NORTH SMITHFIELD – Local environmental groups called for all hands on deck this week following discovery of an invasive plant species on the Slatersville Reservoir
The Blackstone River Watershed Council and Friends Of The Blackstone organized a water chestnut pull on Thursday, August 22 after spotting the plants.
Water chestnuts spread quickly, and colonize shallow areas of freshwater lakes and ponds as well as slow-moving streams and rivers, and negatively impact both aquatic ecosystems and water recreation. Native to Eurasia and Africa, the species was introduced in the United States in the mid-1800s as an ornamental plant.
The group gathered on the Upper Slatersville Reservoir by the Department of Environmental Management boat launch on Victory Highway in hopes to inhibit the spread, traveling via boat and pulling out plants by hand.
Let’s all pull together to beat the water chestnuts!
They have been there a LONG TIME. I used to canoe through them to get to Narrow River from the boat launch at the town line on 102.