The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District is on a mission to fight hydrilla, an aggressive plant species that has wreaked havoc in the United States.
“It affects water quality, the economy, businesses, hydropower and flood reduction - ultimately our health and our wallets.” - Michael Greer, USACE Buffalo District project manager
WHAT IS HYDRILLA?
It's earned the title “world’s worst invasive aquatic plant."
It was first discovered in the United States in the 1960s in Florida.
It can grow in a wide variety of water conditions, water temperatures, and light conditions.
It grows extremely rapidly and has no natural predators or diseases.
Buffalo District’s main projects to eradicate hydrilla are at the Erie Canal and Tonawanda Creek, Tonawanda, NY, as well as on Cayuga Lake near Aurora, NY and Ithaca, NY. The District provides assistance on Pymatuning Lake which borders Pennsylvania and Ohio, and at Raystown Lake in south central Pennsylvania. Buffalo District is also lending expertise to a project on the Connecticut River.
"We've been in Aurora for the last three years and achieved really good results. In Ithaca we didn't find any hydrilla this year."
Every year, the Buffalo District team collaborates with researchers from the University of Florida’s Center for Aquatic Invasive Species and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center to look at data and discuss the way ahead as a team. The Buffalo District team then explains ideas and plans to stakeholders including the New York State Canal Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and various local partners.
"We Have the country's foremost experts on our team."
The Corps of Engineers is authorized to treat hydrilla under Section 104 of the River and Harbor Act of 1958, through the Aquatic Plant Control Research Program. Funding for the project is available through the Corps of Engineers Aquatic Plant Control Research Program and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.