around the outer twigs of trees; these should be broken off and crushed underfoot. The eastern tent caterpillars, which feed on dogwood, fruit trees and willows, spin tents where they congregate, and are easily killed by penetrating the tents with forceful jets of a solution
Woolly Adelgid
A small aphid-like insect from Japan, the woolly adelgid can kill mature hemlocks and can become a serious problem around Lake Sagamore and, more generally, in the Northeast. Make sure that you inspect your trees (those infected will have brittle, dark leaves covered with white wool on the underside). To prevent the loss of the hemlock (and the risk of infecting other trees), residents are encouraged to seek a tree professional, who will advise spraying the trees or suggest some alternative means of pest control including stem or soil injection. In addition, feeding the trees can help them survive an