Clouds of beetles swarmed over a wetland meadow at Brookwood Community Farm last Thursday. The tiny, winged creatures latched onto clusters of plants and began to munch away on the plants’ leaves. In some spots, the beetles nearly covered the purple flowers adorning the tops of the thickly spread greenery. The beetles were taking over—and that’s exactly what the Neponset River Watershed Association is hoping for. Purple loosestrife is engulfing big sections of the Neponset River watershed. But the Canton-based watershed association, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Wetlands Restoration Program are fighting back—with beetles. For the second time this summer, officials and volunteers released thousands of Galerucella beetles, which exclusively eat purple loosestrife, a particularly invasive plant species with purple flowers that form a cone-like shape, somewhat resembling lilac. And while the plants might look attractive, they are forcing out native species, such as spiraea, cattails,aster or elderberry that have longed thrived in the same wetland meadows the loosestrife is trying hard to take command over. “Once purple loosestrife establishes a foothold in a local wetland, it spreads until it dominates and essentially crowds out the native wetland vegetation relied upon by native wildlife,” according to the watershed association’s Web site, www.neponset.org. The watershed association, which works to pres ...
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Clouds of beetles swarmed over a wetland meadow at Brookwood Community Farm last Thursday. The tiny, winged creatures latched onto clusters of plants and began to munch away on the plants’ leaves. In some spots, the beetles nearly covered the purple flowers adorning the tops of the thickly spread greenery. The beetles were taking over—and that’s exactly what the Neponset River Watershed Association is hoping for. Purple loosestrife is engulfing big sections of the Neponset River watershed. But the Canton-based watershed association, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Wetlands Restoration Program are fighting back—with beetles. For the second time this summer, officials and volunteers released thousands of Galerucella beetles, which exclusively eat purple loosestrife, a particularly invasive plant species with purple flowers that form a cone-like shape, somewhat resembling lilac. And while the plants might look attractive, they are forcing out native species, such as spiraea, cattails,aster or elderberry that have longed thrived in the same wetland meadows the loosestrife is trying hard to take command over. “Once purple loosestrife establishes a foothold in a local wetland, it spreads until it dominates and essentially crowds out the native wetland vegetation relied upon by native wildlife,” according to the watershed association’s Web site, www.neponset.org. The watershed association, which works to pres ...