By Dee Grenert
Editor

CULVER — Hydrilla wants to dominate Lake Maxinkuckee.

Mark Mongin of the Indiana Lakes Management Society (ILMS) brought that sobering message to a hydrilla identification workshop at the Culver-Union Twp. Public Library Saturday morning.

Mongin displayed specimens of the exotic, invasive species at the program, co-sponsored by ILMS and the Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council (LMEC).

“Hydrilla’s goal is to take over the lake,” Mongin said. “Hydrilla’s goal in life is to grow to the top of the lake and spread over the surface.

“(Hydrilla) is like a cockroach,” he added. “It’s going to persist. That’s why you’ve got to catch it early; it’s just such an aggressive little reproducer.”

Mongin said two physical features define hydrilla. First of all, hydrilla always has four or five leaves, whorled around a stem. While hydrilla bears a resemblance to native elodea, Mongin said the beneficial elodea sports only two or three leaves.

Also, nut-like tubers — the size of a pea, kidney bean or lima bean — grow at the roots.

“If you pull it up and it has these tubers, it’s hydrilla,” Mongin said. “There’s no guess. It’s telltale. Hydrilla is the only plant with these tubers. Looking at a cross section of leaves is a great way to identify and not overreact.”

First introduced into United States waters through aquarium dumps, hydrilla made its initial — and as yet only — appearance in Indiana last year in Rochester’s Lake Manitou. That body of water is currently closed to the public while undergoing treatment to defeat the nuisance.

The pesky aquatic plant’s discovery in Lake Manitou, part of the Tippecanoe River watershed with Lake Maxinkuckee, puts the Culver lake at risk.

“Hydrilla’s in the state; that ship’s already left,” Mongin said. “Manitou is only 700 acres.

Maxinkuckee is 1,800 acres, so it would be a bigger problem to treat.”

Should a person suspect a hydrilla sighting, Mongin said to identify the precise location in the lake and notify a local person, such as LMEC Executive Director Tina Hissong.

“The preferred method is to remove a sample without removing the whole thing,” Mongin said. “Then notify someone like Tina first. My advice is to go local because they’ve got a big stake in the lake.”
Mongin also cautioned boaters, particularly fishermen who travel from lake to lake, to keep their crafts clean.

“The likelihood is that we’re moving plants with our watercrafts,” he said.

Should hydrilla infest Lake Maxinkuckee, Mongin said early detection would be essential.

“Don’t let it grow over the whole lake,” he said. “If it does, economics will prevail. The only way is responsible use of herbicide.

“There’s really only one chance to do this right,” he concluded. “I believe the Manitou and Rochester communities are doing it right.”