Wetlands
A virulent, hardy, and aggressive aquatic invasive plant has been working its way north, approaching the Great Lakes in a few spots. The plant, called hydrilla, is the target of a binational effort to understand its spread and how it can be dealt with before it gets established.
When it comes to nutrient loading to the Great Lakes, it’s usually phosphorus that makes headlines. The algal blooms that plague western Lake Erie and the “dead zone” that forms in Green Bay, for example, are linked to excessive phosphorus runoff from agricultural and urban lands.
Braddock Bay, located along the shores of Lake Ontario in the town of Greece, N.Y., has gradually lost its protective barrier beach and about 106 acres of wetlands over the last 100 years due to wave-driven erosion.