Charles River Watershed Association: In Recollection: Water Chestnut Pulling

Thursday, July 5, 2012

In Recollection: Water Chestnut Pulling

Hello readers!

It's been a couple of busy weeks at CRWA!

Last Sunday was the first public water chestnut pulling event. Thinking I was in a for a fun day of community (or river) service, I told Anna, our water chestnut coordinator, that I would be happy to help out at the event. Little did I know that water chestnut removal was back-breaking, hand-aching work. Here is a list of things I learned during the weed pulling event:

1. Water chestnuts really do form thick mats with long root systems that are often tangled in other plants' root systems. In other words, when one attempts to pull out a single water chestnut plant, many other plants are pulled up with it. In some cases, the water chestnut "chains" were so long that one pull filled an entire basket.

2. Water chestnuts are very sharp. If one does not wear proper protective garments (sturdy shoes and gloves) one can be scratched by the water chestnut fruits.

3. One bottle of water is not sufficient for a four hour weed pull

4. Weeding can, in fact, be fun.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who joined us on Sunday. In hot, muggy weather, with the sun beating down on them, they worked hard to fill as many baskets of water chestnuts as possible.

While water chestnut pulling is hard work, I encourage everyone reading this to join us on our weed pulling event on July 19th (click here for more information about our weed pulling program). I promise we will have a lot of fun and will see river-dwelling creatures, like great blue heron, turtles, fish, frogs, and birds.

Have a sunny week!
Cait

P.S. Photos of Sunday's event can be found on our Facebook page
P.P.S. The 2012 flagging (click here for more information) season started this week. I will be writing about that as the season progresses

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Welcome to the Charles River Watershed Association's Intern Blog

CRWA's mission is to use science, advocacy and the law to protect, preserve and enhance the Charles River and its watershed.

One of the country's oldest watershed organizations, Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) was formed in 1965 in response to public concern about the declining condition of the Charles. Since its earliest days of advocacy, CRWA has figured prominently in major clean-up and watershed protection efforts, working with government officials and citizen groups from 35 Massachusetts watershed towns from Hopkinton to Boston. Initiatives over the last four decades have dramatically improved the quality of water in the watershed and fundamentally changed approaches to water resource management.

While CRWA’s mission focuses on the Charles River, the implications and applicability of our science-based work go far beyond the watershed’s boundaries. Much of CRWA’s work is cutting edge and therein lies our unique strength and effectiveness: we use our scientific knowledge of the Charles to develop innovative, workable solutions to watershed problems. This knowledge allows CRWA not only to advocate persuasively for outcomes, but also to partner with government agencies and other environmental groups to protect the natural environment and to promote sustainable ecosystem policies and practices.