Hydrilla whipped, city won't lower Lake Austin this year

From statesman, January 8, 2009...

The pesky hydrilla plant that had threatened to choke Lake Austin with its snaky tendrils has retreated so much that the city has decided not to lower the lake this year, an official said.

At its peak, the pest, first documented in the lake in the late 1990s, dominated about 300 acres, said Mary Gilroy , an environmental scientist with the City of Austin. The plant now is confined to about 30 acres between Mansfield Dam and Mary Quinlan Park , she said.

"This is amazing," said Brandon Owens, who took his dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Rusty Shackleford, out for a boat ride Wednesday near the Tom Miller Dam. Last year there was so much hydrilla, it clogged the water around the docks at his boat rental business at Lake Austin Marina, Owens said. He said he used to get two to three calls per week from boaters whose propellers had become entangled. Now, the water is clear, and he doesn't get any calls, he said.

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