8-Year-Old Girl Finds Dangerous Invasive Plant In Lake Rasmussen

The scientific community is applauding an 8-year-old Washington girl for discovering an invasive plant species in Lake Rasmussen, KING 5 reports.

Maggie Carosino and her mother visited the lake in Duvall last fall for her homeschooling botany class. Reporters said the young scientist has keen knowledge about plants, which paid off for her during her trip to the lake. Maggie reportedly noticed an unusual plant in the water, which turned out to be a potentially invasive species.

King County officials confirmed the plant the girl found is known as "Egeria," a problematic invader known to spread over water surfaces to restrict oxygen and block out sunlight. The result: plant life and aquatic creatures either suffer or die.

Egeria has "never been found in the Snoqualmie watershed. Lake Rasmussen feeds into Cherry Creek and eventually dumps into Snoqualmie river," according to Sasha Shaw with King County's Noxious Weed Program. Maggie and her mom sent the county an email about the troubling discovery.

Crews were dispatched to assess the lake and found no traces of the Egeria spreading outside of the lake at this point, officials said.

Reporters learned that Maggie noticed something was off when she spotted goldfish swimming in the lake, meaning someone may have dumped a fish tank into the lake, Shaw explained.

“Egeria is a plant that was harvested from South America and mass produced for the aquarium trade," Shaw says. She also praised Maggie for spotting the deadly invader. “Her love of plants is what got Maggie to the lake but the fact that she felt some sort of civic responsibility to notice the plant and say ‘hey mom, we gotta tell somebody!’ is just amazing."

The county is currently treating the plants with a non-toxic chemical that will hopefully wipe out the Egeria in its place.