Invasive plant appears eradicated in lake

BLOOMINGTON — State wildlife officials say a years-long effort to eliminate an invasive plant from a southern Indiana lake appears to be a success.

The Department of Natural Resources says the Brazilian water plant elodea was last seen in Griffy Lake near Bloomington in 2007. Numerous searches of the 109-acre lake since that time has revealed no sign of the plant.

The DNR spent about $150,000 to apply herbicide to the entire lake in 2006 and 2007 and to closely monitor its waters.

Although the herbicide harmed the lake's ecosystem, officials say native plant and fish populations in the lake are now as healthy as they were before the plant's infestation.

Officials believe the plant entered the lake in the early 2000s from dumped aquarium water.