Restoring native vegetation in a Eurasian water‐milfoil dominated plant community using the herbicide triclopyr

In an effort to evaluate the selective control of the exotic weed Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) and to assess the recovery and restoration of the native submersed plant community, a 6-ha river and 4-ha cove plot were treated with the herbicide triclopyr at application rates of 2·5 and 1·75 mg/l, respectively, in the Pend Oreille River, WA, in August 1991. Water exchange half-lives within the plots were measured using rhodamine WT dye (river, t1/2=20 h; cove, t1/2=52 h), and triclopyr dissipation rates were also calculated (river, t1/2=19 h); cove, t1/2=53 h). Triclopyr concentrations were below the proposed potable water tolerance level (0·5 mg/l) within the river treatment plot by 3 days after treatment (<0·01 to 0·41 mg/l), and 675 m downstream of that plot by 1 day after treatment (<0·01 to 0·47 mg/l). Following the cove treatment, triclopyr residues ranged from 0·12 to 0·29 mg/l by 7 days after treatment, and from<0·01 to 0·06 mg/l as close as 150 m downstream from the plot. Eurasian water milfoil biomass was reduced by 99% in the treated plots at 4 weeks post-treatment, remained low one year later (river treatment, 28% of pretreat levels; cove treatment 1% of pre-treat levels) and was still at acceptable levels of control at two years post-treatment (river treatment, 47% of pre-treat levels; cove treatment, 24% of pre-treat levels). The four-week post-treatment efficacy results verified triclopyr concentration/exposure time relationships for controlling Eurasian water milfoil developed under laboratory conditions. Non-target native plant biomass increased 500–1000% by one year post-treatment, and remained significantly higher in the cove plot at two years after treatment. Native species diversity doubled following herbicide treatment, and the restoration of this robust community delayed the re-establishment and dominance of Eurasian water milfoil for three growing seasons.