Since 2000, CBEC has engaged in controlling an invasive plant known as phragmites. Phragmites rapidly spread through rhizomes that can grow up to a half mile in length. It connects new shoots through a stolon that allow for the species to completely overtake wetland habitats.
Aerial spraying of Glypro, an aquatic safe herbicide with an enzyme that is specific to eradicating phragmites, has been applied to 200 acres of CBEC’s 510-acre peninsula. CBEC’s ponds and riparian areas are sprayed by a USFWS representative with assistance from CBEC staff and volunteers using a portable tank and spray wand.
After the application of Glypro, infested areas of phragmites are given a month to allow the herbicide to work. Sprayed areas are then burned to remove the invasive grass. In the following years of monitoring an area of phragmites, spot sprays will be needed to avoid a re-takeover of the invasive grass.
CBEC has regained as much as 40% of native marshlands as a result of the spray and burn methods used to control phragmites.
US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) https://www.fws.gov/GOMCP/pdfs/phragmitesQA_factsheet.pdf
Maryland Department of Resources (DNR) http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/Phragmites.aspx
Queen Annes County Soil and Conservation District
National Resource Conservation Services (NRCS)