First Purple Loosestrife Day Held

On Friday, August 4, 2000, the First Annual Purple Loosestrife Day was held.  The event was co-sponsored by the Green Lake Sanitary District and the Green Lake Association.  Two sites (Hattie Sherwood Park and County Road A) were selected for purple loosestrife removal.  Volunteers removing the loosestrife included:  representatives from the Partners with Education (Green Lake and Markesan high Schools), Green Lake County Land Conservation, Green Lake Association and the Green Lake Sanitary District.  Over 60 trash bags of loosestrife were removed and destroyed.  

Even though a significant amount of loosestrife was removed, the primary goal of this event is public education and awareness.  The Green Lake Reporter and Oshkosh Northwestern covered this event and brought valuable attention to this growing problem.

This plant is quietly taking over the wetlands throughout Green Lake County as well as surrounding Counties.  We need to bring this exotic problem plant to the forefront of the environmental issues facing our treasured natural resources.

Plans are already under way for the Second Annual Purple Loosestrife Day to be held in late summer of 2001.  

Drive around Green Lake in June and July and you’ll likely notice the strikingly beautiful plants that are actually choking the life out of area wetlands. With no natural enemies, these invasive and prolific plants called purple loosestrife pose a serious threat to the Green Lake watershed. However, several area groups are working to thwart this massive plant’s growth.

Their weapon: beetles. The Galerucella beetle, which will be introduced into the watershed within the next few months, feeds on purple loosestrife.

"When purple loosestrife was brought to this country, it’s unfortunate that the beetle wasn’t brought over with it," Markesan High School biology teacher David Burbach said.

Purple loosestrife, an exotic perennial plant of European origin, was first introduced into eastern North America in the early 1800’s as a garden plant. It has long since escaped from cultivation into wild areas where it has multiplied with uncontrolled abandon all across North America.

You can’t cut purple loosestrife down, nor can you dig it up, Markesan Junior High School science teacher Beth Zik said. As a result, the plant has invaded and degraded wetlands all over the continent, Burbach said.

"Marshes are so valuable to man," Burbach said. "They act as a buffering agent, cleaning our environment." Purple loosestrife chokes out such plants as sedges, bulrushes and wild rice. It destroys spawning and reproduction habitats for fish. Hundreds of species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, fish and amphibians rely on healthy wetland ecosystems for their survival, Burbach explained.

On Big Green Lake, purple loosestrife plants are especially dense at Norwegian Bay, the Millpond in the city of Green Lake, and the south and east ends of the county park on County Trunk K.

For the beetle project on Green Lake, 10 Markesan High School students are raising beetles and collecting data, which the state Department of Natural Resources is monitoring. The Schools in the Partners with Education Program, the Green Lake Sanitary District, the Green Lake Preservation Society and the Green Lake Association are also involved in the project. The students are working with Burbach and Zik in a wetland marsh near County Trunk K and Blackbird Point, on the southwest end of the lake.

Ann Walker, a sophomore, said she is proud to be involved in the science project and believes that more people should be exposed to projects that help protect the environment. "This is our world, we should take care of it," she said.

So far, the students have collected 15 purple loosestrife rootstocks from the marsh. The rootstocks have been planted in a simulated wetland, built in a small swimming pool. As a testament to their hardiness and aggressive growth, the plants grew from small rootstocks to 18 inches in a mere two weeks, Burbach said. When plants reach 24 inches, the students will introduce 10 beetles on each plant. When the life cycle is complete in approximately eight weeks, the new adult beetles will be reintroduced into wetlands to begin their work. Burbach estimates the beetles will have reproduced to several thousand by mid-July.

He said releasing the non-native beetles into the marsh poses no threat to the environment. Since 1992, a nationally coordinated program has introduced four species of European insects into North America in an effort to control purple loosestrife. Before the bugs were introduced, scientists conducted extensive testing to make sure that it would be safe, Burbach said.

The beetles’ ability to survive the harsh Wisconsin winters is of greater concern to Burbach and others, however. The bugs are accustomed to a more temperate climate.

The students will keep 300 to 400 beetles to use as new beetle stock next year.

"I’m hoping we’re in time to control it (purple loosestrife)," Charlie Marks, administrator of the sanitary district, said. "We won’t ever eradicate it."

Burbach doesn’t expect to see a dent in the purple loosestrife population for at least three years. His hope is that others will notice the work his students are doing and lend a hand. "We’re hoping this will catalyze other groups," Burbach said. "We, alone, can’t do enough."

The Culprits:

Purple Loosestrife

• Exotic perennial plant of European origin that grows in a wide range of habitats.

• Introduced into eastern North America in the early 1800’s

• By 1996, it was found in all contiguous states except Florida and all Canadian provinces.

• Mature plants produce up to 2.7 million seeds annually.

• Vegetative reproduction through root system allows for massive growth and easy propagation.

• Seeds’ ability to remain dormant for several years prevents easy eradication of plants.

• Has no natural enemies.

Galerucella beetle

• Adult beetles feed on shoot tips of purple loosestrife plants.

• Eggs are laid on plant leaves and stems in batches of two to ten.

• Young larvae feed on the developing leaf buds; older larvae feed on above-ground plants.

• Pupation occurs in the soil of leaf litter at the base of plants.

• New generation adults emerge from late June to August.

• Beetles have been released in more than 27 states and six Canadian provinces to control purple loosestrife.