Mostly maple trees,the ones I removed were small and over hanging the pond. I just cut them and left the stumps because they are in the water right now from the water being so high. Most of this growth is on the other bank where I just trimmed branches back and the trees on that side are 15 ft from the water but they are big, 60-80 ft tall and the tops of the canopy still hang over by the pond. Going by the fact the roots typically extend out as far as the canopy they very well could be roots protruding out of the steep sides of the pond. That would explain why they are not green. I'll keep an eye on them the next few weeks and see what happens.

Is the elodea anything to worry about? I've got some corkscrew val coming next week that I am going to try to establish in the pond before less desirable plants take over though I'm not sure how the val will take our winters.