This brochure has been produced to answer the more frequent enquiries received by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks on Eurasian Watermilfoil and to provide you with general information on related water management concerns. Aquatic plants are an important part of the biology of our lakes and other water bodies. They provide food, habitat or rearing areas for a wide variety of organisms.
Vegetation helps to stabilize lake bottoms and aerate the water.
However, aquatic plants can also have undesirable effects, especially when they are too abundant or become established in unwanted locations. Eurasian watermilfoil is well known to have both of these detrimental characteristics. It was first observed in British Columbia in 1970 in Okanagan Lake. The plant has since spread rapidly through eight lakes in the Okanagan Valley, numerous waterbodies in the Lower Mainland, Shuswap and Mara Lakes and two lakes in the Kootenay Region. Populations were also discovered on Vancouver Island in 1985.