TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)-- Michigan conservationists are working to eliminate an invasive grass that threatens local ecosystems and blocks waterfront views.
Maureen Pfaller is a program director at the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay. She says phragmites take over shorelines and impact other species.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports conservation groups, municipalities and individuals in northwestern Michigan are leading an effort to reduce phragmites in Grand Traverse Bay by 78 percent. Volunteers make note of where the grass is found and ask property owners for permission before treating it with herbicides.
Pfaller says the goal is to reduce the plant to the point that it can be controlled without chemicals.
Surveying was completed this summer and treatments will likely be conducted between Labor Day and the first frost.