Establishment of native aquatic plants for habitat enhancement: Why and How?

R. Michael Smart
USAERDC - WES Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility RR 3, Box 446 Lewisville, TX 75056; phone: 972-436-2215; fax: 972-436-1402; e-mail: msmart@gte.net

There is much interest in establishment of native aquatic plants to improve fish habitat in unvegetated systems. Large reservoirs, in particular often lack aquatic plants, and these systems especially could benefit from littoral vegetation. Reservoirs are constructed to meet specific project objectives (flood protection, water supply, etc.) and their water levels are controlled accordingly. Unfortunately, reservoir operations are not often conducive to establishment and growth of aquatic plants. The lack of aquatic plants in many man-made reservoirs, coupled with a predominance of exotic weedy species in many others, suggests to many that only weedy exotic species are capable of growing in these systems. Although the environmental conditions prevailing in many reservoirs may preclude natural establishment of native aquatic plants, it is often possible to artificially establish desirable vegetation. Methods to facilitate plant establishment are currently being developed and refined. Although these efforts are still at a rather crude level of experimentation, we are beginning to learn how to overcome many of the obstacles to plant establishment. The presentation will provide an overview of the important factors affecting plant establishment, considerations in attempting to establish vegetation, and methods that might be used to establish plants in reservoir systems.