Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Aquatic weed harvesting is underway along a stretch of the Huron River in Hamburg Township.

The river is plagued by flooding and the harvesting helps to improve flow. It’s typically done annually when possible but it sometimes hindered by high water levels.

The weed harvesting started on Monday and has been underway all week along a stretch of the Huron River from between Ore Lake down to the M-36 bridge.

The Board of Trustees met Tuesday afternoon and Supervisor Pat Hohl reported that the consensus is the weeds “are as bad as they’ve ever been on the river”. Nearly two dozen loads had been harvested by that time.

Hohl noted that every single one he examined had the invasive Starry Stonewort in it, which has now made its way up to the M-36 bridge. He said the invasive Curly Leaf Pondweed is also significant this year by the Hamburg Road bridge. Other aquatic weeds were said to include a lot of eel grass and some Eurasian Water Milfoil.

Hohl commented that the growing season started fast due to the water being low and the sun being very bright. Then later with all of the rain that was received, he said it “really was prolific”.

Hohl added that with late August rains and hurricanes, all it takes is one 5 or 6-inch rainfall coming up the Mississippi Valley and hitting them to result in disaster so it’s a good thing that they’re cutting the weeds and dropping the river level.

Hohl said they probably have a 19 or 20 inch shift in river at this time – meaning the restriction of the weeds caused the water to rise just like a 19 or 20- inch dam in the river. He added when there’s less than 3-feet of fall between Ore Lake and Strawberry Lake and two-and-a-half miles of river, there’s a significant risk for Ore Lake if they do get a big rain.