Take measures to prevent spread of invasive species while enjoying nature

by CHRIS YOUNG

GateHouse Media Illinois

Posted May 04, 2013 @ 07:21 PM

When it comes to preventing the spread of invasive species, people who love the outdoors should take steps to be sure they are not part of the problem.

Many invasive species — defined as plants and animals that can cause economic and ecological harm — crowd out native species and can be difficult to control.

Chris Evans, invasive species campaign coordinator with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said people need to learn to identify invasive species and help prevent their spread.

“One thing they can do is familiarize themselves with the invasives,” Evans said. “Learn what is in your area.”
One example is Japanese stilt grass, an annual that is a major invader of forests in southern Illinois.
Evans said the plant is making its way northward, probably because seeds are carried on boots, all-terrain vehicles and even horses.

“We re trying to get people to watch for it,” he said.

Officials in Illinois are keeping a close eye on hydrilla, an aquatic plant.

Photo via Wikipedia:

Hydrilla verticillata collection LakeSeminoleFL.jpg

“It’s not here yet,” Evans said. “But it is pretty abundant south and east and is showing up a few places in the Midwest. It can just dominate in a reservoir or aquatic system.”

It was once sold as an aquarium plant, according to www.protectyourwaters.net.

So great is the threat that a task force has been formed to plan a response should hydrilla appear in Illinois.
Like another invasive aquatic plant, Eurasian water milfoil, it spreads by plant fragments that can hitch a ride on boats.

As temperatures warm and people head outside, Evans said people should clean their shoes and equipment (including boats) before moving from one site to another.

For landowners who don’t know if they have a problem, Evans suggests a visit to a local University of Illinois Extension or U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service office. Local staff members will be familiar with problem plants in your area.

“If they don’t know the answer to your question, they will know who to ask,” Evans said.
Some of the invaders are in the news frequently — the advance of Asian carp is one familiar example. But carp and plants aren’t the only invaders....read more

Great Lakes invaders wreak $200 million damage-study

By Michael Conlon, Reuters

CHICAGO, July 16 (Reuters) - Invasive species that have hitched rides into the Great Lakes since they were connected to the sea nearly 50 years ago are causing $200 million a year in damages, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The figure is conservative and does not include damage done to the Canadian economy or other parts of the United States where some of the invaders have traveled by water, said the report from the Center for Aquatic Conservation at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, 57 species have been carried in via oceangoing vessels, usually in ballast water, the report said.

But if the parade of organisms, which includes the zebra mussel and round goby, stopped tomorrow, the costs "would unfortunately continue" because the damage estimates are based on what has already happened, said David Lodge, an ecologist who directs the Notre Dame center.

The report said that as of 2006 the losses to sport and commercial fishing and tourism and impacts on water treatment and supplies was at least $200 million per year. Lodge said the study did not go beyond 2006 but it could be assumed the costs were continuing.

"Considering that new invasive species are being discovered every year, and species already present are spreading, it is likely that the losses experienced in 2006 will increase in following years," the study said.

Zebra mussels, which can clog water intake pipes and rob the water of small plankton on which other species live, have spread across North America as far west as Nevada and California, the report said.

Species such as the Eurasian ruffe compete for survival with native yellow perch and walleye while the round goby preys on smallmouth bass nests.

Of the estimated losses the biggest -- $123.6 million - were in the recreational fishing sector, in which total annual spending amounts to $1.5 billion. People enjoying Great Lakes wildlife spend $9.3 billion annually, with the loss in that sector put at $47.7 million. Water use facilities, including 13 nuclear power plants, suffered $27 million in losses, the study found.

Great Lakes United, a conservation group, said the invasive species problem is a "growing national crisis."

"Before the U.S. Congress adjourns for the elections, the Senate must agree to legislation already passed by the House of Representatives that puts in place protections against invasive species," said the group's Jennifer Nalbone.

She said the legislation would require ocean vessels coming to any U.S. port to install treatment technology by as early as next year to clean their ballast water. (Reporting by Michael Conlon; Editing by Andrew Stern)

Invasive Species Threaten Great Lakes

by David Schaper

NPR.org, July 7, 2008 · The blue-green waters of the Great Lakes seem cleaner and clearer than ever before — but while cleaner is good, clearer isn't necessarily so.

"It's a bad thing because the water looks clean because it's becoming sterile," says Cameron Davis, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, at a recent visit to a beach in Evanston, Ill.

He says zebra mussels and other invasive species that have worked their way into the Great Lakes filter out the food, making the water clear. At the same time, he says, "it's really stripping the food base out of the food web, such that we're really in danger of unraveling the food chain we have in this region."

Zebra mussels first invaded the Great Lakes through the ballast water of ships from Europe about 20 years ago. Colonies accumulate on the water intake and discharge pipes of power plants, municipal water plants, irrigation systems and even on boat hulls and motors, causing frequent problems. But they wreak havoc on ecosystems because they consume huge amounts of phytoplankton, like algae, effectively starving populations of native fish and other water wildlife.

And now scientists say that another invasive mussel has arrived that might even be doing worse damage to the lakes.

The thumbnail-sized quagga mussel, also carried in ballast water, is native to the Russian area of the Black Sea and first began appearing in the Great Lakes about a decade ago. Quagga populations tripled between 2005 and 2007 to a quadrillion, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates. Quaggas now carpet the bottom of Lake Michigan and parts of the other Great Lakes. To some extent, they are even crowding out the zebra mussels.

"It's the same problem, times 10," Joel Brammeier of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times. As a result, commercial and sports fishermen and women are seeing fewer and thinner fish.

Another species that threatens to invade the Great Lakes is the Asian carp. The carp is working its way up the Illinois River system and edging closer to Lake Michigan. Federal officials hope to stop its migration with an electric fence-like barrier installed on a canal that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, and ultimately, links the Great Lakes to the Mississippi.

The most frightening invasive species is actually a virus known as viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS. This Ebola-like virus doesn't threaten humans, but it could be a huge threat to the Great Lakes' $4 billion commercial and sport fishing industry. The infection causes fish to hemorrhage and die by the thousands — and unlike other viruses, it seems to attack all species.

"A new invasive species comes into the Great Lakes on average every six to eight months," says Davis. "Prevention is really the name of the game. Once these species get in, it's very hard to get them back out. That's why we need Congress to act to get invasive species controls in place now, and it's been very slow going."

Davis and others hope the attention given to the compact prohibiting large-scale water diversions from the Great Lakes also spurs Congress to pass legislation preventing ballast water from being dumped into the Great Lakes.

The lakes "look big, it looks like you can't hurt it," says Davis, "but in fact, these Great Lakes are incredibly delicate and fragile."

Invasive species pose biggest lake challenge

May 22, 2008

By Gitte Laasby Post-Tribune staff writer

There's mixed news for Lake Michigan and its future, according to experts.

The good news is that some of the most dangerous chemicals in the lake are on the decline.

The bad news is that invasive species pose a threat to the lake in the coming years because they can cause harm to native plants and animals and human health. Officials hope sturgeon and lake trout can help solve the problem.

A comparison of 1994-1995 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with more recent data from Michigan showed that levels of PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, have declined, said Gary Kohlhepp with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Most of the PCBs that still enter the lake come from the air, especially in the Chicago area. PCBs seem to be evaporating out of the lake at a faster pace than it's coming in, he said.

Data and modeling show much of the pollution that enters the lake comes from air deposition, contaminated sediment and tributaries such as the Fox River in Wisconsin and various tributaries in Michigan. Contaminated sediment from the Grand Calumet River also contributes to the pollution, but on a smaller scale.

Mercury levels still exceed EPA guidelines in most trout and salmon. Most of it comes from air pollution, but some comes from solids in the water that settle. The challenge is that many of the pollutants keep cycling through the ecosystem and never completely disappear, Kohlhepp said.

"Once a contaminant is there, it tends to stay there," he said.

Officials said invasive species, such as quagga mussels and zebra mussels and Asian carp, may pose the biggest challenge to the lake. The mussels enter the lake through ballast water and boating. They help filter the water, but also provide nutrients with their fecal matter, which contributes to algae growth, and they compete with fish for other food.

The spread of invasive species is hard to control. But sturgeon naturally reproduce in eight Lake Michigan tributaries, and are now being re-introduced into Lake Michigan. That could help control invasive species like mussels, said Judy Beck, a Lake Michigan team manager of the Great Lakes National Program Office under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"For some reason, they think invasives are tasty, so that might solve a lot of problems," Beck said.

Lake trout, which spawn in the tributaries and parts of Lake Michigan, also eat mussels.

Cleanup of contaminated hotspots are important for sustaining fishery, Beck said. Congress is considering funding for the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which would provide up to $150 million a year to do that.

Efforts to control the spread of Asian carp are also under way.

"What can be done? In the short term, completing the electrical barrier system" to prevent the carp from entering the lake, said Michael Hoff with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Fisheries.

In the long term, he said, better education and more effective measures are needed.