So lush! So green! So invasive!

Controlling water chestnut is a long-term and time-consuming process, but we've noticed marked improvement in our rivers and ponds over the past number of years. Some conservation grups have reduced the water chestnut investation in their ponds by so much that they can count the individual plants they remove!  We're not quite there yet along the Sudbury River, but we're making progress.

Workplace hazards

Leeeeeeech!

Volunteer Opportunities - Water Chestnut

The harvester at Carding Mill Pond in Sudbury

One of our partners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, generously lends their big, bright orange, mechanical aquatic harvester to other CISMA (Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area) partners to harvest water chesnut. Fish and Wildlife will be using the harvester themselves from July 23 through August 3rd, and they're looking for volunteers!  If you liked our post about the Water Chestnut Pullathon, have heard people talking about it, or just think that canoeing on the Sudbury River and getting a little messy sounds like fun, then this may be the opportunity you've been waiting for!

The work parties will run from 8:00 am to noon and from noon to 4:00 pm. Volunteers of all ages are welcome, but if you are under 16, please bring a parent or guardian who will also be participating.

Meet them at the public boat launch off of River Road (near its intersection with Route 27) in Wayland, MA. You should bring shoes and clothes you don't mind getting wet and dirty, sunscreen, bug repellent, water, and a snack.  They do have some canoes available, but resources are limited so sign up soon! Volunteers are welcome to bring their own boats. 

All participants must register with Amber Carr prior to the event. Call or email her at (978) 443-4661 ext. 33 or amber_carr@fws.gov.  The dates for the pulls are below:

Monday 7/23
Tuesday 7/24
Wednesday 7/25
Thursday 7/26
Friday 7/27

Monday 7/30
Tuesday 7/31
Wednesday 8/1
Thursday 8/2
Friday 8/3


Hope to see you there!

First Annual Water Chestnut Pullathon!

Water chestnut control is an on-going project here on our rivers and ponds. This year for Riverfest, we tried something a little new. We turned it into a contest!  We challenged high school-aged students to compete with other sites to pull the most water chestnut they possibly could. Three sites participated - Icehouse Pond in Acton, Carding Mill Pond in Sudbury, and near the Route 27 Bridge on the Sudbury River in Wayland. What better way to spend a summer morning than canoeing, kayaking, and pulling some weeds?!  We will be hosting additional water chestnut removal events through until mid-August, so stay tuned for more opportunities!

Over 30 people, from kids to adults, volunteered and helped us pull water chestnut. Students from local schools, including Lincoln-Sudbury, Acton-Boxborough, Concord-Carlisle, and Hudson High participated as well as several girls from a Concord Girl Scout troop. 

Erikson's Ice Cream in Maynard and Eastern Mountain Sports in Acton graciously provided small prize items to our winning team and other participants.

Ultimately, our volunteers in Acton took home the prize, but not without a good run for their money!  Scroll on for some photos from the event!



The winning team with their pile!

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Muskrats are just one of the many animals who call the rivers home - they are rodents who must always live near water, just like beavers! Above is a muskrat house, called a lodge, on the Sudbury River between Sudbury and Wayland.  Muskrat lodges look very similar to beaver lodges, but they are usually smaller and made out of small brush and aquatic plants like cattails instead of the sticks and logs we usually see in beaver lodges.   Keep an eye out if you're walking along the river banks too - muskrats also dig burrows!

Spring is in the air!

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We may still have a week and a half until spring officially starts, but with our mild winter it seems like it's already in full swing. You've probably noticed that a lot of grass was able to stay green throughout the season, but new growth is starting to wiggle its way up through the turf as well.

Here at Great Meadows in Sudbury, the mosses are getting a jump on things and sending up their sporophytes. Unlike most plants you may be used to, moss produce spores instead of seeds. The spores are contained in the sporophytes, and will fall off to be dispersed by the wind when they are ready.

Mosses also don't have vascular tissue like a lot of plants and trees. That means they don't have tube-like structures in their stems that bring water to all parts of the plant. Without those tubes, mosses have to get their water by letting it absorb from one cell to the next. That is why mosses are low-growing, and you will always find them in wet areas!