08/20/2026
This week, it was time for EIC staff to hop in the pond and evaluate how our bio-dredging treatment has been working! We've been treating the pond for the last month with MacroZyme, a mixture of beneficial, naturally-occurring bacteria and enzymes, to break down the deoxygenated "muck" at the bottom.
This week, we also began to clear out invasive Cattail (Typha sp.) that has taken up residence in the nutrient-rich goop. Cattails are an amazing plant, true specialists of aquatic, low-oxygen habitat. Their rhizomes can spread multiple feet underwater, and the feathery roots trap sediment to create a dense, floating mat. The native cattail species, Typha latifolia, grows slowly and with spaces between it that allow other wetland plants to grow. The invasive species- Typha Angustifolia, and the even more aggressive hybrid, Typha x glauca, grow too densely for other plants to get established, and crowd them out.
Every year, cattail plants die back completely to the surface of the water, and the stems and leaves fall to the bottom of the pond. This plant material, in addition to leaves and branches that fall in from the surrounding trees, accumulates at the bottom and breaks down slowly, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Wednesday, we removed about a thousand pounds of plant material! Removing the plants prevent them from becoming part of the "muck", to create literal "breathing room" in the pond to support diverse plant and animal species. We then placed the pile of cattails in the woods to decompose naturally, releasing their stored nutrients into the soil, instead of the pond!
