2025 Whitewater & Rice Lakes Invasive Species Survey

Lake and Pond Solutions, LLC surveyed Whitewater and Rice Lakes on May 28, 2025. Their full report, which is summarized in the following, is posted as the first item under the Documents --> Operations --> Harvesting.

Whitewater Lake

·        “Clarity on the lake was below average with limitations related to suspended sediment in some areas and planktonic algae in other areas.”

·        Eurasian Water Milfoil: “EWM was generally not as tall as expected, and clarity issues did make it tougher for true identification.  Much of the cut floating vegetation was void of milfoil fragments indicating less growth throughout the lake… The worst areas were the NW lobe, the East bay by the island, and much of the south lobe.”

·        Curly leaf pondweed: “CLP was prevalent and at the lake surface around most of the lake shoreline.  The marked growth ranged from larger beds to individual but consistent plants.  There were only a few areas where we found no CLP. Most of the cut floating vegetation around the lake is made up almost solely of CLP fragments.” 

Rice Lake

·        “Clarity on the lake was very poor with most of the issues likely caused by suspended sediments.  This clarity impairment has limited most of the growth to the first 50’ of shoreline.”

·        Eurasian Water Milfoil: “EWM was found scattered throughout the survey area with the most abundant growth found in the SW corner of the lake.”

·        Curly leaf pondweed: “CLP was a little more sparce than EWM but again, the SW end of the lake had the most abundant growth.  Both species were found near the boat launch as well.”