Volume 15, No. 1 2008

Greener Roadsides archive

Editor's Note

Shown are ten of the top invasive plants threatening our waters. Some of these waters exist within highway corridors as retention ponds, canals, culverts, mitigation streams, bogs and marshes, and/or runoff ditches. Corridor waters can connect, or be adjacent to, rivers and lakes where water sports, fishing, and hunting are enjoyed in each state. Aquatic weeds and other invaders are threatening active and passive uses of waters across the country. They wreak economic and environmental damage we cannot afford.

Control of "aquatic weeds" became eligible for Federal-Aid funding upon the passage of SAFETEA-LU, Section 6006. Guidance explaining this section was published on May 16, 2006. It explained terrestrial weed control and vegetation establishment funding provisions, but little about aquatic weeds. We already knew about the spread of riparian weeds like tamarisk, Russian olive, melaleuca and phragmites. Yet we found ourselves behind the curve in knowledge and best practices related to aquatics in general.

This issue provides a primer on aquatic weeds. Some of these species, like purple loosestrife, have been around for hundreds of years and have spread in the past few decades. Others, like giant salvinia, reached our shores only a decade ago. Salvinia is considered one of the world's worst weeds. Mats of this weed have grown to be more than 2 feet thick. Salvinia over-winters in the southern tier of states and is likely to continue to adapt to our changing climate. We all need to get ahead of the curve on aquatic weeds. It is the intention of this issue to help you get started!

Aquatic weed law is where this problem gets murky. Although we have had noxious weed law in the United States for more than two centuries, it has been applied only to plants that harm agriculture, human health, and the environment. Not until recent history has weed law included aquatic plants. Currently, states are adding them to noxious weed law or are creating new invasive species laws. As such laws emerge, other invasive aquatic plants will likely be added. Depending on your region of work, plants like water chestnut, Brazilian elodea, flowering rush, reed canarygrass, or saltwater cordgrass will be listed. We will need to pay attention. State aquatic weed laws or invasive weed laws typically apply to the "public waters of the State" or aquatic environments where "floating, emersed, submersed, ditchbank and wetland species" can establish.

Aquatic Weeds, A Primer

Bonnie L. Harper-Lore and Mark W. Skinner

What Are Aquatic Weeds?

During the 1970s and 1980s most land managers used terms like exotic, alien, non-native, or pest plant to describe invasive species. Enter the exotic, alien, non-native pest, the zebra mussel! In the 1990s, Congress added terms like aquatic nuisance species and non-indigenous species. These acts reflected a new understanding of pests that includes invasive species that are environmental and economic threats beyond traditional agriculture and terrestrial natural areas concerns.

State laws followed. Previously, state-listed aquatic weeds were mostly plants that offended our human aesthetic needs. Duckweed, a native plant that floats atop ponds and lakes, is a good example. Waterfowl prefer it but, in their snapshot view of a waterway, lakefront owners and boaters see it as weedy. Now, impacts to recreational and commercial uses as well as the natural environment and human health are reflected in aquatic weed law. Laws vary but legal definitions generally describe aquatic weeds as non-native plants (algae, floating, submerged, emergent, lake and river edge) that impact economic and environmental values. State laws apply to either: 1) "public waters of the State;" or 2) an aquatic environment where "floating, immersed, submersed, ditchbank and wetland species" can establish.

The contemporary view is that aquatic weeds are plants that invade our waters to cause economic and ecological harm. They are listed in state aquatic, noxious, and invasive plant laws.

Why a Transportation Interest?

In 2005, President Bush enacted the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users" (SAFETEA-LU) which includes Section 6006, "Control of Noxious Weeds and Aquatic Noxious Weeds and Establishment of Native Species." The law addresses funding eligibility for weed control and the establishment of vegetation, preferably native plants.

Guidance on aquatic weeds is pending. Aquatic weeds exist on some highway rights-of-way: ditches, holding ponds, mitigation banks, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. They are the responsibility of state departments of transportation as directed in each state weed law. Construction and maintenance practices both should reduce the spread of aquatic weeds as they do with terrestrial weeds. The eligibility established in SAFETEA-LU Section 6006 for use of Federal-Aid funds for control of noxious weeds and establishment of native plants also applies to aquatic weeds.

How Do Federal Aquatic Weed Laws Apply?

The passage of two Federal laws has greatly influenced subsequent state aquatic weed laws. These Federal Acts apply to exotic, alien, non-native animal and plant species.

1. The 1990 Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act (NANPCA) focused on prevention, detection, and monitoring of zebra mussel and other aquatic nuisance species that are economic threats. The Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task Force is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to implementing NANPCA. The Task Force coordinates governmental efforts with the private sector and other interests to prevent and control ANS.
   1. What are ANS? ANS are nonindigenous species (NIS) that threaten the diversity or abundance of native species or the ecological stability of infested waters, or affect commercial, agricultural, aquacultural, or recreational activities dependent on such waters. ANS include NIS that occur in inland, estuarine and marine waters and that currently, or potentially, threaten ecological processes and natural resources.
   2. The Task Force: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Coast Guard are primary sponsors of a national call to action and public awareness campaign called Protect Your Waters. Their Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers campaign defines aquatic hitchhikers as non-native, harmful aquatic plants, animals, or microscopic organisms that can readily be transported to other waters via popular recreational activities. The terms aquatic nuisance species, aquatic invasive species, and non-native, harmful aquatic species are used interchangeably throughout the campaign to describe aquatic hitchhikers. All regional panels use this campaign. http://www.protectyourwaters.net/aboutus.php
   3. Four Regional Panels exist under guidance of the Task Force:
      • The Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species
      • The Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species (100th Meridian Initiative)
      • The Gulf and South Atlantic Regional panel on Aquatic Invasive Species
      • The Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species (NEANS) Panel
2. The 1996 National Invasive Species Act (NISA) broadened the scope to all waters of the United States and included invasive species that cause economic and ecological degradation or pose public health risks. This legislation included exotics like mitten crab, brown mussel, ruffe, Eurasian watermilfoil, and hydrilla. NISA also:
   • Reauthorized the Great Lakes Ballast Program and required ecological surveys.
   • Expanded a ballast water program to the Department of Defense, other national waters, demonstration of technologies and practices by Interior and Commerce.
   • Expanded the ANS Task Force with representatives from the Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary Programs.
   • Encouraged and funded regional panels for 6 years.
   • Provided some $30M over 5 years for state, interstate, and tribal invasive species management plans, an Aquatic Nuisance Species Program, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) research grants.

   What are NIS? NIS are any species or other viable biological material that enters an ecosystem beyond its historic range, including any such organism transferred from one country into another. NIS include both exotics and transplants from other parts of the country. Synonyms for NIS include: introduced, foreign, exotic, alien, non-native, immigrant, and transplants.

State Aquatic Weed Laws:

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin all have some type of aquatic weed law. Purple loosestrife is found on both traditional (terrestrial) and aquatic weed lists, which makes sense since it is found in wetlands and uplands. This is likely to happen in the future with other invasive plants that have broad soil and moisture tolerance or can evolve this tolerance.

State Invasive Plant Laws:

This brings us to another level of state regulation. An invasive plant law listing aquatic plants now exists in Maine. Invasive plant laws authorize departments of natural resources or environmental quality/protection to act because these invasives are harmful to natural areas. It might be easier to maintain one state noxious weed list that includes both terrestrial and aquatic plants, and includes invasives of each category. However, until state departments of agriculture and natural resources can agree on shared authority, this is unlikely to happen.

Aquatic Weed Control, A Historical Account

Information from these references and experience:

• A history by Hoyer and Canfield.
• COE and aquatics

For More Information:

Books

• Bossard, Carla C., John M. Randall and Marc C. Hoshovsky, 200. Invasive Plants of California's Wildlands. University of California Press, Santa Rosa.
• Burrell, C. Colston, 2006. Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York.
• Czarapata, Elizabeth J., 2005. Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
• DiTomaso, Joseph M. and Evelyn A. Healy, 2003. Aquatic and Riparian Weeds of the West. University of California, Davis.
• Harper-Lore, Bonnie L., Maggie Johnson and Mark W. Skinner, 2007. Roadside Weed Management. U. S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Washington D.C.
• Randall, John M. and Janet Marinelli, 1996. Invasive Plants, Weeds of the Global Garden. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York.
• Uva, Richard H., Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. DiTomaso, 1997. Weeds of the Northeast. Cornell University Press, Ithaca.

CD-ROM

• Aquatic Plant Information System, a PC-based information system operating under Windows, developed by the COE, Waterways Experiment Station, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180-6199.

Web Sites

Many state sites are available through conservation or agriculture departments as well as via task forces and invasive councils. Here are some of the regional and national sources of aquatic invasive information:

• Aquatic Plant Control Research Program, COE
• Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida - Offers identification guide with images and line drawings for 94 non-native plants invasive to public waters and conservation lands of the Southeast.
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA, Noxious Weed Program
• Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force
• Great Lakes Information Network - Including invasive Crustaceans, fish, mollusks, with aquatic plants information.
• Invasive and Exotic Species - A joint project of the University of Georgia's Bugwood Network, USDA's Forest Service, and Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. This site hosts an abundance of useful information and images.
• Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program, U.S. Geological Survey - Includes species information and map database.
• NOAA Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - (Sea Grant program - available grants).
• Natural Resource Conservation Service - Funds conservation innovation grants and the wildlife habitat incentives program including aquatic weed work on non-Federal lands.
• National Invasive Species Act Summary
• The National Aquatic Nuisance Species Clearinghouse and Searchable Electronic Database
• National Exotic Marine and Estuarine Species Information System
• National Ballast Information Clearinghouse
• Sea Grant Great Lakes Network
• Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers Campaign - Source of a national newsletter to increase awareness about aquatic weed issues.
• The Plants Database - U.S. Department of Agriculture's plant information with distribution maps.
• The Nature Conservancy Invasive Species Program and UC Davis Partnership on Aquatic Weeds -. Also check out the Natureserve Database for rankings of weed species.

Greener Roadsides is a quarterly publication of the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Planning, Environment and Realty. If you would like to submit letters, comments, or articles please address them to:

Bonnie Harper-Lore
Editor, Greener Roadsides
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Natural and Human Environment
HEPN-30
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20590

Phone: (651)291-6104
Fax: (651)291-6000
[email protected]

All articles are advisory or informational in nature and should not be construed as having regulatory effect. Articles written by private individuals contain the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FHWA.

Publication Number FHWA-HEP-08-022

Questions and feedback should be directed to Marlys Osterhues ([email protected], 202-366-2052).