This is what Waverly Lake looked like from the end of the floating dock on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 11, 2025.
A different kind of watery plant has covered almost all of Albany’s Waverly Lake with a greenish carpet of muck. But this is expected to be temporary, likely to disappear when it starts raining.
The unsightly condition of the lake attracted attention on social media, where someone said it was the worst they had ever seen.
After returning from a few days away, I took the bike there for a look and then asked the Albany Parks Department about what was a fairly thick layer of mostly green growth on the surface of the lake.
Rick Barnett of the Parks Department passed along a note from Jay Sharpe, the city forester, who wrote:
“I noticed Waverly is very green this week. I investigated, and this new growth is called Azolla. It does not threaten the lake from a natural resources perspective. It might even be good food for any migratory birds that come through. It usually goes away when the rain comes back.”
I also got a copy of an email by Joe Deardorff, who takes care of Talking Water Gardens for the city:
“What I’m seeing is a native floating aquatic plant called Mexican Water Fern (Azolla species). They are green in the shade or can become dark red growing in the sun and are often confused for harmful algae blooms or a red tide. They can make it hard to fish but otherwise are harmless. Ducks and other birds like to eat them, and fish can hide under it. The floating plants can provide some protection from the sun’s warming rays, but perhaps more importantly they prevent a lot of other plants (and algae!) from getting established because they block any sunlight from getting deep enough.”
Deardorff also warned the parks department he had spotted some Uruguayan water-primrose or Ludwigia on the shore of Waverly Lake. “I guess Freeway Lakes used to have none of it,” he added. “But now it’s practically full and that stuff is hard to get rid of.”
In recent years the parks department has fought algae and other aquatic growth in Waverly Lake by hiring a mechanical harvester and installing several aerators and a central fountain.
This issue goes back many years. An online search of the Albany Democrat-Herald turned up photos and stories about Waverly algae and “scum” as early as 1967. (hh)
Here’s a closer look at the layer of muck on the surface of the lake on Thursday.
On the dock in the distance, anglers tried their luck before giving up.
“The main disadvantages of Azolla are that its aggressive growth can lead to dense mats on water surfaces, blocking sunlight and oxygen for aquatic life, potentially leading to fish death and oxygen depletion when it dies off. It can also clog pumps and irrigation systems, compete with other plants, and be difficult to control, sometimes requiring physical removal or the use of biological controls like the weevil”
This is the worse I’ve seen the Waverly Lake. I feel sorry for the duck floating in this mess.
This is the same problem my lake and many area lakes are having. I call it “Duckweed”. It floats on the surface and is difficult to navigate a boat. Starts out green and then blooms with a small pink flower. The flower makes the lake resemble pepto bismol. Recent years of warmer than usual winters and summers seem to be what duckweed likes.
“Warmer than usual winters and summers” has another name. For you deniers, I will spell it out….global climate change. I will brace myself for all the incoming hateful comments the deniers now may make. Maybe, maybe not.
The climate on this rock has been changing ever since it was formed, so of course there’s climate change. The real question is do we want to spend trillions of dollars trying to control the weather or should we spend a much smaller amount and do as inhabitants of the Earth have always done. Adapt to the changes.
Thank you, Hasso, for looking into this, and explaining the situation. Now we all are informed, and everything will be OK because the rain will come!!
From Google- “Mexican Water Fern, or Azolla mexicana, propagates primarily through vegetative reproduction (fragmentation), where a piece of the fern breaks off and grows into a new plant.”
You maybe think the “harvesting” that previously went on a few weeks before might have had something to do with it? DUH!
What would happen if it was pushed into Cox creek and flowed into the Willamette?
According to the “experts” quoted above, the ducks & fish in the Willamette would be happy.
How do you propose to do this? It’d be akin to trying to shovel ball bearings with a flat garden spade. You aren’t going to get enough to matter & you’d just make room for fresh growth.
I did a quick search on the internet and those duckwheat harvesters can be purchased new for $104,000 or used for less. I don’t recall how much it cost for that one harvest this summer, but I’m guessing if Albany purchased their own harvester it would pay for itself pretty darn quickly. Duckweed is high in protein and could be sold to people with chickens, cattle, or pigs for food. I imagine it would also make great compost.
Duckwheat is not even aquatic, but I’ll presume you meant Duckweed which is an entirely different species than what is in this pond?
You might look at this video. It appears to a similar plant to what we have- Maybe a similar result?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/81vpDMQjh38
The abundance and cycling of algae and then Azolla suggests a high level of nutrients in the water to support their growth. Suggest investigatating the sources including upstream input of nutrients and practices that can reduce the nutrients entering the water.. Thanks for the alert for the invasive water primrose.
The bill described in the article linked below was allowed to die in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/02/05/large-crowd-opposes-bill-that-would-require-farmers-to-report-fertilizer-use-to-protect-water/
Just curious, did they just recently apply fertilizer to the grass at Waverly and the rain washed it into lake. We have a relative in Washington who rakes it off and uses it for compost for his garden.