The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which has been battling aggressive non-native hydrilla with herbicide and other tactics across most Florida lakes, is considering allowing the nuisance weed, which can expand by more than 1000% a year, to take root in Lake Apopka to improve the lake's hunting and fishing.
Decades of rampant pollution in the mid 1900s caused runaway algae growth that generated a thick layer of rotting muck on the lake's bottom. The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJWMD) is responsible for the the rejuvenation of the lake and has taken a more conservative approach of letting nature take its course to clean up the lake. In the wake of severe budget cuts and layoffs ordered last year by Governor Rick Scott, the SJWMD has not been publicly assertive in opposing a decision to let hydrilla expand in the lake.
In recent months, the FWC decided to let hydrilla spread to some extent in Lake Tohopekaliga for the benefit of the critically endangered Everglades snail kite. A decision which has been seemingly reversed of late as much of the hydrilla in West Lake Toho has been sprayed with herbicide recently.
Read the Orlando Sentinel article about hydrilla and Lake Apopka for more information.