Warm winter contributing to growing problem in water

Source: FOX 8 TV News (New Orleans, LA)
Date Published: 05/24/2012

Mathews, LA -- Water hyacinths are a problem on Bayou Lafourche and across southeast Louisiana and biologists say they could be particularly bad this summer. "This plant will clog the waterway, it will impede boat traffic," says Michael Massimi, invasive species coordinator for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. "It ruins the area for recreational use. You can't fish over a mat of water hyacinths. It's very bad for water quality."

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Local bayous clogged with invasive plants

Source: Houma Today (Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana)
Date Published: 05/16/2012

After an exceptionally warm winter, invasive water plants are growing out of control in area bayous, clogging waterways so severely that boat traffic can’t get through. The problem has gotten worse since budget cuts forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cease invasive plant spraying operations in October, leaving local officials scrambling to find help to combat the plant invasion.

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Flooding disperses invasive plant, fish species

Source: AP via Yahoo News (Vermont)
Date Published: 04/30/2012

Bethel, VT. — Last year's hurricanes and flooding not only engulfed homes and carried away roads and bridges in hard-hit areas of the country, it dispersed aggressive invasive species as well..."It's quite an extensive problem around the country and it's spreading," said Dr. Linda Nelson, aquatic invasive species expert with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Hydrilla cleanup funds caught in red tape

Ithaca Journal
Simon Wheeler / Staff Photo

Source: Ithaca Journal (New York)
Date Published: 05/22/2012

ITHACA -- With funding already promised for hydrilla eradication in the Cayuga Inlet, it's time to release money so municipalities can start killing the invasive plant, New York U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday.

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Sandpoint rejects herbicides for City Beach milfoil

Source: Bonner County Daily Bee (Sandpoint, Idaho)
Date Published: 05/18/2012

SANDPOINT -- While Lake Pend Oreille definitely has a watermilfoil problem, herbicides aren’t on the table as a treatment plan anymore.

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Council OK with more grass carp

Source: Lake Gaston Gazette-Observer (Virginia)
Date Published: 05/23/2012

The Lake Gaston Weed Control Council recently considered recommendations from its Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and Stakeholders Board regarding grass carp stocking and other matters.

TAG chairman Rob Richardson, an associate professor and extension specialist at N.C. State University with a focus on aquatic and non-cropland weeds, said that TAG over a conference call unanimously approved recommending 18 grass carp per acre be stocked this year, which would amount to 7,461 fish.

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Officials are asking for your help over Memorial Day weekend to control noxious weeds

Source: KIVI-TV (Idaho)
Date Published: 05/23/2012

The Memorial Day weekend traditionally marks the start of Idaho’s recreational season. But state noxious weed officials say it is also the start of the state’s greatest period of threat from the spread of noxious weeds.

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Group: Holliston lake problem needs action, not study

Source: MetroWest Daily News (Massachusetts)
Date Published: 05/21/2012

A sign posted in the boat launch area at Pleasure Point on Lake Winthrop in Holliston warns about spreading aquatic weeds. By Laura Krantz/Daily News staff Town officials and a local advocacy group are butting heads over how to tackle the weed problem in Lake Winthrop.

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Fewer aquatic weeds found in Savannah River this year

Source: The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
Date Published: 05/15/2012

Last year’s use of herbicide to control aquatic weeds in the Savannah River for the first time appears to be successful, with fewer acres requiring retreatment this year.

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Lake Lowery: Private and Weedy

Source: The Ledger - Blog (Polk County, FL)
Date Published: 05/14/2012

Polk County officials recently received a plea from a Lake Lowery homeowner to do something about an aquatic weed problems at the 900-acre lake between Haines City and Lake Alfred. County officials informed him the weed problem was up to him to solve.

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Weed discovery puts boaties on alert

Hornwort, also known as
coontail, is highly invasive.
Picture courtesy of NIWA.
(Scoop.co.nz)

Source: Scoop.co.nz (New Zealand)
Date Published: 05/14/2012

An invasive aquatic weed has been found in Lake Rotorangi, prompting a request for recreational users of the lake to help prevent it spreading.

Boats and other equipment should be well cleaned before departing Lake Rotorangi to help prevent the spread of hornwort, also known as coontail.

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Aquatic pest found in Lake Okareka

Source: Voxy.co.nz (New Zealand)
Date Published: 05/11/2012

An infestation of the aquatic pest plant hornwort has been found in Rotorua's Lake Okareka. The invasive weed, which has not been seen in Lake Okareka before, was found by the skipper of the Duck tourist vehicle last month.

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State water board to hear Lake Tahoe pesticide proposal

Source: Bonanza News Service (Lake Tahoe, California)
Date Published: 05/09/2012

The California State Water Resources is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would allow the use of aquatic pesticides at Lake Tahoe under certain circumstances. The State Water Board is scheduled to consider the amendment to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board's Basin Plan during a May 15 meeting in Sacramento. The regional water board approved the plan in December. Existing rules effectively prohibit pesticide application to water within the agency's jurisdiction.

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Where's the water? Water plants creating havoc

(Tri-Parish Times)

Source: Tri-Parish Times (Louisiana)
Date Published: 05/09/2012

Regular boaters on Tri-parish waterways have undoubtably seen or been stopped short by the unruly growth of salvinia and water hyacinths in the area’s freshwater aquatic byways.

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DEC Begins Emergency Rule-Making for Hydrilla Infestation Treatment

Source: ReadMedia (Albany, NY)
Date Published: 05/09/2012

ALBANY, NY -- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation adopted an emergency rule to allow for herbicide treatment to combat hydrilla, an invasive plant species that has plagued parts of the Cayuga Inlet since last summer, the agency announced today.

"Immediate action is necessary to stop the spread of hydrilla to preserve native plants and indigenous aquatic ecosystems throughout New York state," said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. "By amending the regulation to allow the use of fluridone pellets, DEC is helping control the infestation of a destructive species that threatens the Finger Lakes economy and habitat."

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DEC Adopting Emergency Measures To Stop Hydrilla

Photo by lsgcp, flickr

Source: WIBX (Albany, NY)
Date Published: 05/09/2012

Albany, NY (WIBX) – Boaters and fishermen aren’t the only ones battling hydrilla in some of New York’s waters. The Department of Environmental Conservation is joining the fight, too.

According to the agency, emergency regulations have been adopted to stop the invasive plant’s spread through the Cayuga Inlet.

The new rules allow fluridone pellets (an aquatic herbicide) to be added to water less than 2 feet deep for 90 days, to treat existing hydrilla. The DEC will then renew the measures until a permanent rule is made.

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TLAC again turns focus on weeds

Source: Smith Mountain Eagle (Virginia)
Date Published: 05/08/2012

The Tri-Lake Administrative Commission will continue to work with Skip’s Aquatic Solutions in treating invasive aquatic vegetation in Smith Mountain Lake. The board agreed to renew the company’s contract during a meeting held May 1. Skip’s Aquatic Solutions uses systemic and contact herbicide to treat non-native aquatic vegetation such as curlyleaf pondweed, Brazilian elodea and hydrilla.

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6 downstate ponds to be treated for the nuisance weed Hydrilla

Source: WGMD.com NewsRadio (Dover, Delaware)
Date Published: 05/07/2012

DOVER – During the next three weeks, weather permitting, DNREC’s Division of Fish and Wildlife will be treating six downstate ponds for aquatic nuisance weeds that, left unchecked, can choke the waters, crowd out beneficial plant species, and prevent fishing and boating access. The ponds to be treated are: Blairs Pond and Griffiths Lake near Milford; Millsboro Pond; Records Pond near Laurel; Wagamons Pond near Milton; and Concord Pond near Seaford.

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Toxic rift over drift

Source: Nelson Mail (New Zealand)
Date Published: 05/05/2012

Felicity Fitz-William awoke to the rhythmic thump of a distant helicopter one day last April. It sounded like an average fly-by until she heard it coming closer and closer. As the noise grew to a thunderous roar, she jumped from her bed to see a chemical spraying helicopter with full booms extended, landing in the paddock across from where she was staying in Ligar Bay. She grabbed her chemical mask and phoned her daughter in tears begging to be picked up and taken away from the danger she knew would make her ill.

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Aquatic herbicides cause tension in Greely

Source: YourOttawaRegion.com (Ottawa, Canada)
Date Published: 05/03/2012

Several Greely residents are raising the alarm after the Ministry of Environment issued a permit to apply aquatic herbicides on their private man-made lakes in April.

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Controlled chaos - Quick action limited chemical spill damage

Source: Pekin Daily Times (Illinois)
Date Published: 04/27/2012

About 25 feet under the Allentown Road bridge over Prairie Creek, small fish swam Thursday against a lazy current in knee-deep clear water. That’s because “controlled chaos” saved the creek, much of its wildlife and farm livestock for miles downstream from devastating chemical pollution only two days earlier, a state environmental official said Friday.

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Nigeria: NIWA Acquires Two Weed Harvesters to Clean Up River Niger

Source: AllAfrica.com (Nigeria)
Date Published: 05/01/2012

Lokoja — The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has acquired two weed harvesters to enable it [to] undertake regular clearing of weeds from the river Niger.

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Jackson County Commission declines $50,000 appropriation to lake weed control group

Source: The Huntsville Times (Alabama)
Date Published: 04/30/2012

SCOTTSBORO, Alabama - The Jackson County Commission on Thursday voted not to appropriate $50,000 to a group that wants to rid part of Lake Guntersville of aquatic weeds, The Daily Sentinel reported.

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Weed menace removed from lake

Source: Brimbank Weekly (Australia)
Date Published: 05/01/2012

ILLEGAL sales of a noxious aquatic weed have been blamed for an outbreak in a Cairnlea Park waterway.

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Lake cleanup under way at Reed Bingham

Source: The Moultrie Observer (Georgia)
Date Published: 04/24/2012

REED BINGHAM STATE PARK — To prepare for the summer swimming, boating and fishing season the Department of Natural Resources has begun removal of invasive aquatic vegetation at Reed Bingham State Park. Due to a mild winter climate and lack of treatment last year, hydrilla — a non-native, invasive species — grew back quickly and is worse than the previous years, park officials said Tuesday.

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Volunteers open war on weeds

Source: The Day.COM (Connecticut)
Date Published: 04/22/2012

Fanwort, Eurasian water milfoil, curly pondweed and hydrilla are among the enemies, and humans, their chief enablers. That's why Mike Sicord spent Saturday morning, the opening day of fishing season, manning the state boat launch at Rogers Lake, working alongside Santy Patana, the boat launch attendant for the Rogers Lake Authority, checking boats for plant debris and talking to boaters about the problems caused by invasive plants.

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Assault begins on milfoil

Source: Daily News (Massachusetts)
Date Published: 04/20/2012

AMESBURY — Lake Attitash was treated this week with an herbicide intended to kill off the invasive weed that is slowly choking the body of water.

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Chapman lakes get weed-control permit

Source: The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN)
Date Published: 04/18/2012

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has issued a permit to the Chapman Lake Conservation Association to control up to 120 acres of Eurasian water milfoil in Big Chapman and Little Chapman lakes.

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