Date: 7/14/25 10:44 am From: Cherrie Corey <cherrie.corey62...> Subject: Re: [MASSBIRD] Great Meadows Concord
Hi Greg,
Though I no longer live around the corner from Great Meadows in Concord, I know it and its lotus population intimately. The plants die back in the winter and new leaves don’t emerge until the water warms and their levels recede later in June. With the high water levels and cold temps this spring, I suspect they were delayed. I suspect the impoundments are blanketed over by now and their flowering should begin toward the end of July and continue into August.
As many here likely know, the USFWS staff tried for the past couple of decades to eliminate or at least delay the spread of the lotus. But soaring summer temps along with a critical period around 2010 when the impoundments were drained for a protracted period of time (due to permitting delays) before scheduled channel dredging could take place, the lotus population exploded. Since lotus seeds have been shown to be viable for 1000+ years and there are now millions of them in the GM impoundments, I imagine it would take an asteroid strike to make them disappear.
These American lotus are native to this continent, especially in warmer environments, but they don’t behave well, ecologically, when they land in impounded and shallow water bodies. They were first recorded in the Concord River back in the late 1800s, likely introduced by any one of Concord’s enterprising botanists or nurserymen.
If you can, I recommend taking in their expanse of white blooms under the full August moon!
Cherrie Corey | Marlboro, VT
> On Jul 14, 2025, at 11:33 AM, Greg Dysart <gsdysart...> wrote:
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> Anyone know how the Feds got rid of the Lotus which used to cover the entire water surface. It was completely gone when I was there last June.
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> Greg Dysart
> http://dysart.zenfolio.com/ > Natick, MA
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