Paddlers in kayaks and canoes, along with non-boating volunteers, are needed to collect seed pods from this noxious plant, which threatens to cover the pond.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is recruiting volunteers to help harvest seed pods from a large, non-native lotus patch in Meshanticut Pond in Cranston. The plant, sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), is a highly-aggressive, invasive species that threatens a healthy balance of native plants, impedes fishing and boating opportunities, and will be costly to manage over the next several years. 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 the United States Forest Service.
Volunteer opportunities are available for paddlers using their own canoes or kayaks in Meshanticut Pond to cut the lotus seed pods from the stem of the plant and collect them in a bucket or basket. Non-boating volunteers also are needed to stay ashore and help unload the containers of lotus seed pods for disposal. DEM will provide a dumpster. Volunteers should bring handheld garden pruning shears to cut the lotus seed pods from the stem and a container such as a bucket to collect them in their canoe or kayak. Seed pods must be removed after the plants have flowered but before they drop the seeds in order to slow down plant regrowth. Lotus plants will reproduce by seed and root system, but removal of the seed pods will reduce the number of new plants and help eliminate opportunities for seeds to move downstream. Future control efforts may include use of chemical herbicides, but manually harvesting the seed pods this summer will reduce the amounts of herbicides necessary to treat the lotus patch.
Community harvesting events will be scheduled in late July or early August, depending on volunteer sign-ups. Interested volunteers may register here.
"The rapid and aggressive dispersal of this lotus patch is a case study in the impacts of invasive plant species," said Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio, Environmental Analyst with DEM's Office of Water Resources. "Its establishment and spread are degrading native habitat and decreasing recreational opportunities. We hope that civic-minded volunteers will join us and help check the spread of this destructive invasive plant."
This is the first finding of sacred lotus in a natural area in Rhode Island. Regionally, it has not been found in any other New England state except for Massachusetts, where it was found in one lake. It is typically found in small, isolated, backyard water gardens or curated in pots at botanical gardens.
First documented in Meshanticut Pond in 2018, the lotus patch is believed to have been growing for about five years. 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. 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.
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