Help Clean Up the Mystic this Summer - Fight the Invasive Water Chestnut!

The Mystic River Watershed Association’s Patrick Herron presented highlights of the efforts to control invasive water chestnut in the Mystic River at the May 6th Joint Committee Meeting of the Association. The aggressive aquatic invasive plant that is known for clogging waterways with its dense floating mats of leaves has taken hold in the Mystic over the last decade. Since 2010, the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) has been leading a charge to control the invasion with an aggressive campaign of community driven hand-pulling efforts complimented by mechanical removal in areas that are too out of control for human hands. We need only to take a trip to the nearby Charles River or New York’s Hudson River to see what can happen if we don’t keep up and step up these eradication efforts. Many areas of these two rivers have become irreversibly altered by the plant.

Large stands of water chestnut are becoming well established in the shallow areas of the river and are encroaching on navigation channels. If left unchecked this infestation will cause increasing problems to the river ecosystem including: crowding out native vegetation, impairing water quality and reducing recreational opportunities on the river. The seeds alone, impressively sharp-pronged torture devices that vaguely resemble cow skulls, are enough to make chills go down the back of any swimmer who has had the unfortunate experience of stepping on one.

Since the Mystic River control efforts began in 2010, volunteers have collected more than 11,000 baskets of water chestnut during hand-pulling events in addition to the plants removed using grant-funded mechanical harvesters. The hand-pulling efforts alone will not be able to keep pace with the watershed-wide invasion, but they have resulted in a visible improvement in the treated areas over a 3-year period and have had the added benefit of engaging a large number of volunteers and corporate partners in an important (and yes, fun) effort.

If you are looking for an excuse to get out on the river and help your local waterway at the same time this summer, please consider getting involved in one of the Community Harvesting Events that MyRWA has scheduled: Saturday June 28, July 12 and August 9. For more information on water chestnut and opportunities to help with the effort please visit: www.mysticriver.org/water-chestnut-removal-project/

The next Mystic River Watershed Association Joint Committee Meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, in the Rabb Room of the Lincoln Filene Center at Tufts University. At that meeting, the Massachusetts Oyster Project will give a presentation about their work and possible projects in the Mystic.

The public is welcome at all Joint Committee Meetings.

For more information on the Mystic River Watershed Association, visit www.mysticriver.org.