Sonar mapping for milfoil removal

High-resolution sonar mapping for Eurasian watermilfoil and invasive aquatic species.

We create detailed 3D maps of your lake bed. More detailed surveys, anytime you need them — and dramatically greater efficiency on every milfoil cleanup.

Request a proof-of-concept scanSee how it works
1cm
Target separation
48h
Map turnaround
0
Hardware lock-in

Data-first

We don't swing rakes or pull plants. We ingest raw .sl2 and app sonar data and return decision-ready GIS heat maps inside 48 hours.

BYO or recommended kit

Run the scan on any sonar equipment you have available that has side and deep sonar image capabilities. Don't have a rig? We'll spec the exact bundle for your lake's size, depth profile, and budget.

Surgical precision

1-cm target separation on side-scan mosaics. Divers drop directly onto root crowns instead of burning 60–80% of their bottom-time searching.

More detailed surveys · anytime

The survey on demand. Not the survey on a schedule.

Traditional consultants show up once a season with a rake-toss. We break that pattern. Send us a scan after a storm, before a dive, after a treatment, mid-season — and we'll turn it into a polished heat map in 48 hours.

  • 1-cm side-scan mosaics with higher fidelity than any incumbent processor
  • Upload raw .sl2, .sl3, or Deeper app data — we handle the QA and GIS work
  • Objective third-party record for HOA boards, grant applications, and state biologists
See deliverables
0 ft-6 ft-12 ft-18 ft-24 ft
Greater efficiency · per dive

Stop swimming blind. Start extracting from minute one.

Commercial divers waste 60–80% of their bottom-time searching low-visibility water for weed beds instead of pulling them. Our Pre-Dive Strike Plan puts a GPS pin on every dense root crown before they hit the water — so the expensive, oxygen-metered part of the job is 100% extraction.

  • Quote jobs accurately with biomass density by quadrant
  • Drop divers onto targets in order of density — highest-yield crowns first
  • Post-extraction Clearance Audit proves the job was done to the HOA board
  • Repeat seasonally to track regrowth and prove long-term control
Walk through the workflow
WITHOUT MAP62 min searching14 min extractingWITH STRIKE PLANT-01T-02T-03T-048 min searching68 min extracting
Who we serve

Built for three kinds of buyer.

The same data product, optimized differently for each use case.

01

DASH Dive Teams

Quote jobs accurately. Drop divers on root crowns, not approximations. Prove extraction was complete with a post-dive clearance audit your client can hand to their HOA board.

02

Lake Consultants

Differentiate your report with 1-cm side-scan mosaics. Deliver before-and-after documentation your clients can use for grant reporting and regulatory compliance — without learning a new GIS stack.

03

Lake Associations

Get the objective third-party scan your HOA board, state biologist, and grant application all require — without a $10,000 equipment purchase or an annual SaaS subscription.

Frequently asked questions

What buyers want to know.

Answers to the questions DASH teams, lake consultants, and lake associations ask before their first scan.

Sonar mapping uses hydro-acoustic sensors mounted to a boat to scan the lake bed and produce high-resolution images of underwater vegetation. We process those raw sonar files into GIS heat maps that show exactly where Eurasian watermilfoil is growing, how dense the root crowns are, and where dive teams should focus extraction. Think of it as an MRI for your lake — you get a precise picture of the problem before anyone enters the water.

A rake-toss survey samples a handful of random points and uses statistical models to estimate what's between them. Sonar mapping scans the entire lake bed continuously, producing a wall-to-wall mosaic with 1-cm target separation. You go from scattered data points to a complete picture — no interpolation, no guessing, and a deliverable you can hand to a diver or a grant reviewer.

We start every new relationship with a free proof-of-concept scan so you can see the quality of our deliverables on your own lake before committing to anything. Once you've seen what the data looks like and confirmed it's useful for your operation, we'll scope a pricing structure together — either per-acreage project pricing or a seasonal retainer depending on your scan volume and workflow.

Any unit that records side-scan or down-imaging sonar logs will work — Lowrance HDS, Humminbird HELIX or SOLIX, Garmin with SideVü, or a Deeper PRO+ 2. If you don't own compatible hardware, we'll recommend a specific bundle matched to your lake's size, depth profile, vessel type, and budget so you aren't guessing at which setup to buy.

Standard turnaround is 48 hours from the time we receive clean, complete sonar logs. You upload your raw .sl2, .sl3, or Deeper app files through our handoff workflow, and we return a polished Pre-Dive Strike Plan — a GPS-pinned heat map showing biomass density by quadrant, ready to hand to your dive team or present to a client.

Yes — and this is one of the most common use cases. State and federal invasive species grants increasingly require objective, third-party documentation of infestation severity and post-treatment results. Our heat maps and Clearance Audits give you the before-and-after evidence that grant reviewers and state biologists expect, without relying on subjective field estimates.

Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) is the invasive species — it has 12 or more feathery leaf segments per leaf and the leaves collapse against the stem when removed from water. Northern watermilfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum) is the native species — it typically has fewer than 12 segments and the leaves splay outward when out of water. The two can hybridize, which complicates identification and makes precise sonar mapping even more valuable for targeted removal.

DASH stands for Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. A DASH team consists of SCUBA divers who hand-pull invasive plants underwater and feed them through suction hoses into collection bags on the surface. It's the most precise and ecologically responsible extraction method — it removes roots intact without fragmenting the plant — but divers operate in low-visibility water and waste significant bottom-time searching for weed beds without a sonar map.