Wisconsin Life

– Andrea: Let me know if you see something and I will stop.

– Sara Hatleli: I see plants.

I see natans.

I don't consider myself a business person.

I was just sort of a biologist who kind of stumbled into this.

[boat motor purrs] - My name is Sara Hatleli.

I'm with Aquatic Plant and Habitat Services, LLC.

My business offers services related to lake surveys, specifically aquatic plant surveys, aquatic invasive species monitoring.

To summarize, it would really be aquatic botany.

[upbeat marimba] We humans like to recreate on a lake, either boating, fishing, swimming.

Anybody who fishes knows that aquatic plant beds are a good place to target when you're casting and looking for certain species of fish because aquatic plants provide structural habitat for not only fish, but what the fish eat.

Structure for those complex interactions to occur among the native animals of that area of that lake.

So, I'm usually the one doing the raking.

And then, my field technician, Andrea, is the one usually driving.

[boat motor rumbles] And we go from sample point to sample point in a boat.

Once we arrive at a sample point, I have a two-sided rake.

And I take that two-sided rake, lower it down until it's touching the bottom.

– Sara: Four feet.

And twist that rake a couple of times, and we pull it up, and see what we can find.

Sara: We're gonna give that a one.

Total rake of one.

Milfoil, one.

I kind of call out the numbers.

Andrea records the data, and we move on.

And we do that at least 200 times in a day.

And I try to take that information to a lake group, and help them feel excited about it, too.

By the way, Brandy Lake, I mean, it's not great that there's milfoil, but it's great that you have all these surveys.

Because most lake groups just getting started with management...

It could very much just be a group of people around a lake who have a concern.

I think lake groups just want to know, "Are we doing the right thing?

Are we on the right course?"

So, anytime that your native plant species can be left, it's one less spot for invasive species to colonize.

[splash] If they're coming to the meeting, and the word that is being used is "weeds," I will say, how about we try saying "plants?"

Sara: Yeah.

– Man: What's the benefit of that weed?

- The plant, you mean?

– Man: Yeah.

[audience laughing] - I know this one.

I think just using the word "plants" makes us think about those organisms in a different light.

This one is Nitella.

So, we went, you know, I went and sampled all of these in a kayak.

I started my business very small.

I actually was planning to only do it for a couple of years.

And I thought, "Well, I'll try this for a little while and see how it goes."

And that was 12 years ago.

And so, it's still working and I'm still loving it.

[laughs] I'm hoping that my impact is promoting the view of aquatic plants in a more positive way and just seeing how much they benefit us rather than how much they're in our way.