John Oxford
MOULTRIE — It has a beautiful bloom and may adorn paintings and photographs. But the beauty becomes costly when it clogs waterways. It’s called a water hyacinth.
An environmental group from Florida spent Tuesday and today on the Little River at Reed Bingham State Park spraying the weeds which have been causing problems in both Georgia and Florida streams.
John Layer, president of Florida Environmental Consultants, Inc., said Florida had problems with water hyacinth in the Withlacoochee and Suwanee Rivers. After removing the weeds in Florida, it was believed the weeds had drifted down the Little River at Reed Bingham into the Withlacoochee, so the group came up north to help address the problem here.
In order to kill the hyacinth, Layer said the group was spraying the weeds with a herbicide that has been in use since the 1940’s called 2,4-D.
“I think we’ll be in good shape once (the water hyacinths) are eliminated here,” Layer said.
Reed Bingham Park Manager Chet Powell said the project was being paid for by a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The project has been in planning for several months between Georgia and Florida, and Powell said everything, including the use of the chemicals, was approved in both states. Layer said the 2,4-D would only kill the hyacinth but not any of the plants native to Reed Bingham or down into the Florida rivers.
Powell said what makes the weeds a problem is the whole plant system floats on the water and reproduces by splitting off the main system.
The project between the two states is significant because it shows Georgia and Florida working together on a common problem, Powell said. The weed removal will help farm ponds and boaters who get into the lakes in addition to those who rely on the waterways. Visiting boats could spread the weed to other locations.
“For the two different state agencies to come together shows a lot of foresight on their part,” Powell said.
Even with the work being done to remove the hyacinth, Powell said the park is still having problems with another type of weed, hydrilla. Those weeds have clogged up parts of the river and lake.
The measures being used now to drop pellet chemicals to kill the weeds is only a temporary fix for the hydrilla problem, Powell said. The lake was nearly closed because of the weeds this summer, and it may have to be closed next summer if drought conditions continue. The way to remove the weeds is to drain the lake, and Powell would like to secure federal funding to do so sometime soon.
