Another invasive plant on the scene...

[CALVINIST]

Bad news reported by KSTP...

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DNR reports aquarium plant found in Mpls. lake

A pesky plant appears to have made its way from the fish tank to a Minnesota lake.

The Department of Natural Resources said a weed called Brazilian Elodea survived at least one winter in Powderhorn Lake in Minneapolis.

It’s similar to Eurasian Milfoil and commonly sold as an aquarium plant.

The DNR plans to use herbicides on Powderhorn Lake, to prevent the weed from spreading.

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Just great...How does this happen?

[Sandmannd]

I saw it on the news this morning. Happens by jerks throwing crap in the lakes. If you don't want a plant in your tank, throw it away, not in a (&)(*^ Lake!!

[echotrail]

How does this happen? Most likely someone in the neighborhood with an aquarium was moving and didn't want to take it with them. They couldn't find anyone to take it so they just dumped everything in the lake because they didn't want to kill the fish.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Mrs. Boilerguy works for a newspaper. Last summer she did a story on a couple of local boys that caught a pirannha in a local lake. The DNR said it happens more often than we would like to think. People dump their fish tanks in lakes and streams, apparently, quite often.

The DNR dudes said normally the fish and plants don't survive the winter. I guess this plant is tougher than most.

[Sonicrunch]

Naturally our outdoor community knows better, but I think the vast majority of people DO NOT know the rules about transplanting organisms.

[livintofish]

Sonic has a good point, MOST people just plain don't know any better, and this is the cause for many many invasive species, in our lands and waters. Those of us who have a passion for outdoor activities and wildlife generally understand how the ecosystem around us works(and if not, defineatly should research it). Education on these kinds of issues is of the utmost importance, to keep our natural systems healthy. Believe it or not people do these kinds of things intensionally as well, but not will the intent of damaging the ecosystem. The do it because they think its a pretty plant and that would be neat if it was all over, or they want to let their fish live....so on and so on. Sometimes people bring one species in to control another, and suddenly that species becomes an invasive. Invasives cause many issues that any outdoorsman can see readily, but the underlying cascade effect is what is really bad. Invasives outcompete native species and disturb and destroy native habitats, eventually leading to native species decline and demise. Since colonization things have been moved around and brought from here and there and introduced through balast water, for aesthetic beauty, to control another "pest" species, the thing of it is at that time we did not know any better...now we do. We just have to keep trying to educate as many people as possible on the effects of these introductions on the environment we all live in. A little side note on Brazilian Elodea, they sell it, or were selling it at stores for water gardens in peoples back yards and such, where it is spreading to other sources is just a matter of time. Its all about basic education to preserve the resources we all love, or we wouldn't be on this forum. People have all heard of Eurasian Milfoil, but not every single person is thoughtful of checking for it or it wouldn't spread. Next time you see some vegetation on a guys boat, let him know, or someone dumping live aquarium fish or bait in a lake or stream. These resources depend on us, since our exsistence has already greatly modified them. Didn't mean for this to get so dramatic.

[livintofish]

One more thing hit me when I read this topic again. Why are we selling this exotic plant for aquria when regular Elodea (Elodea Canadensis), which is native looks very similar? We have an amazing abundance of natural species that are amazing, just got to get out and look at them....side thought ...maybe if we started renaming some of our native plants to catchier exotic sounding names people would think they were cool too. I mean brazilian elodea, asian flying carp, they sound flashy like something someone would want in their aquariums and lakes. Just a thought.

[Black_Bay]

It's well past the time where the fed's need to stop the import of exotic plants and animals. They need to crack down on this NOW!

[livintofish]

Its all about $ and politics.....There simply isn't enough money for proper enforcment, and if something has a high economic value, politicaians don't want to regulate or change it. Local enforcment is way understaffed to deal with such issues as they occur, with people transfering species. Its kind of like trying to bust a kid for stealing candy from a store. Education is key and the next step is all of us being diligent about reporting violations we see.

[walleyemkr]

Good points livintofish. Staffing / funding is the limitation commonly. REPORT VIOLATIONS!!!