From left, Elaine Theriault, Judy Colaluca and Ernie Heon are among residents along the Smith and Sayles Reservoir who formed Save the Lakes and waged war on milfoil. Above, they enjoy the results — a reservoir cleared of invasive plant species.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

Last summer, an invasive weed took over the Smith and Sayles Reservoir in Glocester, the dense, prickly fronds making it impossible to navigate its 173 acres by boat.

Shoreline residents pulled out their motorboats, kayaks and canoes in frustration. Families kept their young children out of the water for fear they’d get tangled up in the weeds. Fishing tournaments were canceled.

“All you could see was a grassy field,” recalls resident Raymond Theriault. “The lake was useless,” says Judy Colaluca, another resident.

With no financial help and little in the way of guidance from the state, residents did research, raised money and, last month, dropped more than 10,000 pounds of herbicides into the water.

They have rid the lake temporarily of the leafy nuisance, milfoil. Test results later this month will reveal the environmental consequences of the treatment, which was approved by the state Department of Environmental Management’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and has been done elsewhere safely.

But the ordeal inspired some of the residents, including Theriault and Colaluca, to look beyond their waters. They have formed Save the Lakes, an organization of residents living on lakes and ponds that will advocate for freshwater interests across the state.

The group is modeling itself after Save The Bay, the nonprofit that advocates for issues concerning Narragansett Bay and its water-shed, as well as larger lake and pond associations in New England. Save the Lakes will hold its first meeting on July 23.

“We want the state and the Department of Environmental Management to recognize that freshwater resources are valuable entities in the state, that they are meaningful to a large number of people,” says Theriault.

They say that the state does not devote enough energy and resources to preserving freshwater bodies at a time when many of them are threatened.

Across the state, lakes and ponds are being choked by invasive aquatic plants, foreign species that grow aggressively and seldom have natural predators.

If left unchecked, the plants can limit boating, fishing and recreational activities, push out native species and reduce the water quality. A survey conducted last year by the state DEM found that nearly 80 percent of the state’s freshwater bodies contained at least one invasive species.

“If these lakes are left untreated,” says Colaluca, “they’ll be filled in [with invasive plants] within 15 years.”

The introduction of foreign plants and marine life in the state’s waters is not a new phenomenon, though it was largely a saltwater concern until recently.

Invasive plants in lakes and ponds emerged as an issue in Rhode Island about five years ago, and through some recent initiatives by DEM and other environmental agencies, the state is beginning to grasp the extent of the problem, according to Susan Kiernan, deputy chief of the DEM Office of Water Resources.

Last November, the Coastal Resources Management Council, a state regulatory agency, published a 142-page report on invasive species. The Rhode Island Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan is the state’s first effort to assess their impact in the state and how to deal with them in both saltwater and freshwater bodies ( www.crmc.state.ri.us/projects/projectfiles/RIAIS_Plan.pdf ).

The DEM is undertaking a more detailed survey of lakes and ponds to determine the exact species of foreign plants and their pervasiveness.

Preliminary data suggests that nearly 80 percent of freshwater bodies are affected, says Kiernan. Among the chief culprits so far documented are variable milfoil, the weed that is in Smith and Sayles. Reed phragmites, curly pondweed, purple loosestrife and water chestnuts are other invasive plants that have been identified in lakes and ponds from South Kingstown to Burrillville.

The DEM has also been posting signs at state boat ramps reminding boaters to clean their boats before and after putting them into the water. Boats are one of the most common ways the foreign plants and marine life are introduced into water bodies. The DEM has also posted a short guide for understanding freshwater aquatic plants on its Web site ( www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/surfwq/pdfs/aquaplnt.pdf).

Those initiatives are just a start.

The challenge facing Rhode Island is that it lacks a well-defined program dealing with freshwater bodies and, until now, the sort of freshwater-centric advocacy groups in place elsewhere in New England, say DEM officials.

In its $95-million budget, the DEM does not have a staff member devoted solely to lakes and ponds, although a number of its branches deal frequently with issues affecting freshwater bodies, says Kiernan.

In those states where invasive plants had been a nuisance even before they came to Rhode Island, there was a network already in place to address the problem, so they were able to act swiftly.

New Hampshire, for example, has a Lakes Management and Protection Program within the state Department of Environmental Services that had been in existence since 1990; residents there in 1992 also formed the New Hampshire Lakes Association, a nonprofit, volunteer organization that advocates for legislation and policy changes at the state level.

Kiernan says part of the reason other New England states mobilized quickly to combat invasive species is that the lakes and ponds there are vastly larger and viewed as a vital part of the state economy.

Of the hundreds of documented freshwater bodies in the Ocean State, only about 100 or so are larger than 20 acres. And of those, most are privately owned, either by individual landowners or by resident associations. The largest freshwater body, the manmade Scituate Reservoir, is 3,633 acres, and serves primarily as a source of drinking water for the customers of the Providence water system. .

In comparison, Vermont’s Lake Champlain, which that state manages in conjunction with New York State, is about 278,400 acres, or 435 square miles. It is an important part of the state’s $1.5-billion-a-year tourism industry, a lifeblood of other major industries and a transportation hub.

The DEM supports the idea of a lake advocacy group because it could be a way to spread information faster than the DEM can do alone. It could help come up with guidelines and strategies to combat invasive species as well as other issues freshwater bodies face.

“We have limited resources to do this,” says Kiernan.

Save The Bay, the 38-year-old nonprofit group, also sees a benefit.

“It’s not our main focus area,” says John Torgan, Save The Bay’s spokesman. “We’re focused on Narragansett Bay and its tributary rivers. We have a vested interest in terms of water quality because those lakes and ponds are such a critical part of the Bay. It all flows down to the Bay.”

In fact, former Save The Bay executive Director Curt Spaulding encouraged the group to form a nonprofit to qualify for state and federal money. Theriault says that process is in the works.

Save the Lakes will consist of elected representatives of lake and reservoir associations, such as the Sand Dam Reservoir Association, the one that owns Smith and Sayles Reservoir.

Theriault expects that the group will reach out to organizations and state agencies in other New England states to gather the information on freshwater issues, particularly invasive plants, that is currently unavailable in the Ocean State.

Save the Lakes could come to include representatives from other freshwater stakeholders, including boating, fishing and recreational groups and associations, he says.

“Everyone recognizes the need is there. In today’s environment, you cannot sit back and not do anything about this.”

The first meeting of Save the Lakes will take place on July 23 at 7 p.m. at the Bath Exhibit, 23 Commerce St., in Greenville. For more information, contact Ray Theriault at (401) 710-7880 or Judy Colaluca at (401) 568-4267.

pmarcelo@projo.com