First Friday Lunch Bunch (Adult)
Water Chestnut Update – Ruth Lundin
Friday, September 1, 2017, 11:00 a.m.-noon*
$8 Adults; $6 Nature Center members
Online registrations accepted through Thursday, August 31.
Walk-ins welcome.
Learn about Water Chestnut and progress on its eradication.
Efforts to remove the plant began in the fall 2012. Ruth Lundin, ACNC President, will teach you a bit about this plant, summarize the efforts taken to remove it, share lessons learned, and progress to date.
European Water Chestnut (Trapa natans), is an invasive aquatic plant that was released inadvertently into waters of the Northeast in the late 1800s. It is slowly spreading throughout New York State, clogging waterways, lakes and ponds and altering aquatic habitats. This variety of water chestnut is not the same as the product which can be purchased in cans at the supermarket.
T. natans is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. In its native habitat, the plant is kept in check by native insect parasites. These insects are not present in North America. The plant colonizes areas of freshwater lakes and ponds and slow-moving streams and rivers where it forms dense mats of floating vegetation, causing problems for boaters and swimmers and negatively impacting aquatic ecosystem functioning.
Ruth Lundin joined the Audubon Community Nature Center as president in 1999. She has been the primary staff liaison to the crew that is working to eliminate non-native, invasive water chestnut from the ACNC property.
*Special Information: An optional BYO brown bag lunch and conversation follows the talk. Audubon provides coffee and tea.