When Tom and Karen Munzel first built their home overlooking College Creek in 1994, they were enthralled by the view.
Sitting on their deck or in their dining room, they can almost imagine English sailing vessels entering the creek during the 18th century, sending small boats up the river to bring supplies to Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William & Mary.
“I like to imagine those ships still out there,” said Karen Munzel, 71.
It’s a historic spot and doesn’t look much different than it did hundreds of years ago, except for a couple things: duck blinds and a tall, invasive plant called phragmites.
“It’s like cockroaches,” said Tom Munzel, 72, who has been fighting the phragmites on his and his wife’s property near the Williamsburg Winery for nearly 10 years. “You’re never going to fully conquer it.”
Now the Munzels, other local homeowners and the James River Association, a nonprofit focusing on the health of the historic river, are launching a five-year plan together to eradicate the pesky and harmful plants as best they can.
The plan has been several years in the making and will likely begin this fall, said Jamie Brunkow, senior advocacy manager and James riverkeeper.
“You have to go back year after year, map it and continue to treat it,” Brunkow said.
A problem 200 years in the making
Brought over to the United States from Europe, phragmites are now commonly found in Virginia. The tall grass grows in flowing patches with wispy tops, turning tan as it dies off in the fall.
But according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the grass is “aggressive” and displaces native animals. There are two types of phragmites — one is native to the United States’ East Coast — but those do not negatively impact surrounding wildlife.
Like bamboo, phragmites are a rhizome, meaning they spread through underground stems that send up new shoots nearby.
The way they spread, Tom Munzel said, is one of the reasons the phragmites on their property have been steadily growing thicker. When the Munzels first built their home, there were no phragmites in sight. Now the plants are creeping slowly up the hill toward the Munzel’s home.
The Munzels are not concerned that the phragmites are decreasing their property value now, but they worry that an unchecked phragmite population could affect the selling points of the house, such as the view and the abundance of wildlife.
The Munzel’s previous attempts to quash the phragmite population have been unsuccessful.
Spraying the plants with herbicide can kill the shoots but might not reach the roots, which help spread the plant. The National Parks Service also sprays herbicide on phragmites on nearby federally owned land, but it doesn’t reach to the Munzel’s part of the creek.
The Muzels hired an independent contractor seven or eight years ago to spray the phragmites on their property. After killing the phragmites, the Munzels planted native vegetation, which was choked out again within a couple years.
“It just marches on,” Karen Munzel said.
Joining the fight
The James River Association joined the fight against College Creek’s phragmites about two years ago, Brunkow said.
Margaret Pritchard, a resident and neighbor of the Munzels, has been working to gather support from neighbors on Conservancy Road and in the Kingsport neighborhood. She also has been a liaison with the James River Association.
“This is something I’ve been working on for years and years,” said Pritchard, who is a curator for Colonial Williamsburg and gathers historic maps. “It’s such a historic creek, being the main artery into Williamsburg in the 18th century. Those of us that live along it… it would be great for us to do something for this important area.”
After Pritchard started working with the James River Association, Brunkow said it took some time to map the problem and develop a plan that would not further pollute the James River. The James River Association also worked to find a contractor that was interested in maintaining the health of the river and willing to go the extra mile, Brunkow said.
The association eventually landed on SOLitude Lake Management, a Virginia Beach-based company that focuses on preserving America’s waterways.
The process moving forward will be very involved, Brunkow said.
SOLitude Lake Management workers will go out on the creek on foot and by jon boat to individually address each bunch of phragmites.
To ensure the herbicide makes it to the roots of the plant, the fluffy tops of the phragmites will be cut off, and herbicide will be painted on the open stalk.
Pulling the community together
Bringing attention to the phragmites on College Creek has been a group effort.
Moving forward, Brunkow estimated each of the plan’s five years will cost the James River Association between $5,000 and $10,000. The first year of the process, when there are the most phragmites on the creek, will be the most costly. The price should decrease from there, Brunkow said.
“There’s the pay now or pay later argument,” Brunkow said. “It gets more and more complicated and expensive as time goes on.”
The fight against the phragmites began as a community effort and will rely on donations from that community and other neighbors in the Historic Triangle. The James River Association is a nonprofit organization.
The project also requires each resident on the creek to give permission for SOLitude to access their phragmites.
“Many hands make light work,” Brunkow said. “We [manage] invasive species in all parts of the watershed. This is just an area where I really think we can make some progress — and we have really beautiful marshes around Williamsburg.”
Want to get involved?
The next community meeting on the phragmites will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Kingspoint clubhouse. It is open to the public.
