NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRA 

 RALEIGH 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Doc. 



MAR 7 1979 



November, 1978 



105 1911 Building 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27650 Tel: (919) 737-2454 



DM M @oa 



When L. C. Barrow retired and moved to the tiny 

 town of Waterlily in 1969, he thought he'd found his 

 paradise. Nestled on the shores of the Intracoastal 

 Waterway, his house overlooked the shimmering 

 waters of Currituck Sound. From his dock, Barrow 

 could launch his boat and spend his days fishing for 

 bass and eels or just watching the water. 



Although the exotic aquatic plant had already 

 begun to spread in the sound, Barrow had no idea 

 that in a few years' time huge, thick blankets of 

 Eurasian watermilfoil would nearly force him to 

 leave Waterlily. 



By 1975 the milfoil had spread across more than 

 60,000 acres of the sound. According to Barrow it had 

 become so dense that "you couldn't see the sound. Our 

 shoreline for 100 yards out was a solid mat of dead, 

 decaying, stinking, rotting milfoil," says Barrow. "It 

 looked like an open cesspool." 



In some areas mats of milfoil stood out like sand 

 bars. Paths continually had to be cut through the 

 mats so that boats could move across the sound 

 without getting their propellers strangled by the 

 weed. 



But Barrow's worries about milfoil went far 

 beyond the smelly mats that would stack up in front 

 of his home. "I was afraid the sound was actually go- 

 ing to ruin itself. It was becoming so stagnant that I 

 was afraid it was dying," he explained. 



Barrow wasn't alone in his concern about the 

 milfoil and what it might be doing to the sound. 

 Other Currituck residents had questions about the 

 milfoil. Unable to find answers, they turned to Sea 

 Grant for help. . 



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