ABOUT: Integrated Weed Management

Ondine Freshwater Consultants LLC uses a set of industry and scientific best practices to help develop preventative measures as well as responses to issues.  Together, these five areas form an integrated management planning approach:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Preventative  Preventing  problems is the goal of all professionals who care for freshwater bodies.  Prevention

Measures       can be as simple as identifying a possible issue, like the presence of invasive species nearby or the

                         presence of a dirt road that could contribute to excessive sedimentation in a pond in the future.  

                         Preventative measures may have a cost associate with it, however, such as imploring the use of    

                         aeration to prevent excessive algae growth, or planting native bushes and shrubs to prevent bank

                         erosion. 

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Biological      Biological management is the use of biological entities such as plants, insects, or other species in                            order to manage a particular concern.  An example of this is allowing goats or sheep to

                         graze in a particular area to reduce the growth of a target plant growing in a field or installing

                         native species along the edge of a waterbody to filter out nutrients from ground water from

                         entering the water column. 

     

Chemical        Just hearing the term 'Chemical management' can make people upset when discussing        

                         environmental care and restoration.  However, chemical management options are often      

                         misunderstood, especially as many chemicals available to control invasive species are engineered

                         from organic, naturally occurring chemicals, and are designed to break down back into their

                         naturally occurring chemical building blocks within the microbial environments of soil and

                         water.  Without herbicides, many ecosystems infested with invasive species would collapse

                         entirely.  

   

                         Additionally, there are several products produced with naturally occurring chemicals

                         harvested from other species like kept or that utilize important enzymes and microbial life that

                         are helping restore the natural conditions of ponds that have been altered by unnatural processes

                         or conditions.

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                         At Ondine Freshwater Consultants LLC, we do not utilize herbicides in our integrated

                         management.  However, we do consult and work with well managed, licensed herbicide

                         application companies whose services can be vital to the survival of ecosystems, especially when

                         considering large infestations of invasive species.

 

Cultural          Cultural management is management which addresses the behavior changes that are needed in

                         order to address a particular management challenge.  For example, cultural management

                         planning might require moving a dock that could be causing erosion on a particular area of a

                         pond.  Another example is planting specific species to bring shade, ground coverage, or  nutrient

                         control in order to prevent an invasive plant from taking over.

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Mechanical   Mechanical management techniques includes terrestrial activities ranging from hand removal to

                        tilling, moving, cutting, plowing, and raking.  It also includes aquatic activities such as aeration,

                        filtration, aquatic weed removal through diver assisted suction harvesting, diver assisted dredging,

                        and aquatic weed cutting and raking. 

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For more information on how Integrated Management Planning manifests into services we provide, go to our 'Services" page.