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Milfoil Infiltrates Two More New Hampshire Lakes

Flikr Creative Commons / clrlakesand

The New HampshireDepartment of Environmental Serviceshas found two more lakes in New Hampshire that have been infested with milfoil, an invasive aquatic plant. DES announcedthat Otter Pond in Greenfield and Naticook Lake in Merrimack both have well-established milfoil infestations.

Andrea LaMoreaux from the New Hampshire Lakes Associationsays the plant appears to have been growing in both water bodies for two or three years. She says unfortunately neither water body had a lake hosts to check boats for exotic plants, or weed watchers to detect them before they get established.

LaMoreaux: When groups do the Lake Hosting and the weed watching, lakes that are doing both of those programs have not become infested.

LaMoreaux says New Hampshire has around a thousand lakes, 78 of which are now infested with milfoil.

A partnership between the New Hampshire Lakes Association and DES hires 226 people to volunteer as Lake Hosts to inspect boats going in and out of public boat ramps, checking for "hitch-hiking" aquatic weeds.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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