Tumwater’s search for Barnes Lake’s new environmental consultant yields one response

Bellingham-based aquatic management firm AquaTechnex was the sole responder to Tumwater’s search for a new firm to manage and monitor the vegetation on Barnes Lake, according to Water Resources Director Dan Smith.

Smith provided an update to the Barnes Lake Management District Steering Committee about the search on Wednesday, April 3. The director said that they notified every possible vendor in the state but only AquaTechnex responded by the deadline for proposals on March 22.

The city is looking for a new environmental consultant for the lake as Northwest Aquatic Eco-Systems closed this January after the death of its owner. The Tumwater-based company has provided services to Barnes Lake since the lake management district began in 2004.

The scope of the services the city is requesting from the firm includes mapping, vegetation treatment, reporting, and other administrative services like public notification.

The firm bid the three-year contract at $48,885. The yearly rate comes at around $11,500 for treatment and management costs, which Smith noted was in line with Northwest Aquatic's rate, plus an additional $5,000 contingency fund.

Program Manager Patrick Soderberg told the steering committee that AquaTechnex is looking to continue how Northwest Aquatic was applying contact herbicide to certain pockets of the lake to control the growth of bladderworts.

According to the company’s proposal, AquaTechnex is also recommending the use of triclopyr for controlling white water lilies and an herbicide called Clearcast, which is made of the ammonium salt of Imazamox, for other emerging aquatic vegetation.

AquaTechnex has an office in Centralia that would oversee Barnes Lake.

In its proposal, the firm wrote that it was founded in the early 1980s in California and entered the state in 1984 when the Washington Department of Ecology hired it. Its portfolio includes vegetation management for Vancouver Lake, Lake Stevens, and several lakes in Snohomish County.

Smith said that the city is scheduled to notify AquaTechnex about its decision by this Wednesday, April 10.