Mighty phragmites

One thing leads to another around here. Thanks to parks spokesguy Eugene Patron, the true identity of yesterday's found-art installation has been revealed: "Turns out it's an old dredger, used to clean the watercourse of weeds and invasive plants like phragmites along the lakeshore. We have another one, nicknamed the Lake Mess Monster, that our aquatic ecologist Adam takes out now and then." That's Adam on the beast, at left. 

I love the phragmites (also known as "common reed," Phragmites australis, and pronounced "frag-mite-ees"). Their dense stands have a mysterious, menacing quality that makes even a sunny day feel like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. But I should hate them; they are a pestilential menace, an invasive Eurotrash plant that has crowded out its less aggressive native American cousins (which look so similar that they can only be distinguished through genetic testing). They choke waterways and mess up the balance of aquatic ecosystems.

And they are a bitch to get rid of. Tearing them out sometimes just spreads around chunks of the rhizomes from which they sprout. You know it's bad when ecology sites like Cornell's Invasive Plants Program recommend  "the use of herbicides, mowing, discing, dredging, flooding, draining, burning and grazing." Burning? Yes—these suckers are so tough that National Wildlife Refuges bomb them with poison and then perform "prescribed burning." Something tells me this is not an option in Brooklyn.

(Left: Lakeside view, turned into Very Tall Reeds view, along Prospect Park's south drive last week.)

Personally, I would recommend just turning some New York City school groups loose on them. But as it turns out, the city has another possible team of heroes to the rescue: Thanks to our status as a shipping port, we are a vector for a global influx of invasive reed-eating bugs! This Justice League of potential phragmites-chompers includes the Mealy Plum Aphid (Hyalopterus pruni), the Large Wainscot moth (Rhizedra lutosa), and the Gall Midge (Lasioptera hungarica, shown here doing its thing). So far, ecologists don't seem to have figured out the practical specifics of conducting a targeted bug-versus-reed smackdown, but at least there's hope. 

And until then, there is the Lake Mess Monster.

Comments

[mazzy]

Ah, that must have been the intrepid Adam I saw on Tuesday, riding the "Lake Mess Monster" and trying to make a dent in the thick duckweed that has settled by the boathouse. I'm afraid it looked like the duckweed was winning. Thanks for the info!