10/16/2024
Duckweed has become ubiquitous in our region. You see it everywhere: ponds suffocating under a thick green mat. Ducks and geese love to eat this nutritious marine plant, but too much of it can kill a pond. And even with all the geese that raise their families on our pond, by last summer the surface of the water looked dense enough to walk on. We'd watched some of our friends lose their ponds to duckweed. Fish and turtles died, frogs no longer sang their mating calls in the spring, so ...
After much research, Terry made the decision to tackle the duckweed. It took many hours of dedicated labor over many weeks. But it was worth it!
Here are some before and after photos. Looking over the water toward Heron's Rest, the first photo shows the beginning of the duckweed growth in 2019. By last summer, that green mass covered the entire surface. The second photo, taken from the same viewpoint, shows how clear the water is today.
The third photo, taken in 2020, shows how much the duckweed had spread. The fourth photo was taken this morning.
Once again, we can savor the reflections of the fall colors on the water. Thank you, Terry, for all your hard work!
