Lake Murray Reopens--But No Fishing Yet

Clutching a crumpled can of light beer in one hand and a portable radio in the other, insurance broker Jary Croom slouched comfortably in his beach chair and gazed out over the tips of his blue running shoes at the waves lapping the shore of Lake Murray.

“In 1976, we moved out here to be by this lake,” said Croom, clad in blue shorts and T-shirt and a trendy white Panama hat. “We got a great place right near the shore and planned to do a lot of picnicking with the kids, to really take advantage of the lake.”

“A year later, the hydrilla arrived, and they closed the reservoir to the public.” So much for lakeside living.

On Sunday, Croom and his family joined about 300 other area residents at an afternoon picnic to celebrate the reopening of Lake Murray--limited for now to its shores--and, more importantly, to herald man’s triumph over hydrilla, the pesky green weed that infested the lake’s waters and forced its closure for eight years.

Dubbed the “green monster” because of its tenacity, its abundant roots and its tendency to kill fish by depleting the water of oxygen, hydrilla resembles aquarium grass and can grow up to two inches a day. A native of South America, the plant clogs waterways and has been known to stall powerboat engines. The state of Florida, which has the nation’s worst infestation problem, spends $8 million to $10 million annually to fight it.

At one time, the hardy weed was matted so thickly on Lake Murray’s surface that ducks could walk across it. But now, thanks to an ambitious, state-of-the-art anti-hydrilla program coordinated by the city’s Water Utilities Department, the weed has been all but eradicated.

“It’s been a long struggle, and a lot of people have put a lot of time and a lot of money into the fight,” said City Councilman Dick Murphy, who lives near the 200-acre lake and organized Sunday’s festivities. “But now the hydrilla battle is virtually won.”

While in 1979 half the lake was infested with the hardy weed, today only 50 plants remain in its waters, said Jim Hinton, a county Department of Agriculture official who has taken part in the “hydrilla guerrilla war” since 1979. Officials predict that within five years, Lake Murray could be free of hydrilla.

Until then, however, recreational use of the lake will likely be limited to its shores. The tiniest fragment of the plant can settle on the lake bottom and quickly reroot. So officials fear a fisherman’s hook or a boat propeller could “tear off a piece of a plant and put us back to square one,” said Hinton, who sported a yellow “hydrilla-buster” T-shirt that read, “We came, we saw, we whacked the weed.”

Croom and many others who turned out to munch hot dogs, sip sodas and compete in tug-of-war and other games Sunday didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Lake Murray’s waters remain off limits.

“We’re just looking forward to coming down and feeding the ducks,” Croom said.

Mina Finch, who lives with her granddaughter, Olivia, in a condominium overlooking the lake, said she has been monitoring progress at the reservoir since it closed in 1977. On Sunday, Finch was “ecstatic,” because “this picnic proves they’re making a commitment to restoring this valuable resource for the community.”

“I moved here nine years ago, because I wanted to be in a hot climate but be near the water,” Finch said. “For two years I could look out my window and enjoy the lake. Then it closed, and it’s been agony for the past seven years.”

Some picnickers, however, said they longed for the days when they could toss a line into the lake and snag the famed 10-pound bass that lurk in its waters.

“We used to come and catch great big bass before the hydrilla moved in,” said Bob Packer, sitting in the shade after the picnic with his grandson, Brian McDonough. “It’s nice that it’s open, but it’s just not the same without the fishing.”

Hydrilla was discovered in All-American Canal in Imperial County on June 25, 1977. Soon after, the weed turned up in Lake Murray. Fearful that a fragment of the weed on a fishing pole, boat or bait pail could spread the pest to other lakes and waterways, officials closed the popular recreational reservoir in July 1977.

In the years that followed, various chemicals--Vapam and Komeen among them--were sprayed on the lake in an attempt to kill the pest. They proved unsuccessful, and officials feared that, like many lakes and canals in Florida, Lake Murray was doomed to die.

Then a new tactic was tried. Divers, armed with large vacuum hoses attached to a makeshift dredge, attacked the weed and virtually sucked plant and roots out of the lake. It worked.

“A few years ago, I was convinced that there was no way to kill this pest,” Hinton said. “Now I really think we’ve found the answer, and other states are following our lead.”

No one knows for sure how the green monster took hold in Lake Murray. The most popular theory holds that “someone dumped an aquarium in the lake, and that was it,” said Mark Miller, a county lifeguard who serves on the anti-hydrilla diving team.

The reopening follows several months and $10,000 worth of renovations to the lake shore, including the installation of 30 picnic tables and replanting of the lawn.