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Loosestrife by Drew There is very little purple loosestrife around China Lake. Although we have some it has not taken over any wetlands completely. I chose this plant because my sister likes purple. Loosestrife is purple and it can grow up to 6 feet tall. They say that it looks like Godzilla. It is like a disease that spreads through wetlands. Loosestrife has been here for many years, and it can spread seeds underground.It grows in meadows, ditches, shores, and marshes.It's lower leaves are usually in sets of four and dark green. The flowers are 1?2 to 2/3 of an inch. It is a wildflower, and they do not live in Spring or Winter. It also can overwhelm native plants. Loosestrife can cover large patches of land. Loosestrife can be found in groups of 50-200 plants. Beetles are being used to control the loosestrife. The Galerucella beetle can only live by eating loosestrife. It takes 2 years for the beetles to come out of the egg to become adults. Research found 2 types of beetles that eat purple loosestrife. I think the government should think about having the beetles on China Lake because they can control the loosestrife, and the loosestrife might damage China Lake. We do not want China Lake to be hu

Native and Eurasian Milfoil by Kenny There are many types of Milfoil both dangerous and good. It's very hard to get rid of once it is in the lake. Milfoil seeds get stuck on boats and bloom. Cities and states spend thousands and even more dollars every year to kill milfoil but it does not always work. China is trying to avoid a serious problem with milfoil. The good, native milfoil, looks like the Eurasian milfoil, but Eurasian milfoil is a darker brown color, and has more squiggly leaves. Native milfoil is a light brown color and it's not that squiggly. It is pointy and it looks like a tree under water. It has a flower like plant on top of it. Milfoil also grows well in water that is polluted. The oil in polluted water helps seeds get stuck on the boats. Also Eurasian Milfoil can kill little bugs and animals too. Milfoil kills them by using up the space and resources that they need to survive. All the New England states are trying to get rid of invasive (bad) milfoil. Some scientists have found a way to get rid of it, but usually it is not effective. The best way to stop the spread of milfoil is prevention. Eurasian milfoil is not in China Lake yet, but people need to watch out for it. To avoid milfoil don't pollute the water and make sure to clean off your boat and never dump aquariums into the wat

Milfoil by Jim I bet most of you are wondering what milfoil is. Well, it is a plant that can ruin the lake and your fun. How does it ruin the lake? When a seed of the milfoil plant sprouts in the lake it spreads. If your lake gets invasive milfoil, call (207) 225-2070 you will get a worker from Volunteer Monitoring Program for the state of Maine. Fourteen lakes, ponds, and rivers so far have milfoil in Maine. Check and clean your boats and trailers for tiny pieces of milfoil before you put them in the lake. Let’s try to keep milfoil out of China Lak

General Information 1. Algae is the biggest water quality problem in China Lake. The algae is “fed” by phosphorus-rich runoff. To help prevent runoff, China citizens have adopted a phosphorus control ordinance, educated the public, improved camp roads around the lake, planted buffer strips, and placed rip-rap around the lake to prevent erosion. 2. The main algae types in China Lake are anabaena and aphanizomenon, both blue-green algae. There are also some diatoms, daphnia and cyclops. These phytoplankton and zooplankton form the basis of the food chain in our lake. Daphnia eat blue-green algae, but there aren’t many daphnia in the lake. 3. Boats in Maine must purchase a milfoil sticker, which raises money for important programs to avoid the introduction of this invasive species and also to control it where it is established. Currently, China Lake does not have any milfoil in it. We hope it stays this way! Prevention is the easiest and most inexpensive way to gaurd against milfoil's disasterous effects. 4. Purple loosestrife can be found in ditches on Route 3. This is a highly invasive plant but none has been found in the wetlands directly connected to the lake, y

Milfoil: General Background If you look 'milfoil' up in a dictionary, you will find, 'The yarrow plant, Achillea millefolium.' Millefolium is of French orign, mille-feuille, meaning thousand-leaf. Likewise, if you look up 'yarrow' in the dictionary, you'll find 'milfoil' listed as a synonym or other common name for the plant. However, this is the very common, terrestrial plant, which grows in old pastures, roadsides, wasteplaces, and praries, and is found all over the United States. Yarrow has many medicinal uses including being used as a tea by Native Americans. Yarrow is not to be confused with the many different species of Myriophyllum (MIR-ee-o-Fill-um) water milfoils. Myriophyllum is Greek for myrio:many + phyllon:leaf. There is Farwell's, Various-leaved, Northern, Whorled, and others, including the infamous Eurasian, Myriophyllum spicatum (spi-KAY-tum) which is the exotic introduced to thte United States from its native range of Europe and Asia. This is the species, Maine is hoping to avoid. Both yarrow-Achillea millefolium and the water milfoil species- Myriophylla have feathery appearances. So, it's easy to understand how both plants evolved to have similar common names. This is a case where we can appreciate the use of scientific, Linnean, classification. Sources: Krochmal, Arnold and Connie. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. 1984. Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc. New York. Borman, Susan, Robert Korth, and Jo Temte. 1997. Wisconsin Lakes Partnership. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Stevens Point, WI.

Loosestrife by Adam Loosestrife is a plant that can make two million seeds. They live in rivers, in road-side ditches, shorefront and medows. It can easily cover 50 acres. Loosestrife often lives in groups of 5 to 200 plants. They mainly grow in direct sun. On way to control loosestrife is with a certain type of beetle that eats the leaves.

Algae Algae is a type of plant that is very small and lives in the lake. When it grows out of control it causes a problem for the lake. It is not good when it grows too much. Algae can actually cause fish to die.