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Posts Tagged "water chestnut"

Huge Thank You!

Posted on Jul 25, 2016

Huge Thank You!

During NY Invasive Species Awareness Week RTPI hosted a number of events raising awareness about local invasive species and conducted several survey efforts with their Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors. One of the events, Water Chestnut Chasers, resulted in the PWA crew and RTPI staff kayaking the outlet of Chautauqua Lake in search of this pesky plant. Survey efforts came up negative (whew!), but a very positive experience exploring the wild shorelines of the Chadakoin River was had. As a result of this successful trip, we want to extend a BIG thank you to Conewango Kayak Canoe...

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Water Chestnut Infestation

Posted on Sep 1, 2015

Water Chestnut Infestation

Last week while I was traveling to Connecticut and Rhode Island (I’ll be posting about this soon!), I had the opportunity to get a good look at the Hudson River in eastern New York and see first hand the water chestnut infestation that has taken over much of the waterway. When most people hear of water chestnut, they often think of the slices of white vegetables in your stir fry mix or chicken noodle soup. While that is indeed water chestnut, its not the kind that we are necessarily concerned about. Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an aquatic plant native to western Europe, Africa and...

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Water Chestnut (Trapa natans)

Posted on Jul 11, 2014

Water Chestnut (Trapa natans)

Today’s invasive is an aquatic plant that goes by the name of water chestnut (Trapa natans), and no it is not the kind you might enjoy with a meal. This particular plant has a good habit of taking over water bodies and slow moving streams where it will form dense mats. These mats will prevent sunlight from reaching native aquatic vegetation growing beneath, resulting in the death of the plants and loss of diversity. Water chestnut can also have a negative impact on fish as the invader will decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water as the mats die back in the fall. Last,  but...

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