Sturbridge Panel Doubles Cedar Lake Herbicide Treatment Area

Conservation · Meeting of May 28, 2026

Sturbridge conservation panel nearly doubles Cedar Lake herbicide treatment to fight spreading milfoil. The Conservation Commission voted unanimously to expand herbicide-treated acreage on Cedar Lake from 10 to 19 acres for 2026 after Cedar Lake Association's Suzanne Brozek reported 13 acres of milfoil and six acres of additional invasive weeds, exceeding the lake's permitted cap. Member Eric Gaspar questioned using diquat, a chemical "banned in the UK, the European Union and other countries," before voting yes, saying he had no basis to override state approval.

The board required the pricier herbicide Procellacor, roughly ten times diquat's per-acre cost, near the town recreation beach as a safety concession. Separately, the commission rejected 1-1-2 a state request to add the herbicide fluridone at Walker Pond to fight newly discovered fanwort, and pressed homeowners at 32 Mount Dan Road on why their landscaping contractor, Southbridge-based Sweetscapes, removed trees in a protected wetland buffer without a permit.

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Source: the Conservation meeting of May 28, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.