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Volunteer Invasive Water Chestnut Removal Project

volunteers

The 2011 water chestnut removal season was a great sucess! Over 1,000 amazing volunteers recently cleared this invasive plant, from the river in Weston and Waltham.

Many thanks to all our volunteers, including groups from:

  • Aetna Student Health
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
  • Boston Cares:Volunteering for a Greater Boston
  • Boston Volunteer Meetup
  • Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary Summer Camp
  • Climate Group Steering Committee
  • Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
  • ITA Software
  • Keurig
  • Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
  • Sappi Fine Paper North America
  • The Boston Volunteer Meetup
  • The Cadmus Group, Inc.
  • The Trustees Reservations Youth Corps
  • United States Coast Guard

CRWA would also like to thank our partner in this effort Charles River Canoe and Kayak, and Charlesbank Estates for supporting this year's water chestnut removal efforts!

Additionally, the CRWA would like to thank the following groups for their generous donations in support of the water chestnut removal project:

Kind
Roche
stopandshop
Shaws

If you would like to be involved in next year's water chestnut removal effort, sign up for CRWA's volunteer e-mail list to be alerted about this and other exciting volunteer opportunities.

Invasive Water Chestnut Removal in the News

View the segment on Newton News about CRWA's water chestnut removal program.

Read these interesting articles about invasive Water Chestnuts.

7/17/11 Targeting invader taking root in river

7/15/11 Bad News: Water Chestnuts Creeping South

7/03/11 Boaters, hikers: don't help this aquatic nuisance spread.

 

Information about the 2010 water chestnut removal season

 

Information about Water Chestnuts

Water chestnut, an invasive aquatic plant, grows very densely, and can choke the water in shallow sections of the river and along the shoreline, severely limiting light (a critical element of aquatic ecosystems), decreasing oxygen in the water, and preventing boat passage. In order to prevent water chestnuts from spreading, the plants need to be removed before they drop their spiky seeds into the river, which happens in early August.

Click here for a fact sheet about water chestnuts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.