Students remove invasive plants
By Angie Landsverk
Lake Weyauwega continues to be a classroom for Weyauwega-Fremont High School students.
Lynn Ponto’s Science Issues class was at the lake on Sept. 12, to learn how to identify and remove Flowering Rush from the lake.
Flowering Rush is an emergent invasive species.
The plant grows under the water and comes up over it.
It is not native to this area, and has the ability to out compete native plants.
“Reach down as far down as you can into the water and grab as much of the plant as you can and gently pull it out. You’re not achieving anything if you come out without the root,” said Anna Cisar.
She is a regional aquatic invasive species coordinator at Golden Sands Resource Conservation and Development Council, and taught the students about the invasive plant.
The council is dedicated to preserving natural resources, and designs and manages programs throughout Central Wisconsin.
This includes teaching lake users how to maintain water quality and control the spread of invasive species.
Each September, Ponto arranges this particular field trip for her students.
Like last year, Cisar served as the instructor.
She showed the students a plant that looks much like Flowering Rush, and how to tell the difference between the two of them.
Cisar told the students to work from the outside of the lake toward the center of it, where there is a large amount of Flowering Rush.
“Last September, we had a 15 to 20-foot path through there. We’d like to create that again, open the channel up,” she said.
Bob Van Epps, a member of Weyauwega Lake Restoration, was also at the lake that day.
“We’re very excited about the young adults helping, because they’re our future,” he said. “We’re optimistic some will want to continue in the next generation.”
Weyauwega Lake Restoration was involved in the drawdown of Lake Weyauwega.
The drawdown began in June 2011 and ended in April 2013.
“This is as good as shape as it has been in years this time of year,” Van Epps said of the lake.
The removal of invasive species continues to be part of Lake Weyauwega’s maintenance plan.
“The whole concept is it’s a perpetual program,” he said.
Van Epps hopes teaching students about invasive plants and how they affect lakes may spark some students to pursue environmental science degrees and careers after high school.
It is Mike Koch who lets the students have access to the lake via his property.
“We all can win if we all get involved,” he said.
Weyauwega Lake Restoration has another upcoming project.
The organization invites people to help restore the lake’s beach area, making an area for fishing.
This is taking place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.
Van Epps said they particularly want to make it an area where youth and those with disabilities may fish.
With the work to include pulling weeds out of the lake, people are asked to dress accordingly.
The public is also invited to attend Weyauwega Lake Restoration’s October meeting.
It is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in the council chambers at city hall.
The agenda includes a presentation about the Waupaca River watershed, as well as a fisheries update.