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.
- 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. (Judy Benson, The Day)
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. 
1 comment:
The Nells Island marsh in Milford CT is almost completely choked out by Phragmites, but no matter who we talk to or try to convey to in the state nobody wants to listen!! Do you know of anyone to talk to before the marsh is 100% dead?? The Muller Family
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