Volunteers Needed To Harvest Invasive Plants From Cranston Pond

CRANSTON, RI — The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management is looking for the public's help in keeping a Cranston pond from being taken over by an aggressive, invasive plant species. Volunteers are needed to harvest seeds from the sacred lotus plant, which is choking the Meshanticut Pond.

The DEM needs boaters and kayakers to go out into the pond and cut off the plant's seed pond at the stem and gather them in a bucket. Other volunteers are also needed to stay on shore and help unload the buckets of seed pods, emptying them into dumpsters provided by the DEM. Volunteers should plan to bring shears to cut the stems and a bucket or basket to collect the pods.

Sacred lotus is an aggressive plant, upsetting the natural balance of native plants and covering the water's surface, making it difficult to boat or swim. To slow the plant's growth in the pond, the seed pods must be harvested after the plants have flowered but before they drop their seeds into the water. The plants will still have the ability to reproduce through the network of the root system, but the removal of the seeds will dramatically slow the growth, the DEM said.

In the future, the department may use herbicide to attack the invasive plant, but this summer's seed removal efforts will cut down on the amount of chemicals needed.

Harvesting events will be scheduled in late July or early August based on the number of volunteers who sign up.

"The rapid and aggressive dispersal of this lotus patch is a case study in the impacts of invasive plant species," said Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio, Environmental Analyst with DEM's Office of Water Resources. "Its establishment and spread are degrading native habitat and decreasing recreational opportunities. We hope that civic-minded volunteers will join us and help check the spread of this destructive invasive plant."

This is the first time the sacred lotus has been found in a natural area in Rhode Island, and it has not been seen anywhere else in New England except for Massachusetts. The plant was first found in Meshanticut Pond last year, and is believed to have been growing there for at least five years. The DEM believes the plant was introduced to the pond by a resident who did not know the serious consequences.