When plants or animals are released in areas outside their native range, without their natural predators, they can grow and reproduce out of control, destabilizing the environment and harming native species and human activities. They become “invasive species.”
Aquatic invasive plants are a widespread problem in RI freshwater lakes. A 2012 RI DEM report reviewed information on aquatic invasive species in 133 Rhode Island lakes and found that 80 lakes are infested with one or more invasive plant. A total of 13 different species have been detected with variable milfoil and fanwort being the plants most commonly found. Aquatic invasive plants create dense vegetative growth that interferes with the desirable uses of lakes and has been documented by researchers to reduce lakeside property values. The occurrence of aquatic invasive plants in Rhode Island lakes is similar to that documented in neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Rhode Island has an aquatic invasive species management plan developed by CRMC, RIDEM, and federal and private partners and approved in 2007. State, federal, and private CRMC. Nonetheless, the plan is not fully implemented and Rhode Island continues to struggle with the significant and growing threat of aquatic invasive species to its environmental resources.