Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the location of Crest Lake, which is on the north side of LSU’s campus.
If you’re a recreational user of the LSU lakes, you’ve probably noticed the bloom of hyacinths that in recent weeks have taken over Crest Lake.
Since late March, the hyacinths have blanketed the lake, which is one of the smallest in the system and is located on the west side of Dalrymple Drive just outside the north gates of the LSU campus.
It’s a problem, and one LSU—which is in charge of maintaining Crest Lake—is trying to figure out how best to solve. But the university’s facilities services department is short on labor and doesn’t want to redirect employees away from grass-cutting and other on-campus maintenance issues to remove plants from the lake that will grow right back.
“The same, few people we would assign to that are mowing lawns on campus so to redirect them to something that appears to be an endless job at this point doesn’t make sense,” says Fred Fellner, assistant director of facilities services at LSU. “So we’re trying to figure out if there are a combination of things we can do.”
In the past, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has pitched in when lotus or hyacinth blooms have threatened to overtake the lakes, but this year the department said it couldn’t help, according to Fellner, who does not know why. A call to the department was not returned before this morning’s deadline.
In the meantime, a resident of the area and longtime advocate of the lake system has begun his own cleanup effort. Since Saturday, Matt Thomas and another volunteer have been pulling the hyacinths out of the lake and piling them up on Dalrymple Drive. So far, they’ve amassed a pile that’s about four-feet high, six-feet wide and nearly 70-feet long.
Removing the plants, which float above the surface and have a root structure that dangles about eight inches below, isn’t difficult, but it’s very time consuming. Thomas estimates they have only cleared about 1,000 square feet, and they have plenty more to go.
This isn’t Thomas’ first DIY lake-cleanup effort. Several years ago, he and former Congressman Henson Moore founded a group called The University Lake Improvement and Preservation Association, or TULIPA. They received a small grant that paid for enough tools and supplies to tackle projects like the current hyacinth removal.
But Thomas says he could use more help and is soliciting volunteers. He encourages anyone interested in joining another round of hyacinth removal this weekend to call (225) 485-6818 or to visit the group’s Facebook page.
LSU has agreed to remove the debris and haul it off. Fellner says he will continue to look for a long-term solution to the problem, which is worse this year than usual because there was no freeze over the winter.
“They’re having problems with this all over the state,” he says.
—Stephanie Riegel
