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The Connecticut River Conservancy restores and advocates for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities to support a diverse and thriving watershed. Water Chestnut Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an invasive, non-native aquatic plant that is spreading throughout New England and the Connecticut River watershed. Rooted in shallow waterbodies such as lakes, ponds and coves, water chestnut can take over the surface if left unchecked. These annual plants reproduce by seeds before dying off in the winter. Seeds drop in August and September, and can lie dormant but viable for up to 12 years. Pulling water chestnut by kayak or canoe before the plants produce seeds is the most efficient control method, and a great way to engage by volunteering! 2025 events are listed on our volunteer registration site in the spring/summer! You can also sign up for email updates to be notified when new volunteer opportunities are added. Read On, or Click Below to Jump to a Specific Section What does water chestnut look like? Why is water chestnut such a problem? Water chestnut infestation interactive map If it's not native, how did water chestnut get here? How does water chestnut reproduce? How does water chestnut spread? Water chestnut removal video Water chestnut management with volunteers What does water chestnut look like? Water chestnuts plant their roots at the bottom of the river, while their leaves float on the water surface. They have rosettes of leaves that float on the water's surface that appear to be radiating from a central point. The leaves are triangular or slightly diamond shaped, toothed on two sides and connected to the stem by a long, flexible submerged stalk. Submerged leaves are feathery. The stem can grow up to 4.6m long, allowing them to colonize a wide range of freshwater habitats — from shallows to deep waters. Plants typically bloom in July. The tiny, white, four-petaled flowers produce characteristic horned seeds. In lightly infested areas you might find a single rosette or plant floating on the water. In heavily infested areas water chestnut forms dense floating mats, covering the surface of the waterbody. Why is water chestnut such a problem? To aquatic plants and animals: Water chestnut is a problem because it takes up space and nutrients. It can crowd out native plants that are food sources for native animals. Not only do they take over our waterways by out-competing other emergent and floating vegetation, but their colonization also negatively impacts the function of the entire aquatic ecosystem. They proliferate profusely on the surface of freshwater. The densely-layered floating mats they form — often as thick as three layers — limit light penetration through the vertical water column. As water chestnut decomposes, it decreases dissolved oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to survive. To humans: Water chestnut infestations also impede fishing, hunting, swimming, and boating as the rosettes cover entire bodies of water with plants up to sixteen feet deep in some extreme cases. They congest streams, block boats, and kill fish. The spiny seeds can cause injury. Management of out-of-control infestations is costly and requires incredible coordination. Water Chestnut Infestations Interactive Map This map shows all reported water chestnut (aka Trapa natans ) infestations within the Connecticut River Watershed. This map is continuously updated as stewards, monitors, and the other river users report new infestations and report on the status of existing ones. Water chestnut infestations have been reported in the four primary states within the watershed – NH, VT, MA & CT. If it's not native, how did it get here? European water chestnut has not always lived in the United States. The water chestnut is a resident of the Old World, native to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and Western Africa. In 1877, the species Trapa natans was introduced to the United States from Europe (as suggested by its name) at the Cambridge Botanical Garden at Harvard University (Sculthorpe, 1967; Oliver, 1871; Voroshilov, 1982). It was planted in Collins Lake, MA and other ponds in Massachusetts. In 1879 the plant escaped the cultivated areas and started growing in the Charles River. Since then it has continued to spread all along the east coast as far south as Virginia and Kentucky, as far north as Quebec, invading the Hudson River and, of course, the Connecticut River. Without removal it has the capacity to spread farther. How does water chestnut reproduce? Each plant produces at least one flower annually. These flowers begin to form nut-like fruits in mid-July. Seeds ripen about a month later and start to drop in early-mid August. The seeds, known as water caltrop, are four-horned nut-like structures that develop on the underside of the floating rosette. One seed can produce up to 15 floating rosettes, each rosette producing up to 20 more seeds. Seeds remain viable for up to 12 years! It is important to remove water chestnuts before the seeds mature and drop to the floor of the water body. Though most seeds germinate within the first few years after being dropped, they can be viable for twelve years. A single plant left behind can drop over 20 seeds, restarting a long 12 year cycle of removing and monitoring. If we can prevent plants from dropping new seeds, an infestation can be successfully eliminated. How does water chestnut spread? Seeds can drop directly into the sediment beneath the parent plant or they can hitch rides to new locations. Water chestnuts’ spikes allow them to stick to birds or other wildlife and end up in a new location. Plants can also get caught on boats or other recreation gear allowing them to get carried up/down-stream or to new water bodies. Water Chestnut Removal in the Connecticut River Watershed Water Chestnut Management To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. Fortunately, it is easily identifiable and smaller infestations can be managed with trained volunteers hand-pulling the plant. The key to keeping water chestnut from invading new areas is to remove plants before they have a chance to go to seed. Control requires vigilant patrolling and harvesting for many years to ensure a water body is saved. Infested sites should be monitored and controlled every few years to fully remove the invasive species. Most removal is completed by volunteers manually through a series of pulls. Volunteers pull the plants by hand, often depositing the pulled plants into baskets or boats that are brought to shore. Water chestnut can be composted away from the water body. Mechanical harvesters are efficient for removing large infestations of water chestnut. They can remove lots of plants from the surface. However, this method can be quite expensive. It cost the state of Vermont approximately $500,000 to remove water chestnut in 2000. Compared to hand removal, which usually involves many volunteers and few expenses, this method is more expensive but less time consuming. Volunteer to Remove Water Chestnut! Citizens like you help remove these invasive species from our waterways! Volunteers that frequently scout for and remove the invasive plants are the major contributors to preventing heavy infestations. CRC, partners, and other stewards of our rivers collaborate to organize many water chestnut removal events. These community events have been very successful at removing large swaths of water chestnut. In the summer of 2023, 145 volunteers and partners removed 43,000lbs of water chestnuts! You can learn how to identify and report water chestnut as well as when it is appropriate to pull the plants, how to properly pull them, and how to properly dispose of the pulled plants. If you're interested in volunteering visit our volunteer registration site , or sign up for email updates to be notified. For questions related to CRC’s water chestnut program, request a presentation from one of our staff, or to connect about volunteering, contact us at volunteer@ctriver.org or 413.772.2020 207.

< Back Christine Palm Trustee Christine Palm is finishing her third term as State Representative for the 36th General Assembly District in Connecticut, covering the towns of Chester, Deep River, Essex and Haddam. As Vice Chair of the Environment Committee, she successfully passed a bill requiring the teaching of climate change as part of the school curriculum, making Connecticut the first U.S. state to require this teaching in all public schools. For her efforts, Palm won the Walter Cronkite Environmental Education Award. Palm also wrote and enacted legislation to create and fund the Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (housed at CAES), with a special emphasis on managing hydrilla verticillata. Palm, an assistant Majority Leader, has consistently been named a “Legislative Champion” by the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. Palm also shepherded bills banning PFAS and restricting trophy hunting through the Legislature, and helped get the modernized Bottle Bill across the finish line. Palm’s other signature legislative efforts include enhancing women’s rights, securing gun safety measures, and increasing economic security for working families and young adult earners. She has been a newspaper reporter, high school teacher, marketer of non-profit and cultural institutions, and once owned a bowling alley. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for essay writing. She is the author of the poetry chapbook, Preparing the Ground. In addition to conservation, Palm has a special interest in literary graves of New England and is in the process of researching a book on the final resting places of poets, authors, journalists, and other literary figures. She and her husband, the artist James Baker, have four sons.

< Back Bob Dryfoos Trustee Bob is a computer software architect, retired from heading an operating system development lab for IBM. For almost 50 years, he worked for IBM in various locations in New York State, moving to Connecticut when he retired. He has served on the board of Audubon for over 20 years in both NY & CT for which he is currently chair. Bob lives in Essex, CT, and is on numerous boards, including the Roger Torey Peterson Estuary Center in Old Lyme and the Essex Land Trust in Essex. He enjoys the Connecticut River and can sometimes be found either boating or kayaking.

Support the Connecticut River for Giving Tuesday by making a contribution for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities. Free the Fish Challenge All donations up to $25K will be MATCHED for Giving Tuesday! Gifts through Giving Tuesday, December 3rd, will be DOUBLED thanks to a generous donor. This means you will have twice the impact in protecting river health and restoring habitat. This Giving Tuesday, show your support for healthy habitats in the Connecticut River watershed. Donate to free the fish! This challenge will fund dam removal to restore fish passage, culvert upgrades to improve climate resiliency, fish ladders and weirs for migrating species, and other habitat connectivity projects to benefit the fish that call these rivers home! Help CRC protect and restore the Connecticut River watershed for your community and the future with a MATCHED gift today. A donation form will appear below and some browsers require a few seconds to load. Thanks for your patience and support! Photo above by Ayla Skorupa. Other Ways to Give Donate by Mail Please mail your check, made out to Connecticut River Conservancy, to: 15 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA 01301 Donate by Phone To donate by phone or to get assistance with your donation, please contact us at 413-772-2020 More Ways to Give Learn about legacy and workplace giving, sponsorships, stock donations and more with more ways to give. For questions about making your gift to support Connecticut River Conservancy, contact Brett at bmorrison - at - ctriver.org or call 413.772.2020 x218.

< Back Bob Sproull Trustee Bob is a computer scientist, retired from running a research lab for Sun Microsystems and Oracle. For over twenty years, he lived in Boston and rowed on the Charles River. He served on the board of directors of the Charles River Watershed Association for 15 years and helped them launch a capital campaign. Bob lives in Leeds, MA, is the coordinator of the Friends of Mineral Hills Conservation Area, and is a member of the Yankee Rowing Club. He tries to row on the Connecticut as often as possible and enters an occasional race. CRC@ctriver.org

< Back Paul Detwiler Trustee Paul is a retired senior attorney who spent more than 20 years with the U.S. Department of Energy, where he advised on national security, energy research, and environmental remediation. He held senior legal and management posts at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. His service was recognized with the Secretary of Energy’s Distinguished Service Award and the NNSA Administrator’s Silver Medal. Paul holds a J.D. with Highest Honors from George Washington University, a Ph.D. in Ecology and Systematics from Cornell University, and an A.B. in Biology from Dartmouth College. He lives on the Connecticut River in Hanover, NH, where he enjoys fishing, rowing and cycling.

< Back Janki Darity Trustee With over 15 years of dedicated experience in the ethics and compliance profession, Janki has cultivated a strong foundation in fostering integrity and transparency across various sectors. She has been at the forefront of integrating programmatic frameworks into healthcare, consumer products, and technology organizations. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to advancing strategies that emphasize the importance of regulatory compliance and ethical responsibility with ongoing development improvements. Recently, she has chosen to pivot from the corporate sector to focus on nonprofit environmental sustainability programs, specifically in the area of watershed protection and conservation. This shift reflects a deep commitment to addressing global environmental challenges and leveraging her expertise to support sustainable initiatives. Moreover, Janki has a deep passion for the Connecticut River, a natural treasure she has cherished since moving with her family to Amherst at the age of seven. A lifelong traveler, Janki loves cycling and hiking with her partner Brian, as well as getting cozy with a good bourbon and the works of two of her favorite authors, Octavia Butler and Barbara Kingsolver.

The Connecticut River Conservancy restores and advocates for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities to support a diverse and thriving watershed. Water Quality Monitoring CRC’s water quality monitoring program provides vital scientific information to help the public and local, state, and federal partners better understand our rivers’ health. The data collected by our volunteers and staff helps inform other areas of work such as advocacy, restoration, and recreation access. CRC's Water Quality Monitoring Lab CRC headquarters in Greenfield is home to a water quality lab where we process water samples for E. coli bacteria, nitrogen, and microplastics for ourselves, our partners, and the watershed community. Is it Clean Water Quality Database Water sample results in the watershed are uploaded to the Is it Clean website. Users can get E. coli data and likely water quality conditions to help make decisions about where to safely swim, boat, or recreate in local waterways. Connecticut River E. coli Report (2019-2023) Volunteers for CRC collect samples of the Connecticut River weekly from twenty-two locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont. This report combines data from five years, illustrating trends in water quality. More About the Lab Explore the Database See the Report Volunteers for Water Quality Volunteers from throughout the watershed collect water samples from the Connecticut River and its tributaries during the spring and summer. The samples collected are tested for a variety of parameters, depending on the specific program. The parameters can include E. coli bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, turbidity, specific conductance, and microplastics. We recruit volunteers annually in early spring. We usually have limited openings and specific geographic needs. If you’d like to sign up to let us know that you’re interested and be among the first to know when we need help, contact Melissa at mlangley - at - ctriver.org. We are also happy to connect you with the local watershed group that samples near you if it isn’t us. Partnerships in the Watershed In addition to our own monitoring initiatives, CRC supports our subwatershed groups with their monitoring efforts in a variety of ways. We have helped by providing coordination or other technical assistance, processing samples at our lab, or including them as partners in our grant applications to support our joint monitoring goals. Some of the groups we work with regularly are: Deerfield River Watershed Association Fort River Watershed Association Chicopee 4 Rivers Watershed Council Scantic River Watershed Association Black River Action Team Ottauquechee NRCD The Connecticut River 's water quality has improved over the past few decades thanks to clean water legislation and the efforts of many conservation organizations, local and state agencies, and volunteers. But pollution, climate change, and obstacles to free-flowing rivers still remain, and require ongoing monitoring to inform the public. Stormwater & CRC's Lab on NEPM NEPM's Connecting Point news segment did a fantastic job of covering one of the biggest challenges of pollution in our rivers, which are Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's). Due to outdated infrastructure, stormwater drains and sewage drains are connected in parts of the central watershed, resulting in sewage overflows into the Connecticut River during times of heavy rains or flooding. This sometimes leads to elevated E. coli and river conditions not considered safe for recreation. Cyanobacteria Research Connecticut River Conservancy began a cyanobacteria monitoring program in the summer of 2022 and has continued evolving this work since then. While cyanobacteria does not yet pose a serious threat to the Connecticut River watershed, there have been cases of cyanobacteria blooms which have the potential to become a bigger challenge in the future as climate extremes increase and agricultural nutrients affect water quality. Our 2023-2025 Cyanobacteria Monitoring Report is available to provide the data gathered as of June 2025 which includes 13 sample locations at eight water bodies, with each site being monitored on a biweekly basis from May through October. Additional resources: HAB Mitigation Project Planning Meeting – 11.08.21 Barley Straw for Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB) Control lecture, by Allison Ryan – September 2021 Cyanobacteria lecture, by Allison Ryan – June 2020 Cyanobacteria fact sheet, by Ryan O’Donnell Additional Reports Connecticut River e.Coli report 2019-2023 Bacteria Monitoring and Combined Sewer Overflows: Water Quality Data and Public Understanding in Hampden County Water Quality News Why Definitions Matter: The Hidden Systems That Shape Our Rivers and Protect Our Wetlands An in-depth analysis of different types of wetlands in the Connecticut River watershed, and how federal, state, and local protections intersect in the primary watershed states of NH, VT, MA, and CT. Cyanobacteria Monitoring Report 2023-2025 Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) began monitoring cyanobacteria in Hampshire County, Massachusetts in 2023 and has since increased the number of sample sites and sampling frequency. Connecticut River Conservancy Invites Community Volunteers for Chloride Testing Watershed-Wide Testing chloride levels provides data on the impacts of road salt on water quality and wildlife in the Connecticut River watershed. For questions about CRC's water quality monitoring, or to volunteer to collect water samples, contact Melissa at mlangley - at - ctriver.org or call 413.450.8739.

< Back Stephen Gephard Trustee, Vice Chair Stephen recently retired from the CT Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection after 42 years as a fisheries biologist, supervising the Diadromous Fish and Habitat Enhancement programs, spending much of his time on the Connecticut River salmon restoration program. Steve currently is a consultant and serves on many regional bodies as well as holding a presidential appointment as a U.S. Commissioner to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (Edinburgh). He has logged over 60 years on the river and is an avid paddler, boater, angler, and explorer as well as a veteran of many river conservation efforts. He co-writes a regular column for Estuary magazine and hosts a radio show for iCRV streaming radio. He lives in Deep River, CT with his partner Leslie MacLise-Kane. CRC@ctriver.org

The Connecticut River Conservancy restores and advocates for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities to support a diverse and thriving watershed. Programs The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) restores and advocates for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities throughout the watershed of New England’s longest river. Through collaborative partnerships in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, CRC leads and supports science-based efforts for resilient and life-filled rivers from source to sea. Below are the areas of interconnected impact that we are focused on. Click to learn more and dive into our programs. River Restoration Dam Removal Invasive Species Migratory Fish Advocacy Hydropower Relicensing Water Quality Monitoring Community Engagement Latest News Why Definitions Matter: The Hidden Systems That Shape Our Rivers and Protect Our Wetlands An in-depth analysis of different types of wetlands in the Connecticut River watershed, and how federal, state, and local protections intersect in the primary watershed states of NH, VT, MA, and CT. See All News Looking for Something Else? Email Signup Meet the Staff Get in Touch Upcoming E vents Support O ur Work Mis sion & Values Support Connecticut River Conservancy Today Your contribution will make a lasting impact for clean water, healthy habitats, and resilient communities in the Connecticut River watershed. Donate

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