While the terms aquatic plant control and aquatic plant management are often considered synonymous, many resource managers consider control efforts as being operational in nature, and management as a process more aligned with program goals and objectives. The Aquatic Plant Management Society (APMS) seeks to clarify this issue by providing an aquatic plant manager’s working definition of aquatic plant control.

The APMS defines aquatic plant control as techniques used alone or in combination that result in a timely, consistent, and substantial reduction of a target plant population to levels that alleviate an existing or potential impairment to the uses or functions of the water body.

This definition best applies to management techniques that directly target a reduction in plant biomass. However, no single definition of aquatic plant control can cover each specific contingency. The above definition and the following white paper are intended to address factors that relate directly and indirectly to aquatic plant control.