Waterchestnut in Tonawanda Creek

Just wanted to alert everyone to a "new" aquatic invasive plant in this area. Waterchestnut (Trapa natans) has been quite a problem in parts of the northeast (especially Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal near Syracuse). On June 26th, we were conducting a fish survey when one of our technicians, Denise Clay, spotted what she thought was waterchestnut. We went back to take a look and sure enough, there were about 3 or 4 single plants located at the north tip of Ellicott Creek Island. (This is a closeup of a few "rosettes" of waterchestnut taken from the creek).:

This was quite a surprise since the closest known population (in the Canal System) prior to that was in central NY, near Montezuma. The major problem with this plant is it's ability to choke off a waterway, making canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and other recreational activities virtually impossible. Eric Snyder and I then went out a few days later in one of our canoes and found out that the plant is solidly established behind Ellicott Creek Island. Here's Eric with a handful of the plant with the backwater area in the background:

We found it scattered throughout the entire backwater area behind the island. Some colonies are close to 30 feet in diameter. We're hoping to schedule a "pulling day" in the very near future to try and remove the visible plants and get rid of some of the seed bank (seeds can lay dormant for years so it's good to get plants out of there for that reason alone). Meanwhile, if anyone happens to find this plant locally, please let me know. We're planning to survey a few more places along the creek this week to see if its found anywhere else.