Sunday Lake Invasive Plant Control

The Issue

Sunday Lake is home to an abundance of native plants. These beneficial plants are vital to keeping lakes healthy. They provide important food and habitat for aquatic life including fish, turtles, frogs waterfowl and other aquatic life. They also are important for us as they help to clean the lake by filtering pollution and prevent shoreline erosion. 

Unfortunately, Sunday Lake is also home to a few non-native invasive plants including fragrant water lily and yellow flag iris. These plants can crowd out the beneficial native plants, harm lake ecology, and interfere with swimming, fishing and boating. So while it is important to keep native plants in the lake, it can be desirable to manage invasive plants to reduce their impacts. Learn more about how the different types of aquatic plants and how to identify them. 

Invasive Lily Control Efforts at Sunday Lake

Over the years, residents have worked to control invasive fragrant waterlilies in front of their properties by hand-cutting, pulling out the roots and using an aquatic mower. However, the  infestation continued to grow covering the majority of the lake. In 2018, a group of residents formed the Sunday Lake Organization to advocate for the long-term health of the lake and the initial goal of addressing the lilies.

With funding from local residents, the group obtained a state permit and contracted with a licensed aquatic herbicide applicator to treat the invasive lilies. Treatments have occurred each summer in 2019-2021. In 2022, The County took over the state permit and treated over 15 acres of lilies.

Multiple years of treatment are needed as only a portion of the lilies can be treated each year. These treatments have been highly successful and provided relief in many areas, yet continued work is needed to address the remaining problems.