Re: Invasive water lettuce found along Brice Prairie shore

From: "Niemec, Kendra" <kendra_niemec@fws.gov>
Date: 10/09/2015 01:44 PM
To: Participating Natural Resource Agencies and Volunteers

Fritz et al,

Scott and I took the airboat today and searched for water lettuce.  We believe we found the source up near the tubes and there is a pretty good infestation from about 1/4 mile north of Fred Funk landing to the tubes.  We did not find it on the west side (Lake Onalaska side) of the Brice Prairie Islands.  We also did not find it near Schafer's or around Rosebud Island.

However, it does appear that it has blown out of the channel and into Lake Onalaska where the barrier islands end.  The concentration is not heavy but it could move downriver from here and that would not be good.  

I saw Marc at the landing this morning and he mentioned you and him may head out to collect some of it tomorrow.  If you could concentrate on the shoreline from Lake Park Drive to County Rd Z that would be ideal.  We are downloading the GPS points so I will let you know how far south we located it.  We found it scattered throughout the algal beds so it is not only right on the shoreline.

We have to put out the Lake Onalaska buoys next Tuesday and Wednesday so will keep our eyes open for it then and then conduct some more control on Thursday most likely.  

Thanks for all the help and letting us know what you find...take care,


Kendra Niemec
Deputy District Manager
La Crosse District
Upper Mississippi River NW&FR
	
N5727 County Road Z
Onalaska, WI 54650

608-779-2386 Office
608-779-2393 Fax
608-780-7302 Cell

On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 7:56 PM, Fritz <fritz@funk.io> wrote:

    Kendra -

    I easily filled two tall kitchen garbage bags with water lettuce this evening in a 300 foot stretch of shore by my house (map attached).  It likes to hang up in the wild rice.  I tried to count rosettes for awhile but there were too many and counting clumps doesn't work because sometimes they are attached to many others and sometimes not.....so just two kitchen garbage bags for a volume estimate.    Well over a thousand rosettes (lettuce heads) in my two bags.

    A canoe or kayak works very well - a boat would not be maneuverable enough.  Chest waders would be best for a lot of areas.  It just blows around like a portuguese man-o-war.  That said, I'm quite sure in the recent strong north winds it must have distributed all over the southern areas of the lake by now too.

    It doesn't seem to visibly break off when you pick it up, so I think we could make a good dent in it with enough effort, if done soon.

    --Fritz