ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An invasive plant species has been found in the floatplane area of Lake Hood.
Elodea, a leafy, long-stemmed plant, known to crowd out native species of freshwater flora was discovered in Lake Hood when a plant specialist found it growing near the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service aircraft area, reported The Alaska Dispatch News (https://bit.ly/1BDzSRu ).
For elodea in Alaska, Lake Hood is “the worst place but, to be honest, not unexpected,” said Heather Stewart, an invasive-species expert with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
The plant was first found in Cordova’s Eyak Lake in 1982 and has since spread to areas between Fairbanks and the Kenai Peninsula.
Stewart traveled by boat Wednesday searching for the plants growing beneath the waters of Lake Hood and connecting Lake Spenard.
The Lake Hood Seaplane Base houses about 500 aircraft. There can be hundreds of takeoffs and landings every day in the summertime, said John Parrott, manager of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
The elodea discovery could result in departing planes bringing elodea to new sites, which is why officials are working to get the plant removed.
President of the Lake Hood Pilots Association, Scott Christy, warns that something must be done soon in order to prevent possible dangers.
“My solution is to hit it now, hit it hard and kill it. Don’t fart around,” Christy said. It is very dangerous in any floatplane area, he said. “It gets caught in your water rudders and you don’t even see it,” he said
A Department of Natural Resources project to eradicate the plant in three Anchorage lakes, including Little Campbell Lake, Sand Lake and DeLong Lake, is expected to begin this summer and run through 2017. The project involves applying herbicide fluridone to the plants in small enough doses to minimize damage to other plants and resources.
Now that Lake Hood has elodea, officials want to get it treated soon. But eradication projects are funded by a federal agency and must go through a formal process to get approved.
“Ideally, we would like to do it at the same time period as the other lakes,” Stewart said. “Realistically, is that going to happen? Maybe not.”
Another option for the lake could be getting it an emergency authorization or funding from state or municipal governments to speed up the process, Stewart said.
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Information from: Alaska Dispatch News, https://www.adn.com
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