Crews will begin combating an invasive water plant at two Minto-Brown Island Park sloughs on July 28.
The City of Salem is partnering with Willamette Riverkeeper, a river restoration organization, for the second year to reduce the invasive plant Ludwigia Hexapetala in the Oxbow Slough.
Small remnant patches also will be treated in the Willamette Slough, which was previously treated.
Visitors are advised to stay out of the sloughs while treatment is in progress from July 28 through Aug. 8, and for 24 hours after treatment to avoid contamination.
The Oxbow Slough is near the playground and Parking Lot #3 at Minto-Brown Island Park. The Willamette Slough is between Minto-Brown Island Park and Riverfront Park.
Crews apply herbicide to the invasive ludwigia plant at Oxbow Slough on July 23, 2024.
Treated plants will be identifiable by a blue-green dye mixed with a herbicide, which could remain up to two weeks after treatment.
A second round of treatments is planned for late August or September.
Salem finished four years of treatment of the Willamette Slough in 2023 and began treating the Oxbow Slough in 2024. Treatments will continue through the summer of 2028.
Crews treat the Oxbow Slough for Ludwigia Hexapetala in 2024.
Ludwigia Hexapetala, also known as Uruguayan water primrose, forms “dense mats” in slow-moving channels that can choke off waterways.
The yellow-flowered plant can “choke entire waterways, severely restricting recreational access, degrading water quality and creating an environment that is unfriendly to native fish and wildlife,” the city said in a news release.
Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @isabeldfunk
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Crews to begin treating Minto-Brown sloughs for invasive plant