Bag the phrag: HCT volunteers, Harwich town staff and AmeriCorps tackle invasive phragmites
Phragmites is not your friend. Even though it looks so darn beautiful rustling in the wind, this invasive perennial grass, also known as the common reed, crowds out other wetland plants like a bully with soggy feet.
A hardworking team of Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) volunteers, staff from the Town of Harwich, and an AmeriCorps member battled invasive phragmites at the West Reservoir.
And like many invasive plants, it is tough to control. But that didn’t stop a gung-ho team of Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) volunteers, staff from the Town of Harwich, and an AmeriCorps member. Their quarry was a small patch of phragmites that was trying to move in along the shore of the West Reservoir in the beautiful Bell’s Neck Conservation Lands.
“When you have a small stand of it, like we do here, we can at least try to manage it, keep it at bay and get rid of as much as possible,” said Harwich Conservation Agent Amy Usowski. “When you have a major infestation, like we do over in the East Reservoir, it’s almost impossible.”
A quick walk across the road and down into the East Reservoir marsh showed what Usowski was talking about. Enormous stands of phragmites lined the water’s edge, stretching toward the horizon like an invasive wheat field. Now these reeds were trying to cross the street and extend their empire to the west.
But not today. The pioneer phragmites patch at the West Reservoir was taking a beating as the team cut the stalks and collected the flowering plumes that can spread seed. Unfortunately, however, seeds are just one way that phragmites can spread, so there was more work to do.
That’s when the shovels came out. The roots had to go as well. While phragmites are quite talented in the seed dispersal department, they have other tricks up their slender sleeves. Established plants can spread through rhizomes, underground stems that are connected to the parent plant, and via stolons, stems that grow along the surface of the soil.
Invasive phragmites along the East Reservoir at the Bell’s Neck Conservation Lands.
Where did invasive phragmites come from?
A native subspecies of phragmites has been part of the North American landscape for thousands of years, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Historical evidence shows that the hollow stems of native phragmites were used by Native Americans for arrow shafts and musical instruments, while the leaves and stems were used for making mats.
But introduced phragmites, thought to have originated in Eurasia, is a relative newcomer that likely “arrived in North America accidentally, most likely in ballast material in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. It established itself along the Atlantic coast and, over the course of the 20th century, spread across the continent. Today it is found in all of the lower 48 states and is particularly common along the Atlantic Coast, where it dominates many coastal marsh habitats,” according to NOAA.
The new kid on the block “is a serious threat to native biodiversity,” reports the state of Connecticut’s Agricultural Experiment Station. “It replaces native plant species, reduces fish and wildlife populations, and creates ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.”
A phragmites plume awaits bagging and removal at the West Reservoir.
Bagging the phrag
In short order, the work party gave the West Reservoir phragmites a solid smackdown. Evidence of the reedy rumble was stuffed into contractor bags and piled by the side of the road for pickup by the town’s Department of Public Works.
AmeriCorps member Sophie Wigington stuck an important sign behind the impressive mound, reading “Phragmites Removal Project in Progress. Bags to be removed by Town of Harwich. No illegal dumping occurred.”
Across the dirt road, the East Reservoir phragmites waved their disapproval. The can-do spirit of HCT volunteers, town staff and AmeriCorps had foiled their expansion plans. But chances are good that the phragmites are already plotting their next move, and this turf battle will continue.
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