This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Clean up the Mystic – Community Water Chestnut Hand-pulling Events!

The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) works to improve environmental conditions for the nearly one half million residents within the 22 community Mystic River Watershed. As part of these efforts, on Saturday, July 13th and August 3rd the Mystic River Watershed Association will host community events focusing on the removal of invasive water chestnut from the Mystic River. Using canoes, volunteers will pull water chestnuts out of the water by hand and then deposit the harvested plants at a designated shore site. Volunteers who have canoes or kayaks are encouraged to bring their own. If you need a boat, we will provide a boat for you by counting needed boats through the registration process.

On Saturday, July 13th volunteers should meet at 9:00 AM at the parklands along the Mystic River near 118 Auburn Street, Medford, MA (right across from Whole Foods Market in Medford).  A limited amount of parking is available on Auburn Street; additional parking is available at Whole Foods Market. View a map here: http://goo.gl/maps/rWVoX.

Boaters are required to use life preservers/personal floatation devices (PFD’s).

Find out what's happening in Medfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bring sunscreen, a hat, gloves (if you have a pair), clothes that can get a little wet, shoes you don’t mind getting wet, and a water bottle.  

Immediately following the hand-pulling event, lunch and refreshments will be available for volunteers at the put-in site.

Find out what's happening in Medfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Boats are limited so please register in advance!  Register for these events by signing up with the online form at: http://mysticriver.org/water-chestnut-sign-up-form/

If you have any questions, contact Andy Hrycyna, Water Chestnut Project Coordinator, at Andy@MysticRiver.org. 

About Water Chestnuts:

Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is native to Asia, Europe and Africa. It was introduced in 1897 by a gardener as an ornamental plant in Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Water chestnut has no primary consumers in the US, allowing for its unchecked spread.

In Medford, parts of the Mystic River are barely passable due to water chestnuts that are working hard to extend their habitat from shore to shore. These floating-leaved plants form dense, continuous mats over the water surface of lakes, ponds and slow-moving waters. The mats in turn impede boating, fishing, and swimming, and crowd out native plants. Decomposition of large quantities of water chestnuts may result in lower dissolved oxygen levels, which can lead to fish kills.

Read more about water chestnuts at: http://mysticriver.org/water-chestnuts/.

About the Mystic River Watershed Association:

The Mystic River Watershed Association was founded in 1972 and has largely functioned as a volunteer-run organization, mobilizing activists on a project-by-project basis. Its mission is to protect and restore the Mystic River, its tributaries and watershed lands for the benefit of present and future generations and to celebrate the value, importance and great beauty of these natural resources.

For more information see www.MysticRiver.org.



We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?