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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><img width="83" height="119" style="width:.8645in;height:1.2395in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image009.png@01D54EA1.A379B020" alt="DEM-logo-small"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;color:#00457A">Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#00457A">235 Promenade Street | Providence, RI 02908 | 401.222.4700 |</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0070C0">
</span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0070C0">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#00457A">| @RhodeIslandDEM</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Gail Mastrati, DEM – 401.222.4700, ext. 2402<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Friday, August 9, 2019
</span><a href="mailto:gail.mastrati@dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">gail.mastrati@dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">
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<b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">DEM MONITORING LAKES AND PONDS ACROSS RHODE ISLAND FOR INVASIVE AQUATIC SPECIES</span></b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<i><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">Public being asked to take a photo and report suspected new findings of water chestnut plants to DEM<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
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</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:82.85pt;width:348.75pt;height:261.5pt;z-index:251659264;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:left;mso-position-horizontal-relative:margin;mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-width-relative:margin;mso-height-relative:margin'>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width="465" height="349" style="width:4.8437in;height:3.6354in" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D55281.1DCA6580" align="left" hspace="12" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_4"><![endif]><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">PROVIDENCE,
R.I. – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is surveying lakes, ponds, and rivers across the state this summer as part of an annual monitoring program to identify aquatic invasive species. During a routine survey on June 12 in Barney
Pond in Lincoln, DEM staff observed and removed several small water chestnut plants that were scattered throughout the pond. As water chestnut had not been previously documented in Barney Pond or its watershed, DEM notified the Town of Lincoln and searched
for the source of the invasive plants. Staff surveyed Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods State Park, which is located upstream from Barney Pond, and found a large patch of water chestnut plants. The plants, which have likely been in the pond for at least a year,
dropped seeds that floated down to Barney Pond and started new plants. In July, staff from DEM’s Office of Water Resources, in coordination with DEM Parks, removed the invasive plants as part of conservation efforts to manage and protect Olney Pond’s habitat
from this non-native species. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Water chestnut is a rooted aquatic plant that forms dense, floating mats that cover the surface of the water, limiting light to other aquatic plants and quickly displacing native species
and decreasing biodiversity. These dense mats may impede recreation such as boating, fishing and swimming, and lower the dissolved oxygen in the water, creating the potential for fish kills. Large and woody fruits containing four sharp barbs appear on the
plants by late summer and are released as the water chestnut plants die off with the onset of frost. As the barbed fruits wash up along the shoreline, they pose a hazard for humans and pets.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Mat of water chestnut plants in Olney Pond, Lincoln Woods State Park<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Close-up of water chestnut plants at left, and
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">water chestnut fruits, at right<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Water chestnut was introduced to New England from Asia as an ornamental plant that spread into natural waterbodies. It was first observed in Rhode Island in 2007 in Belleville Pond in
North Kingstown. Once introduced into a waterbody, water chestnut establishes and spreads rapidly. As of November 2017, the invasive plant has been documented in eight RI lakes or ponds; they include Valley Falls Pond in Central Falls; Central Pond and Turner
Reservoir in East Providence; Porters Pond in Foster; Solitude Springs Farm Ponds in Hopkinton; Belleville Ponds in North Kingstown; Chapman Pond in Westerly; and Sylvestre Pond in Woonsocket.
<span style="color:black">If you think you have spotted the plant or seed in a new location, please take a picture and report it to DEM at
</span></span><a href="mailto:DEM.WaterResources@dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">DEM.WaterResources@dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">“It is much easier and cost effective to
<span style="color:black">remove a small patch of water chestnut than manage an entire lake covered with plants, so early detection is key,”
</span>said Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio, Environmental Analyst with DEM’s Office of Water Resources. “P<span style="color:black">ublic awareness of invasive plants is
<span style="background:white">the most effective way to combat the <em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">spread</span></em> of aquatic <em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">invasive species from one lake to another by
preventing the inadvertent transport of a hitch-hiking plant fragment. Many of the aquatic invasive plants in Rhode Island can reproduce from just one small plant fragment and do not need entire root systems to successfully establish in a new spot.</span></em></span></span></span><em><span style="color:black;background:white;font-style:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Cleaning off every bit of plant from recreational gear used at one pond is essential before visiting another—this includes boats, kayaks, canoes, motors,
trailers, paddles, jet skis, fishing gear, waders, water tubes, and anchors.”</span></em><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-style:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-style:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Water chestnut management costs in Lake Champlain and other Vermont waters exceeded $400,000 in 2009 and have totaled over $10 million since 1982. The
costs to treat a 1.3-mile stretch of the Sudbury River in Massachusetts were $60,000 in 2017; however, the river needs continual treatment and surveillance as water chestnut seeds can lie dormant for up to 12 years.
</span></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">Water chestnut is just one of the aggressive, invasive species found in RI waters, according to a
</span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/surfwq/pdfs/aisridist.pdf"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">report</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black"> by DEM’s Office of Water
Resources. Earlier this month, DEM volunteers removed lotus leaves from a large, non-native lotus patch that was found in Meshanticut Pond in Cranston.</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">
<span style="color:black">DEM believes that an area resident – unaware that planting in a pond is not allowed and of the plant’s noxious nature of rapidly spreading – released the lotus in the pond.
</span>Aerial photographs indicate that it is reproducing at an exponential rate. The patch currently covers 1.25 acres of the 12-acre pond, with its massive leaves covering large areas and outcompeting native aquatic vegetation. It is urgent that the growth
of this invasive species is culled, and the population managed, so it does not spread to other areas in the state or New England.
<span style="color:black">Invasive species have contributed to the decline of 42% of US endangered and threatened species, and for 18% of such species, invasives are the main cause of their decline, according to
</span></span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.fs.fed.us_wildflowers_invasives_index.shtml&d=DwMFAg&c=tSLbvWYfvulPN3G_n48TUw&r=PNPCCLvWGdSuU1Tdn5Dnfma8bA9iLrs91avOnZ4uMV0&m=r7ovjmps3TdDZcmLOAgzOpfhdSs068IMUP_BK4nrclA&s=2w8dRnt2GxBs6cTVYfWDRmD_MpBwLkWFd08xnRfEWI4&e="><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">the United States Forest Service</span> [fs.fed.us]</a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black">.</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">For more information on DEM programs and initiatives, visit
</span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">http://www.dem.ri.gov/</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">. Follow us on Facebook at
</span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.facebook.com_RhodeIslandDEM&d=DwMFAg&c=tSLbvWYfvulPN3G_n48TUw&r=PNPCCLvWGdSuU1Tdn5Dnfma8bA9iLrs91avOnZ4uMV0&m=r7ovjmps3TdDZcmLOAgzOpfhdSs068IMUP_BK4nrclA&s=YeY3uJL9WBThdWJ-QdvaaAIizeP_i_CAOgPhvcOuKhQ&e=" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandDEM</span> [facebook.com]</a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"> or on Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM) for
timely updates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">-30-<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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