Invasive species

SubCommittees

Mailing Address

Apple Canyon Lake Property Owners’ Association
14A157 Canyon Club Drive
Apple River, Illinois 61001
Phone (815) 492-2238
Fax (815) 492-2160

http://www.applecanyonlake.org/

Invasive Species

Land Species

Purple loosestrife

Water Species

Algae and Blue Green algae

Floating Plants

Submerged Plants

Eurasian Watermilfoil

Zebra Mussels

The Zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a bivalve mussel native to freshwater lakes of southeast Russia. Its native distribution is Pontic and Caspian Sea. Zebra mussels are considered an invasive species in North America and in Sweden. They hitched a ride in ballast tanks on ships or on anchors and chains. They were first detected in the Great Lakes in 1988. Zebra mussels have cost North America billions of dollars in impacts each year. They out competing native species for food, clog intake valves, damage harbors, boats, and power plants. Trailered boat traffic is the most likely vector for invasion into the North American west. This spread is preventable if boaters would take time to thoroughly clean and dry their boats and associated equipment before transporting these to new water bodies.

Zebra mussels get their name from the striped pattern on their shells, though not all shells bear this pattern. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length of nearly two inches.

An adult female zebra mussel is one of the most reproductive organisms in the world. It may produce between 30,000 and 40,000 eggs per year. Zebra mussels can survive out of water for several days or weeks if temperature is low and humidity is high

Southern Naiad or Bushy Pondweed

Clean Boats Clean Water Video – Erin spent quite a bit of time at various conference learning our important keeping our lake clean from invasive species is and how much it can impact our lake very quickly. There currently is a fish virus in nearby lakes which the committee discussed. The Territories canceled a tournament due to the concern over a virus

How can we achieve low cost cleaning of boats before entering ACL so that not only the fish virus, but other invasive species cannot be introduced into our lake? This is a critical question and issue. Pleasure Boat and fishing boats that are brought in and out of the water at ACL that are in and out of other lakes and rivers must be cleaned prior to enter ACL lake, or we can easily introduce the wrong kind of species to our lake.

What is Eurasian Watermilfoil?

Eurasian Watermilfoil is an invasive species of an aquatic plant native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its first documented sighting in North America was in 1942 in the District of Columbia. It was most likely brought to this continent in the ballast of a ship and has since spread to almost every continental state and throughout Canada.

What does Eurasian Watermilfoil look like?

Eurasian Watermilfoil resembles the common native Northern Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum). There are several distinguishing characteristics that can be used to differentiate between each of these two species.

Eurasian Watermilfoil:

Native Northern Watermilfoil:

	12-21 leaflet pairs
	Leaves are limp when out of water
	Stem is as thick or thicker than a pencil

	5-10 leaflet pairs
	Leaves are rigid when out of water

Purple Loosestrife

Detail of Purple Loosestrife
Photo by Dave Brenner, Michigan Sea Grant
Download 5x7 1.4mb High Res jpeg

Purple Loosestrife along shoreline
Photo by Dave Brenner, Michigan Sea Grant
Download 5x7 2.9mb High Res jpeg

Some New Species that are making headlines

-Hydrilla is an invasive aquatic plant that was confirmed for the first time in Wisconsin in summer 2007. It was found in a private artificial pond, and the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection is taking the lead in responding.

-VHS, is a fish disease that can kill a broad range of native fish. It has recently been found in Lake Michigan and the Winnebago system.

-Spiny Water Fleas are an invasive species of zooplankton that can disrupt ecosystems and harm native fish populations.

-Emerald Ash Borer is a forest beetle that has already killed 20 million ash trees in the Midwest.

Links to useful sites

Links can constantly change, so in case any links to outside websites do not work you can always go to the main website of their site and then find the pages directly through their home.

For example http://www.chicagowilderness.org/wildchi/landscape/index.cfm here is a website, in case the whole website did not work, you can always go to http://www.chicagowilderness.org just cut off all the extra text after the .org, .gov or .com of the specific website. Notice how we just shortened it.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/index.htm

Texas Aquaplant Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

http://www.wssa.net/

Weed society of America

http://www.aquaticbiologists.com/algae_aquatic.html

Plant identification w/photos

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/

http://www.invasive.org/

http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/intro.htm

Wisconsin DNR

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/invasives/index.html

Minnesota DNR