Re-plant tape grass! Vallisneria americana is known as tape
grass,
eel grass and American wild celery. It is a very important submersed plant that provides food for
ducks
and other birds and stabilizes lake and river bottoms; it is native, primarily of eastern North
America,
from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico. Hydrilla infestations and other unfortunate events
destroy tape
grass meadows. During restoration, eco-managers often want to re-plant the favored tape grass.
Here is a
web page which provides comprehensive information about the plant’s taxonomy, reproduction,
phenology,
ecology, productivity and propagation:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/literatr/wildcel/wildcel.htm
“A Weed of National Significance.” Cabomba, Cabomba
caroliniana, has been named as a
“Weed of National Significance” in Australia, and a “national strategy is being developed for
cabomba,
as part of the Australian National Weed Strategy.” Native to America, cabomba has recently
infested
several water storage dams, and “is a concern with regard to blocking water flow, reducing water
quality
and reducing access for boating and swimming. It has also been observed to outcompete native
aquatic plants,
with subsequent effects on native fish and invertebrates.” For more information, contact Mr.
Rodney Edwards,
Queensland Department of Natural Resources, E-mail: rodney.edwards@dnr.qld.gov.au
Report Non-Native Pest Plants in Florida. The Exotic Pest Plant Database is
an online database
which may be queried to obtain lists of field occurrences of pest plants in Florida public lands
and waters.
Or you may report a field occurrence yourself. The database is a collaborative effort of the
Florida Exotic
Pest Plant Council and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of
Invasive Plant
Management. http://www.fleppc.org/database/data_intro.htm
Bay Grasses in Classes. Or is it Classes in Bay Grasses? In Maryland, the
state Department of Natural
Resources involves students from 70 elementary, middle and high schools in growing plants for
and
transplanting them into Chesapeake Bay. The web site for the project includes project data, bay
grass
information (including an online key), maps of restoration sites, as well as science teacher
questions
and answers about the requirements for growing plants.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/sav/grass_clas.html
I’m not a plant, but will aquatic herbicides harm me? Regarding the use of
aquatic herbicides in
our waters and wetlands, Dr. Carole Lembi says it’s reasonable to wonder “whether the use of
chemicals in
your body of water will be safe to you and safe to the environment? That is a legitimate concern
that all of
us should have before we apply any chemical to control some pest. How toxic is the chemical...
How persistent
is the chemical... Will it cause cancer?” Dr. Lembi, of Purdue University, attempts to answer
these questions
in a web-based tutorial and narrated slide show.
http://www.btny.purdue.edu/aquatic/aquaticherb.html
Aquatic plants in Utah?! Although Utah is the 2nd driest U.S. state, receiving
only 13 inches of
precipitation annually, the state does have aquatic and wetland resources that it wants to protect.
Thus,
the Utah Aquatic Nuisance Species Action Team, members of which represent about a dozen
public and
private organizations in that state. The “primary threats” they list include purple loosestrife
(Lythrum salicaria), Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)
and zebra mussel
(Dreissena polymorpha). One place you can get information about Utah’s ANS
program
is at:
http://www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/ans.htm
Hyacinth-induced paralysis. Africa’s Lake Victoria, covering 27,000 square
miles, is the second
largest freshwater lake in the world. Unfortunately, it now has the exotic floating aquatic weed,
water
hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), massive mats of which paralyze port and fishing
cities in Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda. Aquarius Systems, manufacturers of aquatic plant harvesting equipment,
has
won a grant from the World Bank to clear away and dispose of some of the worst mats. For
pictures
of the problem, and for more information, go to: http://www.water-hyacinth.com
Current topographic maps for free. Interactive topo maps for the entire
United States are now on-line. The user can pinpoint very exact coordinates at resolution scales
from
1:25,000 to 1:200,000. Maps are in color and may be printed. (You need the latest browser
version,
and, obviously, the fastest possible connection.) http://www.topozone.com