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<p style="margin:0in;text-autospace:none"><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;color:#00457A">235 Promenade Street | Providence, RI 02908 | 401.222.4700 |</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0070C0">
</span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0070C0">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;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-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">CONTACT:</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">
<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Mike Healey, 401-258-0787 Thursday, July 21, 2022<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0066FF"><a href="mailto:Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov"><span style="color:#0066FF">Michael.Healey@dem.ri.gov</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">DEM RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS TO HELP CLEAR<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">NOXIOUS PLANT FROM EAST PROVIDENCE RESERVOIR</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Description automatically generated with low confidence" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2"><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">EAST
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is recruiting volunteers to help remove invasive water chestnut plants from the Turner Reservoir in the Rumford section of East Providence. The water chestnut is a virulent aquatic plant that’s
native to Asia. It has expanded rapidly in the waterbody. Highly aggressive, it forms dense mats that steal sunshine from and ultimately displace native plant species, alter the reservoir habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on it, and interfere with
recreational activities such as fishing, boating, and paddling. If not pulled this year, the existing plant population will likely grow too large in 2023 to be effectively controlled by anything but costly herbicide treatments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">DEM will hold four “paddle and pull” events and welcomes civic-minded volunteers who have their own kayaks or canoes and want to help put a dent in the reservoir’s water
chestnut’s population: Saturday, July 23, 8-11 AM; Monday, July 25, 9 AM-12 PM; Tuesday, July 26, 9 AM-12 PM; and Wednesday, July 27, 4-7 PM. For more information, see accompanying flyer.
<span style="color:#0066FF"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKfQ3xFouCNv8txU-sOKmMi_FBwh6EbheeDsQJyq3-FP-6Qw/viewform__;!!KKphUJtCzQ!Igb6Da_2tn4W1nQgURVc2LR13W9ph0CnT5X6fXelXS5Tn435umvu_6iprZhCdgyz9FgvwP4ZSCaHfy83PFIEKFZY33vHlHXTfz3M$"><span style="color:#0066FF">To register to participate, please click here.</span> [docs.google.com]</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Meet the enemy: the water chestnut is a noxious invasive weed that<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">spreads at almost exponential rates.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">"The rapid and aggressive dispersal of water chestnut in Rhode Island is a prime example of how quickly invasive plants can take over in an area," said DEM’s Office of
Water Resources Environmental Analyst Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio, who is leading the volunteer events. "Its distribution throughout the state has nearly tripled in just five years, degrading native habitat and ruining opportunities to enjoy local lakes and ponds.
We hope that volunteers interested in environmental stewardship will join us and help contain the spread of this destructive invasive plant. Keeping Turner Reservoir clear is essential for continued paddling. It is a beautiful spot for boating, fishing, and
wildlife viewing, but by next year plant coverage could be over 10 times worse than this year."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#0066FF"><a href="https://www.ri.gov/press/view/43989"><span style="color:#0066FF">The cyanobacteria advisory that was placed on Turner Reservoir earlier this summer
by the Rhode Island Department of Health and DEM has been lifted</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">, and cyanotoxin is not present in detectable concentrations in the waterbody. DEM has been testing the
water for the past few weeks and results show conditions are safe again to boat on the water, just in time for the volunteer events.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">Volunteer opportunities are available for paddlers using their own canoes or kayaks in the reservoir to lift the plants from the water and collect them in a bucket or
laundry basket. Non-boating volunteers also are needed to stay ashore and help unload the containers of plants for disposal and carry buckets of the plant to compost. DEM will provide heavy-duty nitrile gloves for handling the plants, which produce large woody
chestnut seeds with four barbed spikes. The plants must be removed before the chestnut seeds completely develop and drop off the plant in August.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">The water chestnut (<i>Trapa natans L.</i>) is an annual plant that will only reproduce by seed, so removing it entirely will eliminate further spread. Water chestnut
is the only invasive plant that can be managed by hand-pulling. It is critical to manage the population now to remove the plants before they drop seeds, which would further fuel growth of the population. Similar control efforts will be required next year as
new seeds may flow into the pond from upstream locations, but removal of the plants this summer is essential to stay ahead of this tireless villain, which will multiply exponentially. Annual efforts have been successful at Belleville Pond (North Kingstown),
Sylvestre Pond (Woonsocket), Carl’s Pond (Cumberland), Olney and Barney Ponds (Lincoln), Omega Pond (East Providence), Spectacle Pond (North Providence), and Reynolds Pond (Coventry/West Greenwich).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">First documented in Rhode Island at Belleville Pond in North Kingstown in 2007, invasive water chestnut has crept throughout the state and its currently found in<span style="color:#0066FF">
<a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/surfwq/aismaps/tranat.pdf">
<span style="color:#0066FF">19 locations.</span></a> </span>The thorny water chestnut seeds easily attach to waterfowl and wildlife and hitchhike to new locations. One seed can sprout in the spring and develop into 15 plants, each of which can produce up to
25 new seeds by the fall (300 seeds total). Therefore, it is essential that paddlers and lake enthusiasts learn to identify this plant and immediately report any new sightings by emailing pictures to
<span style="color:#0066FF"><a href="mailto:dem.waterresources@dem.ri.gov"><span style="color:#0066FF">dem.waterresources@dem.ri.gov</span></a></span>. Helpful tips to identify the plant are available
<span style="color:#0066FF"><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/surfwq/pdfs/invasive-spot-water-chestnut.pdf"><span style="color:#0066FF">here</span></a></span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoBodyText">For more information on DEM programs and initiatives, visit
<span style="color:#0066FF"><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/"><span style="color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a></span>. Follow
<span style="color:#0066FF"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandDEM__;!!KKphUJtCzQ!Igb6Da_2tn4W1nQgURVc2LR13W9ph0CnT5X6fXelXS5Tn435umvu_6iprZhCdgyz9FgvwP4ZSCaHfy83PFIEKFZY33vHlGw6W3yG$"><span style="color:#0066FF">DEM on Facebook</span> [facebook.com]</a></span>, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem) for timely updates.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">Michael J. Healey | Chief Public Affairs Officer</span></b><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">235 Promenade Street, Providence RI 02908</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">401-222-4700, X277-7273</span><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Email: </span><a href="mailto:michael.healey@dem.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">michael.healey@dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#212121">Web: </span><a href="http://www.dem.ri.gov/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0066FF">www.dem.ri.gov</span></a><span style="color:#212121"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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