Tahoe Battles Over Weeds

Local officials battling an invasive weed that causes environmental problems at Lake Tahoe are facing more bad news: the discovery of another non-native aquatic

plant. U.S. Agriculture Department officials say the curly leaf pondweed has turned up at Tahoe Keys on the Sierra lake´s south shore.

Last week, four pumps were installed in the same area in an effort to stop the spread of the Eurasian water milfoil, an aquatic weed that was found in Tahoe in the 1960s.

Officials say the pondweed spreads quickly and may become even more dominant than milfoil in the long run. Milfoil clogs at least ten places in Tahoe each summer, making the water less attractive to native fish.

The weed also helps fuel algae growth, which threatens to turn Tahoe´s famous clear, blue waters green. For boaters, milfoil means trouble because it gets tangled on propellers.