Invasive species professionals tap University of Minnesota expertise
July 23, 2026
Read the full story on the University of Minnesota website
Near the shore of eastern Minnesota’s idyllic Long Lake, ecologist Jimmy Marty and fisheries specialist Tom Langer empty a trap full of small fish into a holding bucket in their boat.
Beyond them, the tops of large, rectangular white boxes protrude above the surface. Around the boat, the shallows abound with native plants like water lilies and pondweed.
And invasive Eurasian watermilfoil.
The boxes are screened-in “exclosures” to keep hungry panfish from the resident milfoil weevils, tiny insects that eat the aggressive water plant. They are the centerpiece of a long-running milfoil-control project that benefits from a new program of the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC), in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
