The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District announced today it will be conducting a research and demonstration project to better understand and control the invasive aquatic plant hydrilla that is currently spreading throughout the lower Connecticut River, its tributaries and isolated lakes and ponds in Connecticut.

USACE is working in partnership with the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station to contain and reduce hydrilla verticillate, commonly known as hydrilla.

Three public meetings are scheduled to be held over the course on the next month to update stakeholders and the public about the USACE Connecticut River hydrilla project, and the critical component of the USACE research that is being conducted to develop safe and effective herbicide treatment plans that will assist communities, marinas and organizations in their efforts to reduce current populations of hydrilla, and to contain further spread outside of its current known locations.

Five sites in Connecticut have been chosen as aquatic herbicide application demonstration sites for this project. Treatments will begin no sooner than the first week of July. The five sites selected are:

• Keeney Cove (Glastonbury/East Hartford)
• Chapman Pond (East Haddam)
• Chester Boat Basin (Chester)
• Selden Cove (Lyme)
• Portland Boat Works (Portland)

The three scheduled meetings will be presented with an online/virtual hybrid attendance option. The content of each presentation will be the same, so there is no need to attend more than one
meeting. Each of the meetings will conclude with a question-and-answer period and will be recorded and posted to the project website. An up-to-date herbicide application schedule will also be maintained on the project website, so please check the website in advance of a scheduled treatment to see if there have been any schedule changes.

The first public meeting and USACE project presentation will be held May 29 beginning at 7 p.m. in the community room at Goodwin University at 1 Riverside Drive in East Hartford. Parking will be available in the campus parking areas. Anyone planning to utilize this meeting virtually must visit the meeting registration link at https://mabbettassociatesinc-745.my.webex.com/weblink/register/rc6a8c9a7c1c043daaa3a37deb7e8a3ec. A WebEx meeting link will be sent to your email following registration.

The second public meeting and presentation will be June 4 at 7 p.m. at the City Hall Council Chamber room in the Middletown Municipal Building, 245 Dekoven Drive in Middletown. Anyone planning to utilize this meeting virtually must visit the meeting registration link at https ://mabbettassociatesinc-745.my.webex.com/weblink/register/rf5bccb66c6005171ccfb8a533886c5fe. A WebEx meeting link will be sent to your email following registration.

The third and final public meeting and presentation for this stage of the project will be held June 27 at 7 p.m. in town hall rooms 1 and 2 in the East Haddam Municipal Office Complex, 1 Plains Road in Moodus. Anyone planning to utilize this meeting virtually must visit the meeting registration link at https://mabbettassociatesinc-
745.my.webex.com/weblink/register/r9a98913e32faf4d44814dec2efe4550a. A WebEx meeting link will be sent to your email following registration.

People interested in attending one of the presentations in person are asked to send a confirmation email to CTRiver-Hydrilla@usace.army.mil so that meeting organizers can plan for
enough seating at the venues.

For more information, visit the USACE Connecticut River hydrilla project website at https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects-Topics/Connecticut-River-Hydrilla or the
StoryMap at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ac89d2534fa0490db6c8718191411bd1.

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