To clean up the pollution in Jordan Lake, North Carolina lawmakers have tried arguing. They’ve tried SolarBees. They’ve even tried ignoring the problem. All those tactics have failed. Now state officials are examining a potential chemical treatment for the lake — yet another experiment on a vital drinking water source for more than 350,000 people.
The Chautauqua Lake Association (CLA) says it has filed objections to a permit applications that would allow for the application of two powerful herbicides to 1,200 acres of Chautauqua Lake this coming summer. The CLA in New York is the organization that helps manage weeds on the lake by operating a number of harvesters to
Elodea is a plant commonly found in aquariums that, if released in the wild, will dominate certain lake or river habitats, choking out native vegetation and altering the food web at all levels. It increases sedimentation rate, allowing more sediment to settle out of the water. And it can decrease the dissolved oxygen concentration in
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is aiming to reduce invasive plant species in Lake Whitehall in a plan that calls for herbicides and mechanical harvesting. The reservoir has extensive growth of “exotic nuisance aquatic vegetation,” including fanwort and variable-leaf milfoil, according to a report by ESS Group, a firmed hired by the state.
Fall has barely begun and the Lakes Area community is already preparing for next year’s battle against the invasive curlyleaf pondweed. The weed caused navigational issues on the lake this past season as it clogged boat motors and jammed dock lifts. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, local government entities, area protective agency representatives and
Center Lake and Clearwater Lake Association are trying to combat the starry stonewort with and aquatic weed harvester this summer. In an effort to use fewer chemicals in this Missouri lake, a weed harvester will be used on most of the lake to cut and remove the starry stonewort and the algae. Aquatic herbicides will
Lake managers might be hurting native aquatic plants – instead of helping them – when they use chemicals to control invasive plants on entire lakes. New research by Wisconsin DNR Lakes and River Team Leader Dr. Alison Mikulyuk shows native plant communities can struggle when chemicals are used to target invasive Eurasian watermilfoil. It appears
Spraying chemicals can be dangerous to the environment in many ways. But for Floridians, they can contribute to harmful algae blooms and damaging releases along the coast. There are other ways to remove invasive plant species that may not require chemical spraying. James Douglass, an environmental scientist at Florida Gulf Coast University says the other
In recent years Fox Lake in Wisconsin has responded to a decade of water quality management that has shifted the lake from being turbid with frequent algae blooms to a clearer water condition. This has fostered improved lake use, the return of aquatic plants and a more balanced fishery. One consequence of the water quality
In July, the last known patches of Giant Salvinia, an invasive and aggressive aquatic plant at the Barnett Reservoir in Mississippi, were eliminated. The vegetation was treated with multiple chemicals and then removed, but after six months of Giant Salvinia being absent from the lake, the cleanup team discovered the unwelcomed guest. Apparently a stray