Hydrophyte Volume 24 Issue 2 - April 2020 by South Florida Aquatic Plant Management Sociey

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The Hydrophyte Volume 24 Issue 2

THE HISTORY OF AQUATIC PLANT MANAGEMENT

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President’s Message

Board Members - 2020 Officers 2020

We hope you enjoy this issue focusing on the history of aquatics. As I reflect upon my history in this industry I ponder on not only the past, but more importantly the future. Many of you reading this work for direct competitors of my company. The beauty of this industry is the ability to maintain true friendships with competitors that are actively seeking a piece of the same pie that feeds my company. I recently attended a conference and the key note speaker said something that truly resonated with me. He said “instead of everyone fighting over pieces of pie, why don’t we all work together to make a bigger pie”. My task assigned to everyone is, help us figure out a way to help our industry grow in the future so we are all successful in our goal of improving the quality of Florida’s natural resources. This task is not to be taken lightly. We have hurdles to jump over together with the public misperceptions of our industry, but I am confident we can all succeed together. I look forward to seeing everyone at the next quarterly meeting and please come up to me or any board of director with suggestions for improving OUR future. Andy Fuhrman President

Andy Fuhrman, President (954) 382-9766 afuhrman@allstatemanagement.com Dail Laughinghouse, Vice President (954) 577-6382 hlaughinghouse@ufl.edu Linda Wolonick, Secretary/Treasurer (954) 370-0041 linda@expertbizsolution.com Hughie Cucurullo, Immediate Past President (561) 845-5525 hcucurullo@avcaquatic.com Board Members 2020 Keith Andreu (239) 694-2174

andreu@lchcd.org

Rose Bechard-Butman (954) 519-0317 rbechardbutman@broward.org James Boggs (352) 521-3538

boggsj@helenachemical.com

Norma Cassinari (334) 741-9393

ngcassinari@alligare.com

Lyn Gettys, Ph.D. (954) 577-6331

lgettys@ufl.edu

Scott Jackson (561) 402-0682 Rory Roten, Ph.D. (321) 890-4367 Dharmen Setaram (407) 670-4094

scott.jackson@syngenta.com roryr@sepro.com dsetaram@landolakes.com

Steven Weinsier (954) 382-9766 sweinsier@allstatemanagement.com

The Francis E. “Chil” Rossbach Scholarship Fund Funds from the scholarship are used to help defray costs for students taking classes related to the study of aquatic environmental sciences or related areas. The scholarship is open to anyone, and all are encouraged to apply. Applications will be accepted throughout the year and the scholarship awarded when a suitable candidate is found. Money raised by the Society during the year partially goes to fund this scholarship, the intent of which is to promote the study of aquatics. For an application, please go to www.sfapms.org.

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In Memory of Stephen Brewer Sunday February 2, 2020 beloved husband and father, Stephen "Steve" Paul Brewer, 71 years old, lost his battle to kidney cancer. Steve was born to the late Paul and Desiree Brewer on June 4th, 1948 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife of 47 years Linda, son Jonathan, daughters Jessica (Jesse) and Christine (Trevor), brothers Jim and Bruce and sister Sandi. Steve received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College in 1970. He moved to Vero Beach in 1980 and called it home ever since. Steve and his brother Jim proudly took over their father's business, Brewer International in 1990 (founded by Paul Brewer 1977) and grew it to be a successful business that still runs to this day. Steve was a loving and loyal friend and will be missed by many. Steve considered Vero Beach to be his own little paradise surrounded by his wife and friends. He was active in the Sunrise Rotary Club and Elks Lodge where he made life-long friends. He often traveled with them for charity work in the Dominican Republic and helped organize the annual Florida Craft Brew & Wingfest whose proceeds went directly back to the community and local charities.

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History of

Invasive Aquatic Weeds By: US Army Corp of Engineers

in Florida

Invasive aquatic plants were first documented in the United States in 1884 Louisiana, where the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was on display at the New Orleans Cotton Exposition. The plant was transported to Florida, and by 1896, tremendous growths of water hyacinths in the St. Johns River were responsible for such navigational hazards as preventing steamboats from reaching their wharves in Palatka; pushing river boats out of the main channel; and stranding fishermen until plant mats were broken up by winds. With commercial river traffic severely impeded in both Louisiana and Florida, the citizens petitioned Congress for assistance. The Sundry Civil Act, approved June 4, 1897, authorized the expenditure of $5,000 for investigation into the extent of plant obstruction to navigable waterways in Florida and Louisiana and possible methods of control. Chapter 425 of The River and Harbor Act of March 3, 1899, authorized the expenditure of $36,000 for the construction of two boats with log booms, and operating costs, to remove the water hyacinths impacting Florida and Louisiana. The Act was amended on June 13, 1902, to include navigable waters in the state of Texas. Funds in the amount of $50,000 were to be used, at the discretion of Secretary of War, in the extermination or removal of such plants by mechanical, chemical, or other means. The River and Harbor Act was further amended in 1905 and 1912, and again in 1916 to include Mississippi in the program. The "Comprehensive Survey for Removal of Water Hyacinths and Other Marine Vegetable Growths," dated November 1, 1948, provided a synopsis of waterhyacinth and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) infestations within the South Atlantic Division. This report also recommended that the existing Federal project be expanded to include other detrimental aquatic plants, and that the project be administered by the Army Corps of Engineers in cooperation with other Federal, State and local agencies. It further urged Congress to enact legislation to prohibit the interstate transport of waterhyacinth and alligatorweed. However, at that time, all funding was to be used exclusively for keeping the principal waterways reasonably clear for navigation.

Hyacinth conveyor #1 clearing water hyacinths in Hillsboro Canal

Recognizing the effectiveness of the herbicide 2,4-D on waterhyacinth, Congress enacted The River and Harbor Act of July 3, 1958, Public Law 85-500, Section 104. This expanded the program to include "...alligatorweed and other obnoxious plant growths from the navigable waters, tributary streams, connecting channels, and other allied waters in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, in the combined interest of navigation, flood control, drainage, agriculture, fish and wildlife conservation, public health and related purposes including continuous research into efficient methods for aquatic plant control."

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History of Invasive Aquatic Weeds in Florida

Game and Fresh Water Fish commissioners on airboat in the Everglades - Broward County, Florida

This program was a 5-year pilot project, with an additional cost of $1,350,000 to be 70% Federally funded and 30% locally funded. Results of the Expanded Project were forwarded by the Chief of Engineers to the Secretary of the Army and subsequently to Congress. The report recommended that a continuing nationwide program should be authorized "...for the control of obnoxious aquatic plants, wherever such plants constitute a serious threat to navigation, agriculture, public health, the efficient operation of drainage and flood control works, or use of the Nation's waterways." The Expanded Project For Aquatic Plant Control was approved on October 27, 1965. Public Law 89-298, Section 302, which amended the River and Harbor Act of July 3, 1958, Section 104, authorized a cost shared comprehensive program to provide for control and progressive eradication of waterhyacinth, alligatorweed, Eurasian watermilfoil, and other obnoxious aquatic plant growths from the navigable waters, tributary streams, connecting channels, and other allied waters of the United States. This law also provided that costs for research and planning undertaken pursuant to the authorities of this section shall be borne fully by the Federal Government. The Aquatic Plant Control (APC) Program was created, with an annual funding ceiling of $5,000,000, and incorporated the sharing of operational costs at 30% non-Federal and 70% Federal. In response to increasing aquatic plant problems, Public Law 98-63 increased the annual spending authority to $10,000,000 in 1983. In 1986, the Water Resources Development Act, Public Law 99-662, increased the annual APC spending authority to $12,000,000 and

Sign 1969

changed the non-Federal cost share of program operations from 30% to 50%. APC operations and research continued, until it was learned that the President's Fiscal Year 1996 Budget proposed zero funding for the Aquatic Plant Control program. This was being done in an effort to streamline the Federal Government and phase out the Corps role in projects which are not of national significance. Projects of national significance are defined as those which provide commercial navigation, interstate flood control, environmental restoration, and contribute significantly to the national economy. The House of Representatives went along with this proposal; the Senate, however, put $5,000,000 back into the APC program with the provision that the money go to the highest priority. The Senate also stated that the APC program is a project of national significance. After House-Senate reconciliation, a Congressional addition to the budget of $4,000,000 was approved; $1.5 million was allocated to the general work allowance for aquatic plant control, the other $2.5 million allocated to research.

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History of Invasive Aquatic Weeds in Florida

Water hyacinth removal quarter boat. 1927.

The future of the Aquatic Plant Control operational program weakened further with the President's Fiscal Year 1997 budget, which proposed $2,500,000 in funding solely for the research component of the Aquatic Plant Control Program. Consistent with the President's national performance goals, the Administration has proposed shifting responsibilities for many water projects to non-federal levels of Government and to the private sector. The cost-shared control operations component of the APC Program was identified as one of those which provide primarily local benefits and, are within the financial and institutional capabilities of State and local governments. The President's Fiscal Year 1997 budget for the Corps of Engineers did not include funding for the continuance of cost-shared control operations under the APC Program. The Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1997 does provide $2,000,000 in APC Program

Girl Stranded

Water hyacinths being sprayed

funding, allocated solely for aquatic plant research to be conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station. Water hyacinth now infests all of the Gulf Coast states and continues into the Carolinas. The most severe impacts are felt in Florida, California, Louisiana and Texas. Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), introduced into Florida in the 1950's, has spread into all of the Gulf and Atlantic Coast states, as well as Tennessee, Washington DC, and California. Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum), introduced into the DC area in 1941, has spread to 33 states. Also in 1996, the Water Resources Development Act, Section 225, added the melaleuca tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) to the list of aquatic plants considered under the APC program. *Laws of the United States to Improvements of Rivers and Harbors

Water hyacinth elevator #2 harvesting water hyacinth out of a canal

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Aquatic weed infestation timeline Credit: US Army Corp of Engineers

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