Mike Reed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland Fisheries
Division, PO Box 116, Mathis, Texas, 78368
Ken Rice, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Resource Protection Division,
TAMUCC-Natural Resources Center, 6300 Ocean Drive, Suite 2501, Corpus Christi, Texas,
78412
Michael Smart, USACE, Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, RR3 Box 446,
Lewisville, Texas, 75056-9720
In 1998, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department initiated a four-year
aquatic plant introduction project at Alice City Lake in an attempt to enhance the quality
of fish habitat. Funding for plants, materials, and labor are provided by a local entity
as negotiated settlement for its role in a public water fish kill. The 288-acre reservoir
is shallow and turbid with limited littoral habitat. Largemouth bass and other sunfish
populations have historically been in low abundance. Two hundred and seventy-two
individual plants of 19 species were planted within wire exclosures in July. Survival and
expansion were evaluated after three months to allow planning for 1999 plantings. Emergent
plant survival averaged 73%, submersed ~ 48%, and floating-leaved ~ 71%. Survival and
expansion varied greatly between species due to herbivory and increases in water level.
Species, which demonstrated the greatest potential for establishment and expansion, were
water star grass, water willow, softstem bulrush, pickerel weed, white water lily,
American pondweed, spatterdock, bulltongue, arrowhead, and square-stem spike rush. These
species will be utilized in 1999 plantings. A survey to evaluate use of aquatic plants by
small and juvenile fishes is planned. If successful, this project may serve as a model for
future fish kill restitution projects.
