SHORELINES

Alabama Power uses four measures to control aquatic plants: • Cultural control, which focuses on preventing invasive plants from being introduced into lakes and requires educating lake users about the threat. • Physical control, which includes hand-pulling the plants or lowering water levels to expose the plants to freezing and drying. • Biological control, which pits one organism against another to suppress growth. (Examples include using grass carp to control variable leaf milfoil, which Alabama Power has done on urlow Lake, and alligatorweed flea beetles to control alligatorweed on Neely Henry Lake.) • Chemical control, or spraying herbicides on plants to kill them. Yerby says spraying herbicides blessed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the most common control measures employed by Alabama Power and others that manage aquatic vegetation on lakes. "ese herbicides are EPA-approved for aquatic use, and many of them have been developed over the years to pinpoint a specific metabolic activity in these plants," he says. "So they don't harm any other organisms in the environment. ese herbicides are really safe. In fact, some of the products we use on the lakes were designed to control algae in public drinking water systems. ey're very specific to the plant we're trying to control." Company employees treat about 1,500 acres a year, which may sound like a lot, but that's less than 1 percent of the 156,057 total acres of Alabama Power's lakes. Because the lakes are so large, the plant management program's staff relies on the public for help. "Public education is such a key part of what we do. We can't be everywhere on our reservoirs, and we depend on lake users to let us know when they see something out of the ordinary," Yerby says. "We would rather you contact us, even if it's a false report, just to let us know that you see something, rather than not say anything and an exotic plant get out of control." Lake users can help prevent the spread of aquatic plants by cleaning their boats and trailers before transporting equipment. Possessing or distributing aquatic plants on the state and federal noxious weed list is illegal without a permit. Alabama Power also responds to requests from the public – more than 800 in 2017 – to spray to control plant growth around docks, boathouses and shoreline. For more information about Alabama Power's Aquatic Plant Management Program or to report suspicious aquatic plants, visit apcshorelines.com/shoreline-management/. 8 | 2018 Vol:1

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