Pilots of floatplanes could unwittingly be spreading a dangerous invasive weed throughout Southcentral Alaska. Elodea, an aquatic plant that chokes lakes and slow running rivers, has been found in several lakes in the Anchorage area, and at least one water body near Fairbanks, and authorities are warning that the plant’s spread threatens irreversible harm to fish habitat.
Elodea is not native to our sub- Arctic environment, but it can survive freezing. It can also survive being swept long distances downstream, and even tiny fragments of the plant can sprout new ones.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
