Provo • Officials are trying new techniques to get rid of an invasive plant species called phragmites from the shores of Utah Lake, such as spraying herbicides and smashing the plants instead of burning them.
A new program is also being piloted this summer, in which cows will be fenced into acres of phragmite growth in order to graze it down, the Daily Herald in Provo reported this week.
Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo Chris Brown and Mike Kolendrianos cut a swath through a dead stand of phragmites with the use of the Marsh Master. Phragmites take away food sources and nesting ground for wetland birds. The Marsh Master is a 6,000 pound amphibious machine that was gifted to The Nature Conservancy’s Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. The vehicle's mower can grind down hundreds of acres of invasive phragmites to speed up the decomposing time.
While it doesn’t completely eradicate the weeds, it does allow for native plants to come back in their place. It also is full of protein and good for the cows, said Utah Lake Commission Executive Director Eric Ellis.
The tall (15 feet), perennial grass typically grows in dense thickets that displace native plants, greedily intake water from the lake and take over shorelines which become inaccessible to humans, Ellis said.
"It's just a hardy plant that's really quick to adapt to its environment," Ellis said. "It makes it really hard to get rid of."
The state started a phragmites eradication program in 2006, focused on eliminating to the extent possible phragmites around Utah's two largest lakes: The Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake.
Utah Lake has about 13 square miles of phragmites along its 75-mile shoreline, Ellis said. About 7 square miles have been prioritized for treatment in the most populated areas of shoreline from Saratoga Springs to Springville.
Ellis said it is unlikely that phragmites will ever be completely eliminated from Utah Lake.
But some newly acquired equipment called “Marsh Masters” can access far larger areas of phragmite habitat than old equipment, called land tamers, which could not access 80% of the areas in need of crushing. Several funding partners came together to purchase two of the machines, which are being used for the first time in the 2018 to 2019 crushing cycle, according to the Utah Lake Commission’s website.
Not only can the Marsh Masters access more of the phragmites, they also have mowers on the back that mulch up the phragmites as they are mowing, Ellis said. The latest research suggests this is the best way to allow native vegetation to come back.
“I think with the new equipment we have now, that we will be able to see a huge difference on shoreline restoration work,” Ellis said.
