Guernsey Lake Association
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Once established in a particular area, purple loosestrife can displace native plant and animal species, greatly reduce biodiversity, degrade wetland habitats, and block irrigation channels and waterways.
• Purple loosestrife can form dense, monospecific stands that help to crowd out native wetland vegetation, like sedges, cattails, grasses, and rushes.
• The plant itself is of little to no value for wildlife, both as a viable habitat and food source.
• As purple loosestrife spreads, it can fill in wetland ecosystems, which drastically reduces flood retention.• Purple loosestrife can trap sediments, causing the aquatic ecosystem it is growing in to become increasingly shallow. .
Invasive Phragmites is often characterized by large, tall, and extremely dense monoculture stands that prevent sunlight from reaching other species and effectively crowds them out. The invasive stems break down slowly, further contributing to the appearance of exceptionally thick vegetation.
The Spongy moth, formerly known as the Gyspy moth, is an invasive species that feed on the leaves of more than 300 species of trees, especially oak trees. As you all know, we had an extremely bad infestation of this caterpillar around the lake in 2024. Besides defoliating and stressing our trees, the fecal pellets they left behind on decks, docks, and boats was disgusting!! Typically Spongy moth populations remain high for 2 or 3 years, then collapse to low levels until the next outbreak, usually 5-10 years later. These moths lay egg masses in July and August. The masses will survive the winter, then hatch in April or May the next year.
Now is the time to take action and look around your property for these egg masses (pictured below). Look on trees, firewood, siding, and outdoor furniture. Scrape the egg masses into a bucket filled with soapy water, let it sit overnite, then bag it and dispose of it. Another option is to scrape the egg masses off and burn them. For more info, search the web for "spongy-moth-michigan."
