LINCOLN CITY — The grass carp is one step closer to being reintroduced into the waters of Devil’s Lake in Lincoln City.
On Friday, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted rules that would allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to approve a permit for stocking grass carp in Devil’s Lake. The decision comes after a long battle from residents and local organizations to reintroduce grass carp into the lake after an invasive waterweed, elodea canadensis, overtook it.
Residents and visitors to the lake near Lincoln City became fed up with the thick green mats of elodea that clogged motorboat engines and hindered almost any recreation on the lake last summer. Along with being a nuisance, the weed outcompetes native plants for space and nutrients, decreases food for local birds and wildlife and impacts the lake’s fishery, locals said.
Grass carp had previously been used to combat invasive waterweeds, but almost all of the grass carp since the last introduction in 1993 have died, leaving the elodea to grow unchecked.
Residents favored grass carp as a solution, but the lake did not meet requirements to introduce grass carp under the state’s controlled species rules. Last year, the Devil’s Lake Water Improvement District worked with ODFW to change the rule.
— The Eugene Register-Guard