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Connecticut River Hydrilla

Hydrilla was first identified in the Connecticut River near Glastonbury, CT in 2016 and has since spread now ranging from Agawam, Massachusetts to Essex, Connecticut. It has also spread into the river’s many coves, tributaries, and boat basins. The CT River hydrilla is unique from other known hydrilla strains, as it is genetically distinct. The plant’s biology is largely unknown at this time.

What is hydrilla?

Hydrilla is an aquatic plant that has earned the illustrious title “world’s worst invasive aquatic plant”. Listed as a federal noxious weed, hydrilla has made its home in just about every conceivable freshwater habitat including: rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, canals, ditches and reservoirs.

Hydrilla was first discovered in the United States in the 1960s in Florida. Since then, it has spread to many parts of the U.S.

Hydrilla can grow in a wide variety of water conditions (e.g., high/low nutrients, high/low turbidity, variable pH, up to 7% salinity) and water temperatures.  Unlike most native aquatic plants, hydrilla is capable of growing under extremely low light conditions. Hydrilla is able to begin photosynthesizing much earlier in the morning than native plants so it is able to capture most of the carbon dioxide in the water (which limits growth of other plants).  Hydrilla grows very rapidly (it can double its biomass every two weeks in summer) and has no natural predators or diseases to limit its population.

Dense infestations of hydrilla can shade or crowd out all other native aquatic plants, alter water chemistry, cause dramatic swings in dissolved oxygen levels, increase water temperatures, and affect the diversity and abundance of fish populations.

(Via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

What is USACE doing to help manage hydrilla in the CT River?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and its Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Aquatic Plant Control Research Program, will lead a demonstration project to determine the effectiveness of herbicides registered for aquatic use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to safely reduce and control the spread of the CT River hydrilla. The project will investigate hydrilla’s growth patterns, water exchange dynamics in the CT River, and evaluate herbicide efficacy in laboratory conditions in 2023 to guide operational scale field demonstrations of herbicide efficacy in 2024.

How will hydrilla be treated?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be developing site-specific treatment plans for aquatic herbicides use in the CT River in the summer of 2024.  There are several safe, well understood, and effective herbicides that are being considered for use. Selected herbicides will be added to the website once they have been chosen.

Post application monitoring surveys will be conducted in fall 2024 to assess the condition of the hydrilla as well as non-target impacts.

Will the hydrilla treatment impact recreation and fishing in the Connecticut River?

The hydrilla treatment should have minimal-to-no impact to recreation in the CT River. Other than a few morning hours when contractors are on-site carrying out the treatment, where some restricted public access may be needed, no long-term closures or restricted access is currently anticipated with this work.

The exact locations of where the hydrilla treatment would occur has not been selected yet, but the eight sites being considered are Keeney Cove, Mattabesset River, Portland Boat Works, Dart Island State Park, Chapman Pond, Chester Boat Basin, Selden Cove, and Deep River.

Regarding fishing, the treatment is expected to have minimal to no effects on fishing or to fishing access. Coves are popular fishing spots and the coves where work may take place will still be available for fishing outside of the morning hours when contractors are on site carrying out treatment.

Why is hydrilla management important?

Hydrilla is an invasive aquatic plant species that can negatively affect local ecosystems. Hydrilla forms dense stands underwater that can alter river flow, shade or crowd out all other native aquatic plants, replace habitat of sensitive species, alter water chemistry and pH, cause dramatic swings and reduction in dissolved oxygen levels, increase water temperatures, and negatively affect the diversity and abundance of fish populations. Hydrilla also has negative impacts on recreation, including making it more difficult or even potentially dangerous for both boating and swimming due to the denseness of its growth. Hydrilla grows in long easily fragmented strands, which readily spread and develop into new plants.

By treating the hydrilla to suppress its growth, the intent is to diminish these negative effects and in turn benefit the Connecticut River’s natural ecology and the local economy.

Fact Sheets

Point of Contact

Keith Hannon
Navigation, Coastal Environmental Planning Section
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
New England District
keith.w.hannon@usace.army.mil
Office: (978) 318-8833