Chester held a public information session June 24 on hydrilla, an aquatic invasive species that has been found in the Connecticut River. The environmental impacts of the plant, and the costs associated with its mitigation, are generating concern on a local level, and state-wide.

The two-hour session in Chester featured a presentation from Greg Bugbee, a lead associate agricultural scientist of the state’s invasive aquatic plant program, and was an opportunity for residents to ask questions.

Bugbee discussed a 2019 survey of the lower Connecticut River that documented the presence of a new strain of hydrilla found only in the Connecticut River.

This type of hydrilla, 774 acres of it, was the most prevalent aquatic invasive species in the Connecticut River during the surveying initiative.

It was found from Agawam, Massachusetts to Essex, including throughout several coves, tidal creeks, and wetlands.

The unique qualities of the plant that make it “troublesome” include propagating in a variety of ways, even by small fragments, making it difficult to control and mitigate once it has entered a body of water, said Bugbee.

“What I think a lot of what you’re concerned about is, ‘Could this move from the river, which is pretty darn close, to Cedar Lake and get in the lake?’ And that certainly would be a possibility,” said Bugbee.

With dense mats of hydrilla on a water’s surface, recreational activities like swimming, boating, and fishing aren’t possible, and the plant has an impact on the entire ecosystem, including repercussions for native plants, migratory fish, birds, and other animals.

During his presentation, Bugbee showed a photo of hydrilla that had almost completely taken over the Mattabesset River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.

“This is obviously a big problem,” said Bugbee. “We’re doing the best we can to bring knowledge to the citizens of the state about this problem, [and] seek funding to help resolve it. Research is needed, which is what the agricultural station is good at, as to what can be done.”

Mitigation efforts are costly. Coventry Lake, although infested with a different strain of hydrilla than the one found in the Connecticut River, is using an aquatic herbicide that will cost the town more than $100,000 annually for the next 10 years.

In addition to Coventry Lake, hydrilla has been found in Held Pond in Weston and two ponds in Mystic.

Chester is considering amending its ordinance for Cedar Lake to stop boat trailers and certain motorboats from using the lake as a preventative measure. A public hearing on the ordinance has not been set. It is currently pending review by the town attorney.

State Efforts

The state’s prevention efforts to stop aquatic invasives from entering a waterway in the first place are falling behind, said Bugbee.

“I think the State of Connecticut is certainly behind some of the neighboring states when it comes to things like boat inspections at ramps, cleaning stations, all of that,” said Bugbee. “You go up into the Adirondacks and there are boat cleaning stations along the highway. You need, I believe, a sticker or certification that you’ve been cleaned before you can actually launch your boat. We are nowhere near that.”

The state will soon be increasing signage relative to hydrilla to help educate boaters, he said, and has been promoting awareness of the “Clean, Drain, Dry” technique, to help ensure that all equipment is free from invasives before leaving a boating area.

Under state law, boaters can be fined for transporting aquatic invasive species on a trailer or vessel. An Aquatic Invasive Species Stamp fee is also charged when registering a vessel, which goes toward research on and efforts to mitigate aquatic invasive species and cyanobacteria blooms in the state.

The funds raised through this program are not nearly enough to deal with hydrilla, however, according to Representative Christine Palm (D-36), by phone, after the information session.

The stamp fee “raised about $480,000, which is nice, but it’s kind of a drop in the buck compared to what is needed,” said Palm. “We need additional funds, and we need to give [the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection] the resources.”

Palm, who is vice-chair of the state legislature’s Environmental Committee, said that she is working to develop legislation concerning hydrilla, and that it’s become a priority.

“If we don’t address it in the Connecticut River, it’s going to be in Lake Candlewood, in the Housatonic River, in the Farmington River, along the Sound,” said Palm. “It’s going to strangulate every waterway that we know and love and that is not hyperbole. It is moving at an absolutely lighting pace.”