MADISON - Apple production in Wisconsin has dropped to its lowest level since 1945.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service says apple production in 2012 was down 54 percent in Wisconsin. Yields decreased more than three tons per acre.
A heat wave last spring caused apple trees to bloom prematurely. And then frost in April killed many of the blossoms.
A summer drought only made things worse.
Wisconsin Apple Growers Association director Ann Maenner says they're hoping this year will be different and that the trees will stay dormant until the frost is gone.
Apple production dropped 4 percent nationally.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press - All Rights Reserved)
MINOCQUA - These plants may look pretty but they're taking over our rivers and lakes. Michele Sadauskas is Oneida County's Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator. She is working to map and control the yellow iris, the plant you see here. She and two other conservation workers spent the day weeding Stacks Bay.
"They invade our wetlands. They're a really robust, aggressive plant. What they do is they crowd out our native species and make actually the wetland a lot less diverse," says Michele Sadauskas, Oneida County AIS Coordinator.
Removing yellow iris is a slow process. It takes three hours of work just to properly map and control 20 feet of shoreline.
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