A public boat launch doesn’t necessarily make access to a lake free. There are costs involved in keeping the waters weed free, navigable for recreation and stocked with fish. McDill Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District’s president Krista Olson asks people visiting any lake to utlize the donation boxes. Those donations are very important for
An aquatic weed harvester was used to remove macroalgae from Georgica Pond in New York from 2016 through 2018 and on a limited basis last year, an effort to inhibit harmful algal blooms, including toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. Approval has just been granted for the the mechanical harvester to be operated from June to
Introduced aquatic weed clogs many of New Zealand’s waterways. It affects aquatic life and prohibits access and use for recreational users. Lakeweed Harvesters remove the aquatic plants mechanically, using a harvester mounted on a three metre by seven metre pontoon vessel. The operation works under strict standard operating procedures to ensure maximum weed is harvested
Floating weed harvesters have opened passages through Dane County Wisconsin’s dense tangles of underwater plants for about 50 years. The barges wield rotating cutting bars like those on farm combines to cut a submerged crop that is fertilized too well by runoff of nutrients like dairy manure. Each spring, the county launches a flotilla of
Efforts to restore Georgica Pond are proving to be successful thanks in part to the help of an aquatic weed harvester. Georgica Pond has been invaded by toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in recent years, which can cause serious health problems. For the second consecutive year, the foundation has leased an aquatic weed harvester to
Heard Pond became so heavily infested that the beauty and recreational value of it were lost. Once flourishing with native water lilies Heard Pond had a reputation for great fishing and bird watching. All gone, due to the lack of open water, nearly completely covered with water chestnut. Water chestnuts are native to parts of Eurasia
It is exhausting reading about lake after lake after lake becoming infested with an over abundance of aquatic vegetation. This plant material not only negatively affects water quality, the health of the fishery, recreation, aesthetics, but it is financially devastating as well. It affects tourism; bait shops, marinas, hotels, restaurants. It affects lake property owners;
Unlike using chemicals, or doing nothing at all, the advantages of harvesting include: – Immediate relief from nuisance plants that interfere with navigation and recreation – Immediate use of the water for swimming or irrigation – There is nothing foreign introduced to the environment when using mechanical control – Biomass is removed from the water
A fairly dry winter with very little snowfall plus near drought like conditions this summer has lead to even more aquatic plants. Another invasive species is quickly filling in exposed lake beds which are occurring due to historic low water levels. Phragmites, the Common Reed, is a large perennial grass that can grow up to
Native to Africa and believed to have been introduced to American waters from the aquarium trade in the 1960’s, hydrilla has quickly spread across the southern U.S. from Connecticut to California. By the 1990’s millions was spent yearly on its control, but this year New York alone has budgeted $800,000 to fight the invasive aquatic plant.