The Knights Aquatic
 As of 2005, the State of Florida must spend $70 million of our tax dollars per year to battle invasive exotic plants. That figure does not include private industry. Countless numbers of combatants have served in a multitude of positions through this century-long war. Already named in this report is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and other longtime warriors include the University of Florida through its excellent Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Much of my research for this article came from their superb website of their Center of Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Keeping the public well informed is obviously important to them. First-rate information is readily available from other warriors: the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Bureau of Invasive Plant Management, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The FWC was designated in 1959 as Florida's lead agency to deal with the Corps.
Any classic tale of war requires front line combatants. In this battle, these heroic knights are known by the benign title of Aquatic Plant Managers. They may work for the government, educational institutions, or private companies, but they are united in their resolve to keep our waterways open for all of us to utilize and enjoy. As the war rages on, there is far too much information out there for any one person to absorb, so in 1976, the Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society was formed. Its mission, very simply put, is to keep all the warriors aware of each other's accomplishments and tribulations.
Modern Strategies Explained
After a century of hard-won experience, the modern strategy of invasive aquatic plant managers is to combine three methods of control: mechanical/physical (removal by hand or machine), chemical (herbicides), and biological. The harmful side effects of removal by machines has already been discussed. The mandate of aquatic plant managers is to be as respectful of the environment as possible, which is why biological methods of control are continually sought.
After years of careful research, three insects were imported as biological weapons in the water hyacinth war. In the early 1970s, two weevils from the genus Neochetina were released, followed a few years later by the Argentine water hyacinth moth, Niphograpta albiguttalis. There is a mite native to the U.S., Orthogalumna terebrantus; but no insect has been able to do more than annoy the robust E. crassipes by chewing and boring through its tissues, causing yellowing and a reduction in vigor.
Genetically sterile triploid grass carp and manatees have also been utilized as biological controls, but despite the voracious appetite of the sea cow for the tasty crowns of water hyacinth, neither creature has proven able to control the exponential growth of the invader.
Maintenance Control: Mantra of the Aquatic Plant Manager
 Maintenance control, as mandated by the State, has thus become the working philosophy of the aquatic plant manager. This strategy avoids the explosive crises that have cost taxpayers millions throughout the past century. Total extermination is accepted to be impossible; instead, the invaders are kept to the minimum numbers achievable through a dedicated program. Maintenance control has proven to be the best solution; one major benefit is that it uses the lowest levels of herbicide.
Florida State Statute 369.22 defines maintenance control as "a method of managing exotic plants in which control techniques are utilized in a coordinated manner on a continuous basis in order to maintain a plant population at the lowest feasible level..." Invasive plant managers must thus adhere to these recognized goals of DEP for maintenance control:
- Reduce the environmental damage caused by undesirable aquatic weeds
- Conserve the uses of our waters
- Enhance conditions for diverse and native plant growth
- Use less herbicide in plant management
- Lower management costs
- Tailor treatments according to each waterbody
- Integrate plant management methods
- Let the public know what to expect
So, herbicides, judiciously applied by well-trained and licensed aquatic plant managers, using only those products labeled for precisely that use and that area by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are all that lie between us and The Beautiful Menace.
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