Destructive Phragmites To Be Sprayed, Mowed At Connecticut River's Mouth

Old Saybrook — Phragmites in a Connecticut salt marsh is a little like the most aggressive weed imaginable in a flower garden, the kind that would smother the snapdragons and rose bushes, leaving once-lush beds unattractive to hummingbirds, bumblebees and butterflies.

When phragmites — the tall, non-native grass that has invaded thousands of acres — comes to dominate a salt marsh, what is supposed to be a highly diverse and productive habitat for many varieties of plants, birds and juvenile fish becomes a monoculture. Also called common reed, phragmites can grow up to 20 feet tall, reproducing both through a network of rhizomes and from seed-laden plumes to choke out the native wildlife.

That's what happened in the marshes in North and South coves at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Now, though, the battle to win back these marshes from phragmites' clutch has begun.

“This is really, truly an exciting day,” said Judy Wilson, wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, noting that the marshes at the mouth of the Connecticut River are considered to have international ecological significance. “It's been a long haul to get to this point.”

Thursday marked the official start of a unique three-year herbicide spraying and mowing project to rid 113 acres in the two marshes of phragmites. That will let the native bulrushes, cattails, cord grass, switch grass and pygmy weed return, and with them the salt marsh sparrow, king rail, migratory ducks and shortnose sturgeon that use the marshes to feed, forage, breed and nest. The project was first conceived more than a year ago, but many legal and administrative hurdles had to be overcome, Wilson said, not the least of which was that the marshes were divided up among more than 200 different property owners.

Wilson runs the DEP's Landowner Incentive Program, which provides grants to private property owners to improve wildlife habitat. The $120,000 grant it provided for this project is the largest since the program started in 2004 with funds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Part of our mission is stewardship, and this was our opportunity to make a huge impact,” said Janice Holland, president of the Old Saybrook Land Trust. “Whatever we can do to bolster the health of these marshlands is crucial.”

Her group initiated the project by applying for — and receiving — the grant, and undertook the complex and lengthy challenge of winning the approvals of the more than 200 different owners of marsh parcels to do the spraying and mowing on their land. About 70 percent of all the owners said yes, Holland said. A few people, she said, had misgivings that some of the herbicide would accidentally end up on their lawns, or that the natural fence created by stands of phragmites would take away their privacy.

Foot soldiers in this battle — the ones who will go onto the marshes and do the spraying with hand-held wands — are Norman Adams, Dan McGowan and Brendan Roach and a second three-man crew from All Habitat Services Co. of Madison, overseen by company owner David Roach.

To start the project Thursday morning for an audience of state, local and federal officials gathered beside the North Cove marsh for a brief program, Adams drove the track machine, a little larger than an all-terrain vehicle, onto marsh at the end of Coulter Street. McGowan jumped on the back, grabbed the wand attached to a tank of herbicide, pointed it at some stands of phragmites and let loose a fine spray of imazapyr, known by the trade name Habitat. It's one of two herbicides the company will use, both chosen for their effectiveness and ability to break down quickly in the aquatic environment so they do minimal damage to other plants and animals, David Roach said. The other herbicide that will be used is triclopyr, commercially called Renovate.

“Phragmites is a particularly persistent plant, so this will require a three-year control effort until the native habitat can rebound,” he said.

The phragmites will start to die, he said, about six to eight weeks after their first application. Areas opened up to more tidal flushing after the phragmites are cleared, he added, will see the least regrowth, because phragmites do poorly in high-salinity environments.

While the track machine moved further into the marsh, nearly hidden in the tall grass, Brendan Roach, nephew of the company owner, strapped a tank of pesticide to his back and walked onto the marsh, spray wand in hand.

“This is one of the best projects I've seen in the Landowner Incentive Program, for its value to wildlife and the number of landowners involved,” said Colleen Scully, grant manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service, as she watched the spraying from the road.

The future of the program, though, is uncertain, she said, since the federal dollars that funded it aren't likely to be renewed. Connecticut has received $900,000 since 2004 to help private landowners improve their properties as wildlife habitats — what Scully called “the new frontier in conservation” — and has committed all but $30,000 thus far.

“The outlook for next year does not look great,” said Scully.

Holland turned to Wilson and said: “Let's go to Washington.”

“We're there,” Wilson replied.