The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) generally maintains a 500-foot buffer around the utility’s primary water intake. However, some herbicide labels specify restrictions extending as far as half a mile (2,640 feet), depending on the chemical and application conditions. Certain herbicides can also persist in water for days or weeks following application, raising additional questions about their potential movement through the aquatic environment.

When questioned about whether herbicides had been applied within these restricted distances, FWC officials stated that contractors follow product label requirements but did not provide the requested application records or distances. Although the investigation did not establish that drinking water had been contaminated, it highlights concerns surrounding chemical aquatic plant management and the importance of protecting water resources. It also underscores the value of considering nonchemical alternatives, such as mechanical harvesting, as part of responsible aquatic vegetation management.

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In 1994, researchers published the results of an experiment in concrete-lined canals in California and Arizona. Lining the canals helped conserve water, but it also eliminated habitat used by fish and other aquatic organisms. Their solution was innovative: build artificial habitat from discarded automobile tires.

And it appeared to work.

Areas containing the tire reefs had three times the density of aquatic invertebrates and 20 times the density of fish compared with typical sections of the canals. At the time, discarded tires seemed to solve two problems at once: keeping waste out of landfills while restoring lost aquatic habitat.

More than 30 years later, however, we know considerably more about what happens when tires spend years in an aquatic environment.

What We Didn’t Know About Tires

Tires aren’t simply rubber. They contain chemicals and metals that can make their way into the environment as tires wear and break down. Research has since found that some tire-related chemicals and particles can be harmful to aquatic life.

And the concerns aren’t limited to chemistry. During the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, hundreds of thousands of tires were intentionally placed in waters off Florida to create artificial reefs. Over time, many broke loose, becoming marine debris and damaging natural habitat. Today, projects are underway to remove thousands of these legacy tires.

The people who created these reefs weren’t trying to harm the environment. Quite the opposite. They were trying to improve it. They simply didn’t have decades of additional research available to them.

When Our Understanding Changes

Tires aren’t the only example of how environmental practices can change as we learn more. Herbicides once approved for controlling aquatic weeds were later removed from use after concerns about their potential effects on human health and the environment.

We have seen the same evolution with chemicals used in Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. What was once widely used was later linked to serious health and environmental concerns, leading to restrictions and discontinued uses.

The point isn’t that everything we use today will eventually prove harmful. It’s that science continues to evolve. What seems acceptable based on what we know today may look very different when we have decades of additional research to consider.

Managing With What We Know Today

There is rarely one answer for managing a lake or waterway. Chemical treatment, mechanical harvesting, biological controls, physical removal and sometimes simply leaving an area alone can each have a place depending on the waterbody, the species involved and the management objective.

That’s why asking “What are we trying to accomplish?” can be just as important as asking “What should we use?”

The 1994 tire reefs are a fascinating reminder of how environmental management evolves. Researchers saw a problem, developed a solution and measured real benefits. They weren’t necessarily wrong about what they observed. We simply know things today that they couldn’t have known then.

Good environmental stewardship means continuing to learn, asking questions and being willing to change our approach when new information gives us a reason to do so.

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A Message from Our Leader: Looking Back, Planning Ahead for Our Lakes

As the Leaves Fall, Harvesting Winds Down

When Communities and Harvesters Work Hand in Hand

What’s Really Happening Beneath the Water?

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The Apple River Protection and Rehabilitation District (ARPRD) reported removing roughly 2.73 million pounds of aquatic vegetation from the Apple River Flowage as of June of this year. This follows back-to-back years where totals reached around 3.8 million pounds, highlighting a consistent and highly productive management program.

Keeping the Flowage Open and Healthy

The 640-acre Apple River Flowage sits within a watershed that covers more than 111,000 acres. As with many Wisconsin waterways, invasive and fast-growing native plants—like coontail and curly-leaf pondweed—can quickly limit boating access, trap nutrients, and reduce dissolved oxygen levels if left unmanaged.

Through consistent mechanical harvesting, the ARPRD helps maintain navigation channels, improve water flow, and reduce the buildup of decaying plant matter that can lead to poor water quality. Unlike chemical treatments, mechanical removal takes the vegetation out of the water entirely, helping reduce nutrient recycling and long-term regrowth.

A Sustainable Approach to Aquatic Management

Mechanical harvesting is one of the most effective and environmentally responsible tools for managing dense aquatic growth. By physically removing weeds rather than killing them in place, this method helps protect fish habitat, limit algae growth, and keep waterways open for recreation.

The Apple River Flowage’s ongoing success shows how local commitment, steady maintenance, and the right equipment can make a lasting impact on the health of a waterway.

Learn about ARPRD

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A Message from Our Leader:  2025 Lake Conference Season

Milwaukee: A Global Leader in Water Innovation

How Michigan Fights Road Salt’s Invasive Side Effects

Planting Native Aquatic Plants to Fight Invasive Species

Upcoming Conferences

• Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society 45th Annual Conference
• Virginia Lakes & Watershed Association Annual Conference
• Pennsylvania Lake Management Society 35th Annual Conference
• National Water Quality Monitoring Council 14th Conference
• Illinois Lakes Management Association Annual Conference
• Western Aquatic Plant Management Society 43rd Annual Conference
• Indiana Lakes Management Society Annual Conference
• Wisconsin Lakes & Rivers Annual Conference

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There is no disagreement that hydrilla has to be managed. But how it is managed creates passionate differences of opinion. Hydrilla can be excellent habitat for fish, waterfowl and marsh birds like the endangered Everglade snail kite. But unchecked, the non-native weed can rapidly overtake the entire surface of a lake, shade out native aquatic plants like eel grass and pickerelweed (also called flags), and lower dissolved oxygen content to hinder sport-fish growth.

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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

Tennessee Valley Authority officials said they are hearing lots of complaints from homeowners and boaters about the hydrilla, eel grass, star grass and milfoil up and down the river. However, their focus is on maintaining access to the lake at ramps and developed recreation areas.

An aquatic weed harvester is used to to cut channels in the weeds on the water, to get in and out of these public access areas, but eradicating the aquatic plants can negatively affect the health of the waterway and impact the local economy.

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Botanically, wild rice differs from common rice, and is actually a cereal grass that grows in shallow lakes and streams, ripening in late summer. While the range of wild rice stretches from Manitoba to Florida, the most prolific stands are located in the upper Great Lakes of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Today Wisconsin has seventy major rice fields in thirteen counties. The grain usually begins to ripen in sections of the Wolf and Wisconsin rivers before lakeside areas are ready to be harvested.

Only Wisconsin residents may harvest wild rice in the state and must purchase and possess a wild rice harvesting license.   Harvesters are limited to gathering wild rice in boats no longer than seventeen feet and no wider than 38 inches that must be propelled by muscular power using paddles or push poles. The grain is still harvested by hand using wooden sticks (flails) that bend the tall stalks over the canoe. As the seed heads are tapped, some rice falls in the canoe and some in the water to seed the bed for future years. The flails must be rounded wooden rods or sticks no more than 38 inches long and hand-operated. Harvesting should be done gently, so that the stalks and beds can be harvested again as more rice matures.

Many of the large wild rice beds in Wisconsin have been lost due to pollution, exotic species, large boat wakes and especially changes in water levels.  Dams erected many miles away can also affect the harvest, for wild rice grows in the shallow parts of lakes and streams, maturing best if a fairly constant water level is maintained. The primary method of wild rice lake management is by controlling water levels on the lakes by operating water control structures (dams), ditch maintenance, and beaver dam management.  Aquarius Systems’ equipment is also used to help maintain the wild rice by removing aquatic vegetation and helping to restore the flow of water.

An aquatic vegetation cutter (AVC) better known as a Swamp Devil® effortlessly plow through bogs, water hyacinth, cattails, small trees, tulle, tussocks and other stubborn growth.  In the process it also carves through the subsoil creating an open water channel up to three feet deep and eight feet wide, allowing the water to once again flow freely.

Learn More about Wisconsin Wild Rice

With Pictures of steam powered cutter boats dating back to the late 1890’s, we know that excessive plant growth has been a problem for a long time.  At first, the problem was dealt with manually.  People came up with clever tools to help make weed cutting easier.  Others tried hand pulling the plants, but the going was slow.