Tamworth—August 17—Our long-time board of directors member Barre Hellquist is internationally known as an educator, author, conservationist, and specialist in the aquatic plants of New England. This Monday, August 21, he will speak at Tamworth’s Cook Memorial Library on the “Aquatic Plants of Chocorua Lake and the Ossipee River Drainage.”

The event, which is free and open to the public, is being sponsored by Chocorua Lake Conservancy. It starts at 7 p.m. Advance registration is requested at this link.

Chocorua Lake and its neighboring lakes, ponds and rivers are characterized by the presence of aquatic plants that grow in predominantly acid waters of low pH with total alkalinities of 10 and below. This major habitat is common in the coastal plain and higher elevations of northern New England, with pondweeds (Potamogeton), Bur-reeds (Sparganium) and bladderworts (Utricularia) among the more common genera.

Unlike on Ossipee Lake, invasives and other introduced species are uncommon on Chocorua Lake. Hellquist’s talk will show the various submersed and floating-leaved plants common in the bodies of water in the Chocorua Lake area, and the invasives to be on the lookout for.

Dr. Hellquist is professor emeritus of biology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and is co-author of the “Aquatic Plants of New England” series and the two-volume book, “Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America,” considered the definitive work on the subject.

Chocorua Lake Conservancy is a non-profit land trust founded in 1968. It owns and manages 800 acres of conservation land across 17 properties, and protects 2,500 additional acres through perpetual conservation covenants and easements on over 100 properties. More information is at www.chocorualake.org.