milfoil in the northwest

A detailed Summary of milfoil in the northwest


In Northern Idaho weed infestations of lakes, rivers, and streams have been increasing over the last few years. Doug Freeland is the Northern Idaho expert on a particular type of underwater weed, milfoil, that is rapidly spreading through many freshwater sources in Idaho as well as the rest of North America. Freeland's expertise has been used by Idaho counties, Washington counties, and the US Forest Service on the particularly nasty weed.

Eurasian milfoil, or formally, Myriophyllum Spicatum L, comes from the Latin "mille" and "foille" meaning "thousand leaf." This is an accurate description of the weed; from a thin stem that rises from the bottom of lakes or rivers, many small, delicate green leaves about 2 to 5 inches in length emerge. The stem can continue to grow to the surface of the water and bloom a small flower above the surface for pollination. Eurasian milfoil spreads and grows quickly like dandelions in a lawn, but milfoil presents more of a problem than an eyesore. In some Washington lakes and streams, milfoil is a leading killer of native underwater plant life and native fish. Milfoil's chemical processes are poisonous t


Since Milfoil has become such a widespread problem throughout the United States and Canada, many techniques have arisen to combat the spreading of the weed. Different methods have worked better in different climates to stop milfoil such as mechanical cutting, mechanical harvesting, weed rolling, aquatic herbicides, grass carp fish, bottom barriers, bottom screens, and of course manual harvesting. This technique is the main tool used by Freeland to clear lakes in Kootenai County and other North Idaho area lakes that are infested. While the task seems daunting when approaching 700 acre infestations of milfoil, Freeland's persistence has helped to control the spread of Eurasian milfoil. One of the more intriguing biological control possibilities is the milfoil weevil, or Euhrychiopsis lecontei. An employee from the Washington State Department of Ecology stated that these weevils occur naturally in many northwest lakes and love to eat European milfoil. Unfortunately, attempts to introduce the weevils into new lakes have not been successful and studies are being conducted in 1997 by the University of Washington to explore why. The weevil may hold promise as a biolo

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 786
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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