Local

Destructive hydrilla invading Lake Norman

By SHERRY KITTS, Staff Writer

Jan. 30, 2002 - It’s straight out of a ’50s B movie: noxious, slimy green plant rapidly reproduces, threatening to overrun a community.

But hydrilla is for real and it’s taken up residence in Lake Norman.

“It is a major concern,” said Lake Keeper Jay Bunzey last week as he used a rake to pull up clumps of the fast growing plant from water next to a boat landing off Beatties Ford Road on Neck Road.

The plant is spreading and there is no easy way to eradicate it, he said.

 Hydrilla, he said, could hinder swimming and boating and makes the water habitat inhospitable for other plants and animals.

And, apart from recreational concerns, it can post a problem for humans as well.

His wife Selah, also a Lake Keeper,  is equally concerned.

“This is our drinking water,” she said.

Hydrilla, which reproduces through fragmentation, buds and tubers, can lay dormant for a decade, grow up to 30 feet in length — up to one inch a day in sunny conditions.

The plant was first discovered in the U.S. in 1960, and is native to Africa, Australia, and parts of Asia.

Now the plant has taken up residence in area lakes.

A Duke Power hydrilla distribution map dated October 2001 shows several weed beds flourish off shore in several Denver locations: near Westport area, off Unity Church Road around Pine Lake Road.

Near Triangle, beds are off Willow Cove Road, around Claude Gilbert and Malibu Point.

The heaviest Lake Norman growth areas, however, are just across the Iredell County line, around Alexander Island.

Infested areas include Queens Cove and Malibu Point to the east as the plant surrounds the entire area to the west, along the shoreline.

Other sites are around Sundown Road, and to the south at Royal Point around Isle Pines Road, and to the north, the infestation stretches from Exits 33 to 36 off I-77, in the shallow waters along the shoreline.

Only a fraction of Lake Norman’s 32,475 acres — an estimated 40 acres — are currently been affected, but they could be just the beginning.

In other Catawba River chain lakes, the problem is much worse.

In Lake James, 350 acres have been taken over and Mountain Island Lake, where hydrilla was discovered just two years ago, is infested with 625 acres of the unwanted weed.

“It’s turning into a problem for us all,” said Mountain Island Lake volunteer Pam Beck.

Beck says Lake Norman residents should be grateful that Norman is deep, because the plant thrives in shallow water, and roots grow near the surface branching out to form a dense mat.

Duke Power aquatic marine Biologist Ken Manuel, says Duke environmentalists discovered hydrilla in Lake Norman in 2000. Manuel suspects someone dumping fish aquarium plants into the lake is to blame.

The biologist says any tropical plant, not native to the area, is a danger.

“Aquatic plants, such as water lilies grow rapidly and should never be released into the lake,” Manuel said.

Jay Bunzey and Ken Manuel recently took their findings before the Lake Norman Maine Commission. Bunzey said they were initially met with skepticism.

“They said it couldn’t be that bad,” Bunzey said.

A slide program showing the hydrilla changed their reaction.

One possible solution, discussed by the commission, is to stock Lake Norman with 750,000 hydrilla-eating Asian Grass Carp at a cost of $3.75 million  — or $5 per fish.

The expense would be ongoing. Because of a concern about the fish overpopulating the lake, the fish would be sterilized. As the fish die out, the lake would have to restocked every two to three years at an estimated cost of $100,000 to $150,000.

Bunzey said the commission is now “kind of waiting.”

Mountain Island Lake, at 3,281 acres was stocked with 12,000 of the carp in 2000 and 200. The project was funded by the state and the cities of Charlotte and Gastonia.

Bunzey says it is too early to tell if the fish have made a difference, and there are no definite plans to put the fish into Lake Norman.

 “There are no plans until it gets worse,” Bunzey said.

According to the Lake Keeper, the plant is spreading throughout the chain of lakes, by catching a ride on boats.

If any part of the plant is left on boats it can carry it from one location to another, he said. The  carpet on a boat ramp can hold tubers, fragments, and buds that can be taken to other bodies of water, thus spreading the infestation.

Hydrilla, Bunzey said, is eating its way through the Catawba River system, which supports numerous municipal water facilities, 11 reservoirs and 18 power-generating plants.

And it can affect facility operations.

“Some hydrilla broke off and clogged up the dam at Lake Wateree,” he said.

Duke Power spokeswoman Gwen Savage said Duke Lake Management, which oversees Lake Norman, is working with state agencies to determine how to deal with the hydrilla threat.

The company has posted signs at access areas to make lake users aware of the plant, and how to prevent it from spreading and there are  plans to spray the “nuisance plant.”

“We will be applying herbicides and will protect Duke Power’s interests,” she said.

However, she warns residents not to spray hydrilla themselves as the chemicals used could be toxic to the lake. Lake users should also refrain from adding  alien plants or animals into the lake environment.

“If it didn’t naturally occur, then don’t put it in the lake,” Savage said.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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