HUDSON, N.H. (AP) – Milfoil may be a waterborne weed, but it’s as hardy as a cockroach.

State biologist Ken Warren said even draining a small lake in Brookfield didn’t kill its milfoil.

The plant returned soon after the water was restored, he said. Seeds, which had remained dormant and protected in the lake bed’s mud, sprang back to life.

“It was like – what was that movie? Like Jurassic Park,”‘ said Warren, a state Environmental Resources Department water pollution specialist. “Nature will find a way.”

Residents living near Hudson’s 40-acre Otternic Pond said they hope the plant will soon become extinct there. Warren has taken the first step toward that goal.

He and colleague Scott Ashley took a 13-foot boat into the pond late last week. Their mission was mapping the extent of milfoil contamination by using global positioning system technology and a special computer program.

Milfoil, native to Europe and Asia, has been overwhelming indigenous species. The plant has been found in nearly 60 of the state’s roughly 900 lakes and ponds, according to the DES.

Milfoil spreads easily, by attaching to boat propellers, for example. If a small strand then falls off into an uncontaminated lake, it could spread. Milfoil first showed up in New Hampshire in the 1960s, Warren said.

“We suspect it started at (Lake) Winnipesaukee,” he added. “That seems to be where the mother lode is.”

The state is making “some headway” at controlling it, primarily with chemical treatments, he said. But the weed still exists in Winnipesaukee after four decades of work to eradicate it.

Warren and Ashley found plenty of milfoil in Otternic, but that’s not all they saw. They said many common native species lived in the pond, but they also found fanwort, another exotic nuisance plant.

“That’s not good,” Warren said. “There should be even better competition. You’ve got two exotics that are going to fight it out.”

Otternic, a drainage basin for the area to the south, is a dying pond. It’s losing area each year to encroaching swamp, Warren said.

But it’s still picturesque. Stunted sugar maples dot the shore across from a boat launch. Ducks skim the water. Surface ripples – showing where fish rise to grab an insect snack – sporadically appear and dissipate.

Mike Cunningham, who lives near the pond, said he hopes it can be saved from the milfoil.

“Supposedly, a pond this contaminated reduces surrounding property values by 10 to 15 percent,” he said.

Warren and Ashley finished their map on the trip. Warren described the infestation as heavy.

“It’s a forest out here,” he said.

But the team’s work doesn’t mean anti-milfoil funding will follow. Little state money is available for milfoil eradication. Warren said about 20 to 25 towns are saving their own money to pay private contractors to do the job rather than waiting for the state to write a check.

“A lot of people love or hate me, depending on where the money goes,” he said.

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Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com