Aquatic Invasive Species Monitoring (AIS)
PCLA partners with the DNR and the FLOE Counties coordinator to monitor and mitigate Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS,) attending regular AIS training sessions and the annual Snapshot Day to learn about and identify AIS. There are three specific species we are watching for: zebra mussels, Eurasian Watermilfoil, and purple loosestrife.
Zebra Mussels
Zebra Mussels
Zebra mussels can quickly colonize a lake and make it inhospitable to fish by filtering out all the zooplankton fish eat. Zebra mussels are very sharp and make the lake difficult to enjoy without protective gear. There is no known mitigation for zebra mussels other than preventing them from getting into the lake.
What is a zebra mussel?
Zebra mussels have a distinctive “D”-shaped shell with alternating dark- and light-colored zigzag stripes, similar to a zebra. Adult zebra mussels are typically 1/8-inch to 2-inch long. They are often found attached to hard surfaces, like rocks, docks, shells, and wood, but can attach to any solid surface, including submerged aquatic plants, native invertebrates, and each other.
What we are doing? PCLA has instituted a boat inspection program (see CBCW page), and participates in AIS monitoring.
What can you do?
Check the DNR website to see if the lake you are visiting has any AIS.
Please wait at least 5 days before using your boat on a new lake.
Participate in the CBCW inspection program
Participate in our AIS monitoring program.
Participate in the Wisconsin Extension Snapshot Day.
Purple Loosestrife
Purple Loosestrife
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a perennial plant found in a range of wet soil habitats. It was probably introduced to North America as a contaminant in ship ballast and as an herbal remedy for dysentery, diarrhea, and other digestive ailments.
What is purple loosestrife?
Purple loosestrife is a wetland perennial, three to seven feet tall, with up to 50 stems topped with purple flower spikes that bloom from July to September, then releasing thousands of seeds per plant. Stems are 4-6 sides with noticeable edges. One prominent leader stem but many side branches often make the plant look bushy. Clipped plants grow back and cut stems readily re-root in the soil to produce new plants. With alarmingly fast reproduction rates, purple loosestrife can out-compete native vegetation in wetlands. Proliferation of the purple loosestrife is often associated with diversity loss of vegetation. This overall decreases ecological interactions in these patches of environment, and affects how animals nest for shelter, find food, and even reproduce. Many areas of the state use safe biocontrol beetles that feed on the loosestrife to keep it in check and allow other plants to grow.
What we are doing?
PCLA participates in AIS monitoring, and we are working with the FLOE Counties coordinator to apply and test biological vectors (beetles) to reduce the spread of purple loosestrife seeds.
What can you do?
Pull out, bag, and dispose of any purple loosestrife on your property.
Participate in our AIS monitoring program.
Participate in the Wisconsin Extension Snapshot Day.
Eurasian Watermilfoil
Eurasian Watermilfoil
Eurasian Watermilfoil is a submerged aquatic plant that can reproduce via fragmentation, meaning a single stem fragment introduced to a waterbody could take root and establish a new population. While Eurasian watermilfoil can grow to nuisance levels in some lakes, recent studies have found that most Wisconsin lakes currently have populations at low frequencies, with relatively few lakes exhibiting very dense growth.
What is eurasian watermilfoil?
Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) is a submersed, rooted aquatic plant native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. It was first reported in the United States in the 1880s and Wisconsin in the 1960s. Eurasian watermilfoil spreads easily and grows quickly. Eurasian watermilfoil crowds out native plants, reducing biodiversity, diminishes fish habitat and negatively impacts wetland habitats. Dense mats form near the surface. They entangle boat propellers and interfere with swimming and fishing. As a result, Eurasian watermilfoil can adversely affect our local tourist-dependent economy.
Eurasian watermilfoil resembles the native Northern Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum).Unlike the Eurasian variety, Northern milfoil offers shade, shelter and foraging opportunities for fish.
Eurasian watermilfoil can usually be distinguished from their native lookalikes by counting the pairs of leaflets; the leaves on native milfoils have ten or fewer pairs of leaflets, whereas Eurasian watermilfoil leaves typically have 12 or more leaflet pairs. The stems and leaves of Eurasian watermilfoil are generally limp out of the water and will often appear reddish, particularly near the plant tips. In contrast, native milfoils generally have stiffer leaves and stems, typically not reddish. However, Eurasian watermilfoil can hybridize with native northern watermilfoil (i.e., M. spicatum x M. sibiricum), and the hybrids often have characteristics that are indicative of both Eurasian watermilfoil and the native north milfoil (e.g., a combination might have a slightly reddish stem and only 11 leaflet pairs).
Leaves are feather-like and divided into 12 or more pairs of thin leaflets. Leaves are typically arranged around the stem in whorls (groups) of 4.
Flowers are small, yellow, and four-parted. Flowers are arranged on a short stem above the water's surface.
The stem is typically 3 to 10 feet long, although it may grow longer in clear water conditions. It can appear brown, green, red, or white.
Similar species include native milfoil species, such as northern watermilfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum), various-leaved watermilfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum), and whorled watermilfoil (Myriophyllum verticillatum); coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum).
What we are doing? PCLA has instituted a boat inspection program (see CBCW page), and participates in AIS monitoring.
What can you do?
If you find Eurasian Watermilfoil in the lake, contact us! As a homeowner you can carefully remove plants immediately around the area of your dock. You need to know how to properly remove it, though, because if you break the plant up you will just create more plants and do more harm than good. Eurasian Watermilfoil reproduces through vegetative propagation, so each tiny bit that floats off can form a new plant.
If you are taking your boat to another lake, check the DNR website to see if the lake you are visiting has any AIS.
Please wait at least 5 days before using your boat on a new lake.
Participate in the CBCW inspection program
Participate in our AIS monitoring program
Participate in the Wisconsin Extension Snapshot Day
