Middleborough conservation panel votes to seek funding to treat invasive plants in Tispaquin Pond

The Middleborough Conservation Commission on Feb. 6 authorized staff to pursue funding and to contact the state representative after hearing results of an aquatic-plant survey showing widespread invasive growth in Tispaquin Pond.

The commission heard a presentation on a September 2024 point-intercept survey of Tispaquin Pond, roughly a 94-acre waterbody, that sampled 58 locations across the littoral zone. Presenter Matt, who organized the survey materials for the commission, said the results show invasive submerged aquatic vegetation dominating much of the pond’s nearshore area and causing ecological decline. “This large volume of plants and algae die back every summer, leaving an equally large volume of organic materials on the pond bottom to decay,” Matt said, describing the process that can reduce oxygen and harm fish and other wildlife.

Why it matters: Commission members were told the dominant invasive is fanwort, which the surveyor reported occupied roughly two‑thirds of sampled locations, with variable (invasive) milfoil present in smaller patches and a small amount of a protected native milfoil appearing only in trace amounts. Presenters warned that without management the vegetation will continue to proliferate,…