Invasive plant must be stopped in Cayuga Inlet
The State University College at Oneonta Biological Field Station reports a water chestnut was found growing in Otsego Lake again this year. That is at least the fourth time that water chestnuts have been found _ and removed _ from Otsego Lake. If only zebra mussels could be controlled so easily.
There is a new threat to our lakes and to our recreation in them and to the value of our properties around them. This threat could potentially make water chestnut and zebra mussels look like minor irritants. This threat regularly costs Floridians hundreds of millions of dollars per year to control so that they can use Florida's lakes and rivers.
This threat, the aquatic plant Hydrilla, could potentially choke our lakes from their shorelines out to depths of 17 feet or more. Hydrilla is now present in upstate New York. Hydrilla is growing in the Cayuga Lake Inlet. If it moves from there into Cayuga Lake, it will spread from there to Seneca Lake, to Lake Ontario, and to the Erie Canal (which is in our backyard).
It is not feasible to remove Hydrilla from Cayuga Lake or from Seneca Lake once it enters those extensive water bodies.
We must stop it in the Cayuga Inlet.
Paul H. Lord
Cooperstown
