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Learn how to identify invasive Phragmites, how it differs from the native form, and information about its distribution and biological traits which contribute to its spread.

How do Great Lakes water levels affect expansion and management? This geonarrative aims to provide land managers, decision makers, and the public with a historical perspective on the influence of water levels on Phragmites expansion and to identify Phragmites populations best suited for management in high water.
See also: Geonarratives for all USGS geonarrative / story map resources

Inspection and decontamination refers to the process of checking all parts of a boat to ensure that it is not carrying any invasive species and appropriately cleaning a boat if it is. This category examines how the relevant management agency implements watercraft inspection and decontamination programs throughout their jurisdiction.
See also: Recreational Boating AIS Prevention Programs for more information.

One of the WIGL Collaborative’s major initial projects was to research and summarize the existing federal, state and provincial laws and regulations that relate to invasive woody plants. You can use this page to find information about the laws of states or provinces in the Great Lakes Region. You can also use our map tool for an at-a-glance comparison of how the Woody Invasives of the Great Lakes are regulated in the region.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission today reported that populations of the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey remain at near-historic lows, below targets, in Lakes Michigan and Ontario, and above target, but holding steady, in Lakes Huron, Superior and Erie. Sea lamprey populations in Lake Huron are close to target levels and have been holding steady for the past five years. Abundances in Lakes Superior and Erie remain above target but have also decreased significantly since the near-record highs observed in 2017. Sea lampreys are the worst of the alien species to invade the Great Lakes. Before control, sea lampreys destroyed many times the human fish catch. Today, sea lamprey control is the foundation of the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. The Commission and its partners are encouraged by the overall decrease in abundance of sea lampreys throughout the Great Lakes basin during 2019, but caution that environmental conditions, such as a prolonged spring and high precipitation events, contributed to the decrease.

While ballast water has been a major way species have entered the Great Lakes, it hasn't been the only way.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District is on a mission to fight hydrilla, an aggressive plant species that has wreaked havoc from Asia to every continent except Antarctica. "Hydrilla completely chokes out our waterways and impacts all the things we enjoy,” said Michael Greer, USACE Buffalo District project manager." It affects water quality, the economy, businesses, hydropower and flood reduction - ultimately our health and our wallets." Buffalo District’s main projects to eradicate hydrilla are at the Erie Canal and Tonawanda Creek, Tonawanda, NY, as well as on Cayuga Lake near Aurora, NY and Ithaca, NY. The District provides assistance on Pymatuning Lake which borders Pennsylvania and Ohio, and at Raystown Lake in south central Pennsylvania. Buffalo District is also lending expertise to a project on the Connecticut River. Funding for the project is available through the Corps of Engineers Aquatic Plant Control Research Program and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

See Invasive Carp Newsroom for updated news regarding Asian carp response in the midwest.