Waterfront owners urged to keep eye out for invasives
Updated Fri., 6/1 – Waterfront property owners are reminded to help watch for harmful lake weeds such as Eurasian watermilfoil and Curly-leaf pondweed. Simply paying attention to the vegetation that drifts onto shorelines or wraps around pier legs can indicate something growing in the lake that shouldn’t be.
Millions of dollars have been spent in Oneida and Vilas Counties the past several years controlling invasive aquatic weeds. Substantial progress is being made reducing or eliminating these plants in many lakes, but the risk remains significant for additional lakes.
Early detection of invasive lake weeds is critical to efficient and cost effective control efforts. New populations have been found in recent years in area lakes not previously infected. The plants were well established in large colonies in some instances before they were ever reported! Waterfront property owners will likely share the burden of these infestations through increased monetary support of their lake organizations, by having to look at or navigate around surface matted weeds, or by finding it difficult to sell their waterfront property due to the presence of invasive weeds.
Residents need not be experts in aquatic plant identification to detect these plants. Any suspicious changes in a lake’s plant community, or the spotting of plants that simply look unusual, should be reported so that qualified persons can check them out.
How to help? Please keep an eye on our lakes and rivers! The more people we have watching our waters, the better our chances of staying ahead of aquatic invasive plants. So please, help protect our lakes.
For more information, call Michele Sadauskas, Oneida County Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator, at (715) 365-2750; or Ted Ritter, Vilas County Invasive Species Coordinator, at (715) 479-3738.
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