(Wahpeton)– Some Eurasian watermilfoil was recently found growing in one of the canals in Wahpeton. Andrew Carlson, a fisheries management biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources tells KUOO news it was discovered somewhat incidentally…
“We had a collaborative project going on with Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. Some interns were out kayaking in the Paddler’s Path region of the canal system south of Miller’s Bay and they located a couple of plants of Eurasian watermilfoil, nothing extensive, and was very much isolated to the canal system. We haven’t found it in the main lake or in other lakes in the basin. We recently treated it with permits in place with a milfoil specific herbicide treatment that’s safe and effective and we’re confident that we’ve controlled that population.”
Carlson says it isn’t the first time the aquatic invasive weed has been found there…
“We’ve discovered milfoil in that same area before several years back and we treated it rapidly and it went away for a couple years and then it’s back again. It’s low density so it’s not something that we’re too concerned about so, but we do want to contain it when we find it because it’s an aggressive plant.”
He says it further drives home their motto of clean, drain and dry…
“Getting the public to clean any plants and animals or mud from their boat, drain water from all equipment and dry anything that comes into contact with the water.”
Carlson goes on to describe what Eurasian watermilfoil looks like…
“It actually bares the resemblance to a native northern milfoil but the key difference between those species is the number of leaflet pairs per leaf. It’s a spindly, kind of, lots of leaflet pairs on each leaf but it you see more than 12 leaflet pairs on a leaf, between 12 and 21, that’s Eurasian watermilfoil. It often has a pink stem as well. Whereas the native variety has usually less color to it and far fewer leaflet pairs per leaf.”
He says you should contact the DNR if you see anything resembling that or something that’s out of the ordinary…
“We can always take a look. That’s really how we identified the plant this time around, it was some concerned citizens and Iowa Lakeside Lab brought it in and we positively identified it.”
As a reminder, it is illegal in Iowa to possess or transport prohibited aquatic invasive species such as Eurasian watermilfoil.
