• Safety Training; Chad Lese, Aquarius Systems
• Equipment Maintenance; Chad Lese, Aquarius Systems
• Aquatic Plant Identification; Arthur Watkinson, WI DNR
• WY-20-23 Update; Madi Johansen, WI DNR
• Case Study; Dakota Koepp, Lake Pewaukee Sanitary District

$75 per person; includes registration, continental breakfast, lunch & supplies
PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

DUE DATE:  Please return registration forms and full payment no later than May 1st, 2025
MAIL TO:  Aquarius Systems, PO Box 215, North Prairie WI 53153-0215 or FAX TO:  262-392-2984
PHONE:  262-392-2162  EMAIL:  dawnk@aquarius-systems.com

Mechanical Harvesting – A mechanical aquatic harvester (harvester) is a type of barge used for a variety of tasks, including aquatic plant management and trash removal in rivers, lakes, bays, and harbors. Harvesters are designed to collect and unload vegetation and debris using a conveyor system on a boom, adjustable to the appropriate cutting height, up to 6 feet below the surface of the water.

Shredding – Swamp Devils and Cookie cutters are small barges designed to shred aquatic weeds, equipped with engine-powered, front-mounted blades. The cookie cutter was developed to address emergent aquatic vegetation and floating islands of vegetation and sediment, and to cut openings in shoreline and wetland areas through emergent wetland plants (USACE).

Mechanical Control Methods – USACE

While many of native Texas wildlife were injured or killed by the winter weather, some invasive critters such as zebra mussels, tilapia and maybe even apple snails fared just fine, said Monica McGarrity, a senior scientist at Texas Parks and Wildlife who specializes in aquatic invasive species.

Read More  https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/26/some-austins-toughest-invasive-species-survive-freeze-biologists-say/6821488002/

The Shore Barges (weed pick up – floaters and shorelines) are Orange. They are out every weekday, weather permitting, picking up floating weeds and weeds along the shoreline.

The Transporters are Blue. They are out every weekday weather permitting, and they are used for unloading Harvesters and Shore barges to transport the weeds across the lake. They hook up to the conveyor which loads the weeds into Big Red (the big red dump truck). The Transporters are also heavily utilized in pile pickups on Mondays and Fridays.

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Salt marshes are sinewy channels of coastal grasslands known for their ability to protect coasts from flooding and storm surge during heavy rain events and hurricanes. Healthy salt marshes can significantly improve coastal ecosystem and community resilience.

According to NOAA, salt marshes soak up excess floodwaters and wave energy during storms, and can mitigate property damage by up to 20%.

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Operational Considerations for your lake.

Expected Results from a Weed Harvesting Program.

Most aquatic plant harvesting systems will cut and remove submersed plants to a depth of five or six feet. As this biomass is removed from the lake, the water is immediately ready for use and there are no restrictions on use of the area that might be experienced with herbicide or some biological control treatments.

Removal of this biomass prevents its eventual decay and settling to the bottom, helping to reduce sedimentation in the lake. There is some nutrient removal with harvesting too, as the nitrogen and phosphorous that is bound up in the plant exits the water body. Harvesting is usually not lethal, leaving behind an oxygen and possibly habitat producing plant, which may be desirable in some situations.

Many harvester managers have witnessed a reduction in nuisance plant growth after a few years of repeated harvesting. The plants showed signs of stress and came back thinner, lower growing, and more scattered than before. In some cases desirable plants were able to out compete the nuisance plant growth.

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The visit was part of the Naval Staff College professional development program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. Naval officers representing 30 countries, including Senegal, Malaysia, Norway, Colombia and Timor-Leste, are taking part, traveling across the country to learn more about American life.

But water, of course, is universal. During the officers’ morning at the Global Water Center – headquarters of The Water Council – they learned what private companies, NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and universities are doing to address worldwide water crises.

Officers heard from Aquarius Systems, a member of The Water Council that makes surface water management equipment. Jane Dauffenbach explained how machines such as aquatic vegetation cutters, trash skimmers and amphibious excavators help communities all over the world clear the surfaces of lakes and rivers, allowing them to continue using the water for drinking, irrigation and hydropower.

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Data suggest that at least 25% and perhaps as much as 85% of Earth’s estimated 8.7 million species are already shifting ranges in response to climate change.

Read More https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/should-plants-and-animals-relocate-because-climate-change-be-considered-invasive-180975456/

Phosphorus in the soil flushed out of agricultural soils into wetlands and local bodies because of the erosion. The excess of nutrients harms the aquatic plant and animals.

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Instead of a hardened seawall aimed at protecting shores from erosion, living shorelines use vegetation and other natural elements like oyster shells to stabilize estuarine coasts, bays, and tributaries.

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