Despite a cold, rainy June that caused late sprouting and unpredictable timing of harvests, the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge once again marshalled a large volunteer force to continue to eradicate the invasive aquatic plant water chestnut (Trapa natans) from the Connecticut river watershed.  

The refuge coordinated volunteers to hand-pull the weed at all the small infestations discovered over the past several years.  This year, 144 volunteers contributed 1021 hours to pull 38.25 tons of the plants at 48 sites in three states.  This was a small overall increase in weight from last year.  However, many of the sites that have been pulled before are greatly diminished (23 sites had 50 pounds or less this year). 

Fortunately, there was a large decrease at Fannie Stebbins in Long Meadow, Mass.  Last year, the first year it was hand pulled, volunteers and staff removed over six tons, which  was reduced to less than one ton this year.  The volume of plants at most sites remained similar to last year or decreased, with the exception of increases at Forge Pond in Granby, Mass. and Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke, Mass.  Unfortunately, our newest hand-pulling site, the Chicopee River, yielded almost seven tons!  In addition, a new site in Hartford, Conn. was reported that is so large it will require machine harvesting.  The City of Hartford, while willing to undertake control, did not get a contract arranged in time this year to control the dense water chestnut at this 14 acre site.

The refuge and partners City of Holyoke and Holyoke Gas and Electric, switched to the much less expensive technique of using herbicide to control the large source population of water chestnut at Log Pond Cove in Holyoke.  However, due to a late application and an unexpectedly large density of plants only half of the cove was treated.  In August, it was determined that herbicide application to the remaining plants would be futile, as the seeds were well developed.  Holyoke Gas and Electric stepped up to the plate and funded an emergency harvest that was successfully completed in late August.  

Unfortunately, current funding does not allow for random searches of new bodies of water as had been done in past years.