State agricultural officials are reviewing a request from the U.S. Geological Survey to experiment with a bacteria to kill zebra mussels in a northern Wisconsin lake.
Researchers want to apply the biological pesticide in Keyes Lake in Florence County next month.
Geological survey researcher James Luoma, in La Crosse, says Keyes Lake was chosen because zebra mussels were found there in 2010 and because it also has a healthy population of native mussels. The Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1s6w59X ) reports it would be the first test of the pesticide in public waters in Wisconsin.
The disruptive zebra mussels were initially discovered in the Great Lakes in the mid-1980s and turned up in inland Wisconsin lakes in 1994. The invasive mussels crowd out native species and clog water intake pipes.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25948790/wisconsin-researchers-want-test-bacteria-kill-zebra-mussels