Help Needed Sunday!! Invasive Plant about to Escape from Brice Prairie Shore! Date: 10/10/2015 04:41 PM From: Fritz To: Participating Natural Resource Agencies and Volunteers Brice Prairie Folks: Help urgently needed on Sunday!! An infestation of invasive, very aggressive "water lettuce" has been found along the Brice Prairie shore from the "tubes" down towards Red Pines. This is a floating plant that is currently stuck in the wild rice and weeds along the shore. On Monday, VERY strong NW winds will likely knock the rice down and distribute the invasive water lettuce all over the lake. The plant is easy to clean up (now) - just pick it up - it is not attached to the bottom. We have a shot at stopping it, but ONLY if we get a good turnout of effort before Monday's winds pick up! BEST GEAR: canoe or kayak and bags or buckets to put plants in. 2nd BEST GEAR: small, maneuverable motorboat, chest waders, and walking stick. Anchor boat in shallow nearshore area and walk around an infested area. OTHER CHOICE: Meet USFWS crews at Fred Funk landing at 9am to ride along in their boats. Chest waders helpful. TIME: Best to do this in the morning - the wind will be picking up Sunday afternoon. I plan to head out at 7am, but any effort you can provide will be helpful. Watch the weather and be safe. A MAP of the TARGET AREA for Sunday is attached. We have more time to clean up the more protected Brice Prairie Channel, but the open lake areas shown are most at risk for broadcasting the plant immediately. More information and pictures of the plant are below. There is nothing that looks like water lettuce native to here - easy to recognize. The plant resembles an open floating head of lettuce, with feathery roots. Disposition: bag it for destruction with garbage. Source: currently surmised to be an aquarium or garden pond release up by "tubes". The species is "prohibited" in Wisconsin.; Feel free to contact me if questions: fritz@funk.io or 608-799-7533 Here's some official info on the species: http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/waterlettuce.shtml http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/fact/WaterLettuce.html Attachments: SundayMap.jpg 129 KB