Management of
Pond Plants

          Ponds and lakes are a valuable resource within our landscape. They provide recreational opportunities for fishing, boating, and swimming. They can also be a critical source of drinking water, used for watering livestock, or to collect runoff from fields and buildings. Unfortunately, the plants associated with shoreline and pond bottoms are too often lumped together, summarized as "weeds" and eradicated.
          However not all plants are weeds. They actually include many fascinating and diverse types of aquatic and shoreline plants that provide a wealth of beneficial services. It is important to recognize when a real weed problem exists and to know how to deal with it appropriately.
          The goal of this web site is to help you choose the best management strategy to solve your pond plant problem while simultaneously protecting desirable plants and the services they provide.
          We have developed a step-wise approach to help you identify the proper management strategy. After describing this approach, we then outline seven broad categories of plant control options, including a description of each method, its advantages and disadvantages.