Things we have on our side:

• Experience
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• Insurance
• Cool Work Shirts

Things you may have on your side:

• A Water Body
• Questions
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• Problems
• Motivations
• A desire to see cool work shirts

At CLPM we tend to think these fit together perfectly. We love what we do and we have fun doing it, we take pride in the fact that we see a difficult situation for what it is... an opportunity for further reward.

Engineering?

Of Course. CLPM has liscenced engineers on staff too, as well as chemical and biological engineers when required. Whether you have specific needs or general questions pounding away inside your mind, give us a call... we don't want you to ever lose sleep, leave the intricacies to us... we like them, seriously.

Lake-infesting weed threatens to 'cause major problems'

Chicago Sun-Times April 19, 2005

Hydrilla is an invasive plant that can quickly infest an entire lake, ruining summer for folks who love to boat, fish or swim.

It was long thought that the nuisance species couldn't survive harsh winters like Chicago's. But now that hydrilla has spread from the South into northeastern states, plant scientists are warning it could be on the way here.

"It appears it's becoming more able to adapt to temperate climates," said Mark Pfister, aquatic biologist for the Lake County Health Department. "We're definitely looking for it."

Hydrilla is a lot like the Chicago area's worst aquatic plant -- Eurasian milfoil -- "and to have both could cause major problems," Pfister said.

Lake County already spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year removing milfoil with herbicides and machines.

Deprives fish of food

A highly adaptable invader from Southeast Asia once sold to use in aquariums, hydrilla was known as "the perfect aquatic weed" even before its incursion into Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts showed that cold weather can't stop it.

Lake Michigan is safe because it's too cold, deep and turbulent, but most lakes in northern Illinois could be home to hydrilla, Pfister said.

Growing up to an inch a day, the weed roots in lake bottoms and sends up dense stands of stems as long as 25 feet and forms canopies at the surface.

"Native, beneficial plants are shaded out," Pfister said.

Fish can't find or capture food.

Hydrilla is believed to spread from lake to lake by boat trailers and, to a lesser extent, birds. Some people put the plant in lakes on purpose because it gets rid of algae by hogging nutrients.

"They call it grass, and they like it because sometimes it turns the water gin clear," said Michael Netherland of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants at the University of Florida.

Hydrilla pieces that break off or are severed by boats can float off and re-root somewhere else.

Difficult to profile

To be treated it must be identified, and that's a problem too. Hydrilla closely resembles elodea, or waterweed.

"I've been working with it for years, and I can't tell it from 10 feet away," said Netherland, who warned about hydrilla's northward spread at a meeting on invasive species last month at Michigan State University.

"I don't want to be an alarmist, to say 'hide the children,'" he said. "But if you find hydrilla, get rid of it, or you may have a big problem."