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.

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As the dying weeds decompose it contributes to increased phosphorous concentrations in the lakes. The excessive phosphorus provides necessary nutrients for algae to grow causing additional recreation and water-quality problems.

Mechanical harvesting (raking, cutting, or harvesting) is effective if performed in the spring – before Memorial Day. This process does need to be performed yearly however, but since curly-leaf can spread from just a small plant fragment; it is imperative that the harvesting method include collecting and disposing of the clippings.

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Curly-leaf pondweed is an invasive plant found throughout much of Minnesota. The plant grows slowly throughout the winter under the ice, but once the ice has left the lake the plants start to grow very rapidly. Curly-leaf pondweed gets a jump start on native aquatic plants, leading to dense mats on the surface by May or June. Sometime around mid-July, curly-leaf pondweed dies off and decomposes in the lake.

In the past, many lake managers thought that early treatment of curly-leaf pondweed might lead to better water quality and improved native plant populations. However, recent research has proven that large scale treatments in lakes with high nutrients levels did not produce water quality benefits or increase native plant populations.

Herbicide control is restricted to 15% of the littoral area of the lake, but mechanical harvesting allows for up to 50% of the littoral area of the lake to be harvested. A combination of both methods may be used as well. A limit on what areas to be treated or harvested insures that native plants, which provide water quality and fish and wildlife habitat benefits, will be protected.