by Jonathan DeKock | June 25, 2025 | The Bedford Citizen

An estimated 32,000 invasive water chestnut plants (Trapa natans) were pulled from the Concord River along the Carlisle and Bedford shores during a successful water chestnut pulling event on July 19.

245 baskets full of plants (approximately 17 cubic yards) were pulled over the course of three hours by 29 volunteers, including six children, who paddled 13 canoes and two kayaks into the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Significant progress was made to the patch upstream of the bridge at Route 225 on the Carlisle side, and volunteers began to make inroads into the patch downstream near Two Brothers Rocks on the Bedford side.

Many of the plants were mature, large, healthy specimens that were actively growing multiple seeds. Most plants were able to be pulled up in their entirety, including the feathery root system. Sediment around the roots generally washed off in the water column and fell back to its original location. Oddly, many plants did not have a nut attached at the base of the root system. In most cases individual plants could be pulled, bringing along the other rosettes attached to the same root system without significant entanglement with other invasives, so most of the material removed was water chestnut.

The weather was a beautiful 70 to 80 degrees with full sun and low humidity. All participants got wet and dirty, returning smiling and happy while generally reporting that pulling water chestnut was therapeutic. Some participants engaged in competitions for how many water chestnut plants they could pull, with one boat returning with 11 full baskets from one trip and another returning with heaps so full it was difficult to find the baskets underneath.

Meanwhile, others demonstrated impressive stamina by making four or more trips despite the arduous return trip paddling a heavy boat a half mile upstream against the current.

Teamwork was also evident as some boats partnered with the kayakers to trade full baskets for empty ones, enabling the kayakers to make fewer trips to and from the boat ramp. The children particularly enjoyed learning about the little insects they found from an expert naturalist on the team, including damselfly larvae and a large six-spotted fishing spider.

This event was conducted under USFWS Special Use Permit 53511-FY2025-06 and was sponsored by the Carlisle Conservation Foundation, the Watershed Organization for the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Rivers (OARS), and Carlisle’s Environmental Sustainability Committee and Land Stewardship Committee, and endorsed by Mass DCR’s Lakes and Ponds Program, MassWildlife’s Endangered Species Program, the SuAsCo River Stewardship Council, and the DPW and Conservation departments in the towns of Carlisle and Bedford. Boats were provided by Paddle Boston.

To learn more, visit OARS’ water chestnut page.

Special thanks to everyone for making this possible.

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