The Watershed Report
Field notes, best practices, and environmental updates from the Legacy Waters team.
Yellow Floating Heart: The “Pretty” Plant Hurting Your Pond
Yellow floating heart (Nymphoides peltata) is a bottom-rooted, perennial aquatic plant with round, heart-shaped floating leaves and bright yellow, fringed flowers. It grows in still or slow-moving water such as...
Parrot Feather: The Feathery Invader Threatening Your Ponds
Parrot Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) is a perennial aquatic plant native to the Amazon River basin of South America. It belongs to the water-milfoil family Haloragaceae, making it a distant relative...
Airmax Ecosystem Framework: A Guide to Pond & Lake Care
The Airmax Ecosystem Framework is not a single product or a one-time fix. It's an integrated, three-phase approach to water quality management that works with the natural processes of your...
What Is Airmax? A Guide to Pond & Lake Aeration Systems
Airmax is the industry-leading manufacturer of aeration systems and natural water treatments for ponds and lakes. With over 20 years of field experience and a product line built specifically around...
Phragmites: The Invasive Reed Reshaping Maryland's Wetlands
For property owners, HOAs, land managers, and municipalities across Maryland, understanding Phragmites is the first step toward taking back the health of your waterways. Legacy Waters Environmental Services has worked...
Cattails: The Shoreline Invader Overtaking Your Wetlands
Cattails (particularly the invasive Typha angustifolia (narrow-leaved cattail) and the hybrid Typha × glauca) can quickly overtake a wetland, transforming a thriving, biodiverse ecosystem into a dense, impenetrable monoculture. Understanding...
Lily Pads: Deceptively Dangerous Invasive Aquatic Plants
The real danger with lily pads isn't what you see — it's what you don't. Beneath every floating leaf is a thick, fleshy rhizome buried in the sediment. These horizontal...
Duckweed Removal and Control: A Complete Guide
Effective duckweed removal requires more than a single treatment. It demands a clear understanding of why the plant is thriving in the first place, followed by a coordinated strategy that...
Hydrilla: Invasive Aquatic Plant in Maryland's Waterways
The destruction hydrilla leaves behind is something our team knows well — and turning that damage around for property owners, HOAs, municipalities, and conservation-focused stakeholders is what drives every project...
Eurasian Watermilfoil: What It Is, Why It's a Problem
Eurasian watermilfoil is a submersed, rooted aquatic plant native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. It was first documented in the United States in the 1880s and has since spread...
Duckweed: A Small Plant With a Big Impact on Ponds
Whether you're managing a private pond in Maryland, overseeing a community lake, or maintaining a waterway on a golf course or HOA property, duckweed is a threat you can't afford...
Reclaim Your Water: Solutions for Invasive Aquatic Plants
In ponds and lakes across Maryland and the broader Mid-Atlantic region, invasive aquatic plants show up faster than most owners expect. These problem species hitchhike on boats, trailers, waterfowl, landscape...
Why Your Pond Is Turning Into a Swamp: An Overnight Crisis
The core issue behind a pond turning into a swamp is nutrient overload, primarily from nitrogen and phosphorus.
What Is a Wetland Delineation and Why Does Your Property Need One?
If you've ever started researching a land purchase or development project and had someone tell you that you might need a 'wetland delineation' first, you probably had one of two...
5 Major Signs It's Time to Clean Your Pond
A pond can be one of the most beautiful and valuable features on a property. But like anything worth having, it requires attention.
5 Signs Your Property May Have Jurisdictional Wetlands
Jurisdictional wetlands are one of the most misunderstood elements in land development, and one of the most consequential. Here are five signs your property may contain them.
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