Researchers Unravel the Challenges of Starry Stonewort

/ Published in News
Aquatic Invasive Species Starry Stonewort
Starry stonewort was first discovered in Minnesota waters in Lake Koronis in 2015. It’s now found in 19 Minnesota waterbodies. Lake Koronis is helping researchers understand how a changing climate may influence this invasive and how we can better manage it. Overall, the research showed year-to-year variability in the total biomass of starry stonewort. There

Bad Year for Weeds in Minnesota Lakes

/ Published in News
EH-220 Aquatic Weed Harvester
If you drove past Elk Lake in Hoffman, Minnesota this past summer, you may have seen an unusual sight: A mechanical harvester out on the water cutting and removing aquatic vegetation. This is the first time the city has hired a mechanical harvester, but they were dealing with a bumper crop of lakes weeds.  A

Mechanical Harvesting Removes Invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil

/ Published in Uncategorized
Aquarius Systems HM-620 Plant Harvester
In the last few decades, the lake’s weedy, northern-most portion has clogged hulls and deterred boaters from entering the lake from the Oswegatchie River. Patches of weeds greet the water’s surface near every dock, and nearly invisible from a distance on a windy day, matted greenery creates a basin of weeds seven-feet-deep in some spots.

Positive Results of Curly Leaf Pondweed Harvesting

/ Published in Uncategorized
Aquarius Systems Large Weed Harvester
With all of the rainfall over the past three weeks or so, the topic of curlyleaf pondweed has kind of taken a back seat. However, as we enter the month of July, it is a good time to reflect on the results of the 2018 curlyleaf pondweed treatment and harvesting process. Mechanical harvesting of East

Aquatic Plant Management Program Uses Plant Harvesters and Herbicides

/ Published in Uncategorized
EH-220 Aquatic Plant Harvester
The Massachusetts’s 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.

Native Aquatic Plant Life is Vital to Reducing Nutrients

/ Published in Resources
Wild Water Celery
The Iowa Great Lakes are seeing an increase in aquatic plants this season. Mike Hawkins, a Fisheries Biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says those include native aquatic plant species such as coontail, sago pondweed and wild water celery, to name a few, which are extremely beneficial to a lake’s ecosystem. While it

Realistic Goals to Control Curly-Leaf Pondweed

/ Published in Resources
Curly-Leaf Pondweed
According to Nick Brown, DNR invasive species specialist, herbicides used to treat curly-leaf pondweed on Minnesota lakes may not lead to improvements in water quality. 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

Protecting Pewaukee Lake

/ Published in Case Studies
Aerial of Pewaukee Lake
Pewaukee Lake was formed in 1838 when a dam was constructed along the Pewaukee River and the wetland was flooded. It combined with Snake Lake to form the 2,500 acre Pewaukee Lake. For 40 years – 1945 to 1985 – the sanitary district used herbicides, including 2-4-D for 17 years, in an attempt to control

Mechanical Harvesting an Economical Choice

/ Published in Uncategorized
Inland Lake Harvester with Seaplane
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;

Advantages of Aquatic Weed Harvesting

/ Published in Uncategorized
HM-420 Weed Harvester with Stainless Steel Barge
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