Customized boats are a new weapon in the war on aquatic invaders
By DAVID BROOKS, Nashua Telegraph Staff
Nashua, New Hampshire - One of the reasons aquatic weeds are so hard to fight is that that by the time you see them, it's too late.
Right now, for example, most local ponds and rivers invested with milfoil, fanwort and water chestnut – the worst invasive aquatic weeds around here – look pretty good. The plants, which can overwinter in the mud under as much as 12 to 15 feet of water, are still sending sprouts upward. When they break the surface, they'll create the leaves and flowers that choke off light and oxygen below, but by the time it gets noticeable, they'll already have bulked out for the season.
So the idea is to tackle the plants when they're still submerged. But how can you find them?
"We have 800 water bodies, and nobody has the ability to see under the surface. That's a pretty severe restriction," said Ed Neister, a physicist who has been involved with the fight against invasives on Suncook Lake for years. Under contract with the state, Neister is building two "underwater survey vehicles" – boats (one 16-footer and one 18-footer) that have special cameras and lights underwater and Global Positional Satellites and computerized mapping software onboard.
The cameras see what's living on the lakebed, the boat operator marks it on a map – and voila, you've found targets for divers or herbicide.
"You mark the map, download it, make a DVD, supply it to lake associations and towns and say, 'That's where your milfoil is. You guys work with your treatment company to make sure the treatment happens in these areas,' " Neister said.
Neister became convinced of the need for such accurate mapping after past herbicide applications in Suncook Lake. Searches by divers, including some pulled by boats, indicated that all plants were gone, but milfoil returned with a vengeance two years later.
"We weren't sure whether we had missed these plants or whether they just popped up in spring of 2007," Neister said. "It came down to the realization: We've got to improve our ability to scan lakes, before and after treatment, so we don't miss plants. This makes it easy and almost fun to do."
"People thought they could throw herbicide in the lake and that would kill it – that's far from the truth, we've found with Suncook Lake. You have to find where the plants are, treat where the plants are, then go back and look to make sure you got them."
Neister knows creating good underwater lighting is tougher than it seems. He did underwater work for the Navy and has long experience using lasers to illuminate deep-sea pictures. The hardest part with this project is reducing the light-scattering effect of material floating in turbid New Hampshire lakes. The lights will be on movable "arms" descending from the bow to ensure their angle and distance from the camera. He expects to have at least one boat in the water this summer for testing, and if all goes well, weed-fighting groups should be lining up to reserve its use next year.
"If we don't attack it, it's going to take us out – we're going to lose our waterways, we're going to use our lakes," he said. "Suncook River was so bad last year that if the plants could support you, you could walk across it." Article
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Corps may battle weeds in Black Lake, New York
By Corey Fram & Marc Heller, Watertown Daily Times
MORRISTOWN, NY — Anglers, businesses and elected officials wrestling with dense weeds on Black Lake have landed a big backer.
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., called Thursday on the Army Corps of Engineers to visit Black Lake and develop a plan to eradicate Eurasian milfoil, a dense invasive weed making navigation difficult.
"This plague of invasive weeds in Black Lake is devastating to boaters, anglers, homeowners and our tourism industry across St. Lawrence County, and it must be destroyed before further damage is done," Mr. Schumer said in a prepared statement.
"The summer season just kicked off and we must do everything we can to encourage fishing and boating in our lakes and rivers. The Army Corps, which has the resources and expertise, needs to investigate and eliminate these invasive weeds in Black Lake before it's too late."
The senator's intervention comes a week after the Black Lake Invasive Weeds Committee agreed to hire a New Jersey environmental consultant to develop a management plan that will be forwarded to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The state has set aside $5 million to deal with invasive species.
The study is expected to be submitted by late June. The town of Oswegatchie is fronting the money and the committee is looking for funds to cover the approximately $6,500 cost, Mr. Nichols said.
Control has proven elusive. Traditional methods, often repeated every year, can cost up to $2,000 an acre and take native plants with them, according to the University of Minnesota. That's bad because healthy native plant populations can prevent milfoil's spread.
Researchers are studying biological controls, including weevils that eat Eurasian milfoil. Some experiments have worked well but others have not, the University of Minnesota reported. The property association at Sylvia Lake, also in St. Lawrence County, has succeeded in controlling it through "hand harvest," but the spread there was not as extensive as in Black Lake. Article
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Pulling perennial pepperweed in Massachusetts
By Jennifer Forman Orth, Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project
On Saturday June 7th, from 1-4pm, the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge will host an information and training session on the identification and control of perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium). The training will be in Newburyport, MA at PRNWF Headquarters (6 Plum Island Turnpike).
The first hour will be spent indoors learning about pepperweed and control techniques, then participants are invited to gain hands-on experience by pulling Pepperweed at a site along the Plum Island Turnpike.
This meeting is open to the public with no obligation to volunteer.
Perennial pepperweed is an invasive plant that occurs in wetland habitats along coastal areas of Massachusetts, including salt marshes, and is also found along roadsides. In the western part of the USA, it is a major agricultural weed. It can be spread through soil or water movement, or as a contaminant in hay bales.
Throughout the summer, Parker River NWR and the Massachusetts Audubon society will be leading pepperweed pulls at sites throughout Essex County. The goal is to control or eradicate pepperweed before it becomes as pervasive as other wetland invasives, like phragmites or purple loosestrife. If you are interested in volunteering for this project but cannot make the June 7th training session, you can contact Sarah Janson (sarah_janson@fws.gov). Article
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Help Protect Adirondack Waters from Invasive Species
Get on-board with the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program's 7th annual aquatic invasive plant training and learn aquatic plant identification tips and survey techniques.
The training is free, but space is limited. Select a training location that best suits you. Please RSVP to Hilary Oles at holes @ tnc.org (delete spaces) by June 13.
All sessions are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
June 20, Darrin Fresh Water Institute, Bolton Landing;
June 24, Harrietstown Town Hall, Saranac Lake;
June 26, Old Forge Fire Hall, Old Forge
Volunteers are asked to conduct an annual survey on an Adirondack lake of their choice. To-date, 307 aquatic enthusiasts have spent over 3,000 hours surveying 205 Adirondack waterways. From the Fulton Chain to Lake Champlain - volunteer efforts are making a difference!
Are you a returning volunteer? Feel free to join us for a half day or full day refresher course. Or pass this along and invite someone new!
See you on the water~
Thank you!
Hilary Oles
Coordinator
Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program
The Nature Conservancy - Adirondack Chapter
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Emamectin benzoate pesticide now registered for use in treating ash trees for emerald ash borer (EAB)
Emamectin benzoate is the name of a new insecticide that can be used to protect valuable landscape ash trees from EAB in Michigan. A special 24(c) registration request for this product has been approved in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia. These are the only states that have permission to use the product in ash trees to control EAB at this time. The product will be sold as Tree-äge™ (pronounced "triage") and should be available for use this spring. Article
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NY bans shipping firewood in effort to stop harmful insects
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Conservation officials have banned hauling, importing or selling untreated firewood in New York in an effort to stop the spread of tree-killing insects. The Department of Environmental Conservation said Wednesday the emergency regulations are effective immediately for 90 days. They prohibit importing out-of-state firewood unless treated to eliminate invasive insect species, fungi and pathogens. Transporting any untreated firewood within the state is limited to less than 50 miles.
The Sirex woodwasp, native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, kills pines and sometimes other conifers by introducing a toxic mucus and fungus when the female lays her eggs through the bark and into the sapwood. It has been found in 28 counties in the state, DEC spokesman Yancey Roy said.
The Emerald Ash Borer, native to China, has destroyed an estimated 20 million ash trees nationally since the beetle was noticed in Michigan five years ago and has been found as far east as Pennsylvania.
The Asian Longhorned Beetle, which appeared in the New York metropolitan area in 1996, has larvae that bore into trees and feed on healthy wood until emerging as adult beetles to eat twigs and leaves. Some 17 species of hardwoods are vulnerable, including four varieties of maples, elm, birch, poplar, willow, ash and sycamore. It has been found in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and Nassau County. Article
Showing posts with label longhorned beetle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label longhorned beetle. Show all posts
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Week of May 4, 2008
Grants will help us keep invasive milfoil in check in Maine
Bob Moore gets it. Moore's the head of one of the more effective lake protection organizations in the state, the Friends of Cobbossee Watershed. And when it comes to dealing with the highly destructive invasive aquatic plant milfoil, Moore says, "there's really no success stories."
No, there aren't. Until recently, Maine was the last of the lower 48 states to find its waters infested with milfoil, which comes in a number of varieties. Milfoil's a plant whose rampant and aggressive green growth can choke a lake, making it impossible to boat, swim or fish.
Over the last few years, the state has undertaken a concerted effort to keep the invasive weed out of its lakes and streams, but it has been a losing battle. By last year, 26 lakes and streams were found with the nasty stuff beginning its deadly march.
And as Moore so bluntly puts it, you can nuke the stuff with chemicals, you can pull it out, you can cut it, you can send divers in after it -- but you really can't get rid of it. All you can do is check its progress. Which is why it's such good news that the state has found a way this year to triple the amount of money it gives in grants to municipalities and organizations to fight invasive aquatic plants.
With the financial help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has just announced $60,000 in matching grants to local groups and towns and cities statewide, including Moore's group as well as groups from Messalonskee Lake in Oakland to Mousam Lake in southern Maine to Branch Lake in the Downeast region near Ellsworth.
Moore and his lake-loving colleagues across the state may not be able to ever eradicate the plant from our waters; it's too late for that. But here's hoping that the milfoil-busters are at least able to limit the plant's spread -- and keep Maine's lakes the way they should be. Article
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Amityville, New York lab at front in war on Asian beetles
By Jennifer Smith jennifer.smith@newsday.com
Long Island, New York trees still fall victim to the Asian long-horned beetle, the invasive insect that during the past 12 years has gnawed through more than 6,000 maples, elms and other hardwoods in New YorkState. But inside the Amityville war room for New York's beetle battle, researchers say the tide appears to be turning.
For the first time since the black and white bugs were initially detected on a Brooklyn maple in 1996, no live beetles of reproductive age were captured or even seen in New York in 2007. And in April the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the insects were eradicated from Illinois and from New Jersey's Hudson County. The progress follows concerted efforts to survey trees for signs of infestation and, in some cases, treatment of at-risk trees with insecticide to kill the wood-boring beetles.
"We're cutting down fewer and fewer trees each year," said Joe Gittleman, project director for the USDA's Asian long-horned beetle eradication program in New York. "The populations are significantly on the decline."
Some of that progress can be attributed to research done here in the USDA's office on Merrick Road, where scientists analyze felled trees for clues to how, and where, the Asian long-horned beetles spread.
The most recent new detection was in Massapequa, where trees showing signs of infestation were chopped down last year. All told, Long Island has about 30 square miles in quarantine - 23 in and around Amityville and seven in Islip. Full Article
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Corrective Action To Be Studied For Canaan Lake on Long Island
By Barbara LaMonica, Suffolk Life
The scenic waterfront vista from Jeanne Overton Wilkinson's family home on Canaan Lake in North Patchogue boasts the serenity of a diverse wildlife population, but an influx of unwelcome, invasive species has become increasingly predominant during the warmer months, peaking in August. The wild growth of such species as the cabomba and milfoil weeds over the last two decades is choking the lake and impacting activities that were once central to the community's recreational pursuits. The public beach, docks, boardwalk, snack bar, and open area where parents would take their children to feed the ducks are gone.
Various sources may be blamed for contributing to the decline. The now capped, town-owned Holtsville Landfill, which has been transformed into the Brookhaven Ecology Center, was the source of a leachate plume that fed into Canaan Lake. Add to that septic systems, runoff from roadways and lawn fertilizers, and there exists a recipe for disaster.
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has initiated steps to address the issues at Canaan Lake. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy introduced a resolution late last year for the appropriation of $250,000 for the study and weed removal process of Canaan Lake and the Upper and Lower lakes in Yaphank. "We have an RFP [Request for Proposal] to have a consultant conduct a water quality study, and to eventually determine the best method in this case for weed removal," explained Dan Aug, a spokesman for Levy.
Martin Trent, chief of the Division of Environmental Quality's Office of Ecology, acknowledged that residents living on and around the lake have contacted his office with concerns. "We took a look at the situation and saw that it was similar to what has been happening in Yaphank with the cabomba weed and milfoil that are choking the lake," Trent said. "We put together a Water Quality Protection Program for Suffolk County to consider and determine the best method, and we are looking into what might be the best corrective application to remove the weeds, which could be the use of herbicides, mechanical harvesting, hand picking," Trent explained.
Trent explained that the Legislature's $250,000 appropriation includes a $200,000 allocation earmarked for the study, and $50,000 for actual implementation of concrete recommendations that will be derived from the study. "One possible scenario is that Canaan Lake is a less complicated ecosystem than the Upper and Lower lakes, so weed removal could be done at Canaan Lake first," Trent said. "But that is only one possible scenario."
John Turner, Brookhaven Town's director of the Division of Environmental Protection, said the town is mindful of the situation. "We are aware of the issue, and any part we could play we will do," Turner said.
But what is occurring in Canaan Lake is not unique to that area. "They are in good company because there are many water bodies throughout Long Island that are plagued by excessive aquatic invasive species," Turner said. "We are going to make a concerted effort, but we need money to do invasive control work in these areas and, given the nature of the problem, the town has only limited resources and is using limited staff. We don't have the luxury to deal with all of the water bodies."
Turner says the causes plaguing Canaan Lake are twofold and are due, in part, to excessive nitrogen from sanitary and septic systems and lawn fertilizers, which "fuels excessive plant growth in streams, lakes and ponds." This, Turner said, coupled with "excessive development around these water bodies," has sparked the rising tide of aquatic weed growth.
Meanwhile, Brookhaven Town Fifth District Councilman Tim Mazzei said he will be looking to work with residents in any way he can to help address the issue with whatever resources the town may have. In projecting a timeline to launch the study of Canaan Lake in North Patchogue, and the Upper and Lower lakes in Yaphank, Trent said the county's intent is for the study to commence during the coming summer season, with "implementation of concrete recommendations" to begin in 2009. "
The final RFP has been drafted and will take a couple of weeks to go out," Trent said, before the county selects a vendor to conduct the study. Full Article
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Princeton invasive plant maps for Southeast now available
The Princeton Invasive Mapping Program has recently completed percent cover maps for privet, kudzu, and cogon grass across the Southeast. The maps are based on data contributed by many invasive plant experts from around the Southeast. You can download these maps and all associated data at http://invasive.princeton.edu/.
----------------------------------------------------------
Here's a link to US Fish and Wildlife Service's new invasive species website:
http://www.fws.gov/invasives/
---------------------------------------------------------
Bob Moore gets it. Moore's the head of one of the more effective lake protection organizations in the state, the Friends of Cobbossee Watershed. And when it comes to dealing with the highly destructive invasive aquatic plant milfoil, Moore says, "there's really no success stories."
No, there aren't. Until recently, Maine was the last of the lower 48 states to find its waters infested with milfoil, which comes in a number of varieties. Milfoil's a plant whose rampant and aggressive green growth can choke a lake, making it impossible to boat, swim or fish.
Over the last few years, the state has undertaken a concerted effort to keep the invasive weed out of its lakes and streams, but it has been a losing battle. By last year, 26 lakes and streams were found with the nasty stuff beginning its deadly march.
And as Moore so bluntly puts it, you can nuke the stuff with chemicals, you can pull it out, you can cut it, you can send divers in after it -- but you really can't get rid of it. All you can do is check its progress. Which is why it's such good news that the state has found a way this year to triple the amount of money it gives in grants to municipalities and organizations to fight invasive aquatic plants.
With the financial help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has just announced $60,000 in matching grants to local groups and towns and cities statewide, including Moore's group as well as groups from Messalonskee Lake in Oakland to Mousam Lake in southern Maine to Branch Lake in the Downeast region near Ellsworth.
Moore and his lake-loving colleagues across the state may not be able to ever eradicate the plant from our waters; it's too late for that. But here's hoping that the milfoil-busters are at least able to limit the plant's spread -- and keep Maine's lakes the way they should be. Article
-----------------------------------------------------------
Amityville, New York lab at front in war on Asian beetles
By Jennifer Smith jennifer.smith@newsday.com
Long Island, New York trees still fall victim to the Asian long-horned beetle, the invasive insect that during the past 12 years has gnawed through more than 6,000 maples, elms and other hardwoods in New YorkState. But inside the Amityville war room for New York's beetle battle, researchers say the tide appears to be turning.
For the first time since the black and white bugs were initially detected on a Brooklyn maple in 1996, no live beetles of reproductive age were captured or even seen in New York in 2007. And in April the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the insects were eradicated from Illinois and from New Jersey's Hudson County. The progress follows concerted efforts to survey trees for signs of infestation and, in some cases, treatment of at-risk trees with insecticide to kill the wood-boring beetles.
"We're cutting down fewer and fewer trees each year," said Joe Gittleman, project director for the USDA's Asian long-horned beetle eradication program in New York. "The populations are significantly on the decline."
Some of that progress can be attributed to research done here in the USDA's office on Merrick Road, where scientists analyze felled trees for clues to how, and where, the Asian long-horned beetles spread.
The most recent new detection was in Massapequa, where trees showing signs of infestation were chopped down last year. All told, Long Island has about 30 square miles in quarantine - 23 in and around Amityville and seven in Islip. Full Article
----------------------------------------------------------
Corrective Action To Be Studied For Canaan Lake on Long Island
By Barbara LaMonica, Suffolk Life
The scenic waterfront vista from Jeanne Overton Wilkinson's family home on Canaan Lake in North Patchogue boasts the serenity of a diverse wildlife population, but an influx of unwelcome, invasive species has become increasingly predominant during the warmer months, peaking in August. The wild growth of such species as the cabomba and milfoil weeds over the last two decades is choking the lake and impacting activities that were once central to the community's recreational pursuits. The public beach, docks, boardwalk, snack bar, and open area where parents would take their children to feed the ducks are gone.
Various sources may be blamed for contributing to the decline. The now capped, town-owned Holtsville Landfill, which has been transformed into the Brookhaven Ecology Center, was the source of a leachate plume that fed into Canaan Lake. Add to that septic systems, runoff from roadways and lawn fertilizers, and there exists a recipe for disaster.
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has initiated steps to address the issues at Canaan Lake. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy introduced a resolution late last year for the appropriation of $250,000 for the study and weed removal process of Canaan Lake and the Upper and Lower lakes in Yaphank. "We have an RFP [Request for Proposal] to have a consultant conduct a water quality study, and to eventually determine the best method in this case for weed removal," explained Dan Aug, a spokesman for Levy.
Martin Trent, chief of the Division of Environmental Quality's Office of Ecology, acknowledged that residents living on and around the lake have contacted his office with concerns. "We took a look at the situation and saw that it was similar to what has been happening in Yaphank with the cabomba weed and milfoil that are choking the lake," Trent said. "We put together a Water Quality Protection Program for Suffolk County to consider and determine the best method, and we are looking into what might be the best corrective application to remove the weeds, which could be the use of herbicides, mechanical harvesting, hand picking," Trent explained.
Trent explained that the Legislature's $250,000 appropriation includes a $200,000 allocation earmarked for the study, and $50,000 for actual implementation of concrete recommendations that will be derived from the study. "One possible scenario is that Canaan Lake is a less complicated ecosystem than the Upper and Lower lakes, so weed removal could be done at Canaan Lake first," Trent said. "But that is only one possible scenario."
John Turner, Brookhaven Town's director of the Division of Environmental Protection, said the town is mindful of the situation. "We are aware of the issue, and any part we could play we will do," Turner said.
But what is occurring in Canaan Lake is not unique to that area. "They are in good company because there are many water bodies throughout Long Island that are plagued by excessive aquatic invasive species," Turner said. "We are going to make a concerted effort, but we need money to do invasive control work in these areas and, given the nature of the problem, the town has only limited resources and is using limited staff. We don't have the luxury to deal with all of the water bodies."
Turner says the causes plaguing Canaan Lake are twofold and are due, in part, to excessive nitrogen from sanitary and septic systems and lawn fertilizers, which "fuels excessive plant growth in streams, lakes and ponds." This, Turner said, coupled with "excessive development around these water bodies," has sparked the rising tide of aquatic weed growth.
Meanwhile, Brookhaven Town Fifth District Councilman Tim Mazzei said he will be looking to work with residents in any way he can to help address the issue with whatever resources the town may have. In projecting a timeline to launch the study of Canaan Lake in North Patchogue, and the Upper and Lower lakes in Yaphank, Trent said the county's intent is for the study to commence during the coming summer season, with "implementation of concrete recommendations" to begin in 2009. "
The final RFP has been drafted and will take a couple of weeks to go out," Trent said, before the county selects a vendor to conduct the study. Full Article
---------------------------------------------------------
Princeton invasive plant maps for Southeast now available
The Princeton Invasive Mapping Program has recently completed percent cover maps for privet, kudzu, and cogon grass across the Southeast. The maps are based on data contributed by many invasive plant experts from around the Southeast. You can download these maps and all associated data at http://invasive.princeton.edu/.
----------------------------------------------------------
Here's a link to US Fish and Wildlife Service's new invasive species website:
http://www.fws.gov/invasives/
---------------------------------------------------------
Monday, April 14, 2008
Week of April 13, 2008
Updated April 18
Muskrat population declining significantly in Connecticut
JOHN BURGESON jburgeson@ctpost.com
The tall, feather-like reeds that have been crowding out native plants along the coastline are claiming another victim — the muskrat.
Wildlife biologists throughout the Northeast and eastern Canada say that they have observed significant declines in muskrat populations, and the culprit seems to be phragmites australis, also known as the common reed.
Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environment Protection, said that muskrats — an aquatic rodent that resembles a small beaver — have been in steep decline since the 1990s.
"The most widely accepted reason for this has been a change in wetland vegetation," Rego said. "The cattails — their principal source of food — have been replaced by phragmites and also by the purple loose-strife."
Rego said that muskrats have no use for either of these invasive plants. "Cattails are an important source of food for muskrats," he said, noting the muskrat population drop was discovered after analyzing the records of fur trappers. About 400trapping licenses are issued annually in Connecticut.
Muskrats also use cattails to make their nests.
According to the DEP, about 24,000 muskrat pelts were harvested in 1984. In recent years, the number is about 4,000 or less. This decline has corresponded closely with the spread of phragmites, which creates a plant "monoculture" once it invades a marsh, biologists say.
"Phragmites had definitely expanded its range in the last couple of decades," said Todd Mervosh, a weed scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Windsor office. "It's a very aggressive plant — it's tall — other plants can't get sunlight," Mervosh said. "And it spreads through rhizomes — they look like roots but actually they're underground branches that spread out 20 feet or more."
He said that phragmites can only be effectively controlled with herbicides, and that there are only a few companies in the Northeast with the training and equipment to do this work in the marshes where the weed grows.
Rego said that there are three other hypotheses being considered, none of which have gained much traction in the scientific community.
The first of these includes the so-called "succession" of marshland, in which it gradually changes from an "open marsh," with mostly grass-like plants, to a "closed marsh" with more trees.
Another has to do with an increase in predators, such as owls, hawks and mink. The third involves the gradual improvement of water quality in the last 40 years, which has, paradoxically, led to a reduction in marsh plant life because cleaner water doesn't have as many organic nutrients.
Rego said that the DEP has studied muskrats in the Quinnipiac River Marsh Wildlife Area — bounded by New Haven, Hamden and North Haven — most extensively. But, he said, it's likely that similar declines have taken place in the marsh at the mouth of the Housatonic River — the Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Area — and other marshy sites between New Haven and Greenwich.
Rego said that phragmites involve two different plants that have a similar appearance. The invasive variety can be traced to a reed that originated in Europe.
"There is actually a domestic version of the plant which isn't nearly as bad," he said.
Mervosh said that the invasive phragmites are quite likely a hybrid of the native and European species. He doesn't see much letup in its advancement, either. "Unfortunately, it doesn't need a marsh — it can spread to upland areas, too." Full Article
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New computer model for gypsy moths
The gypsy moth is an invasive species that destroys over a million acres of forest land every year. A new computer model may help land managers formulate more effective plans of attack against these destructive pests.
The model indicates that the best strategies for managing the moths include eradicating medium-density infestations and reducing high-density infestations, rather than reducing spreading from the main infestation.
"Most managers currently use the same strategy in all situations, but our model suggests that by tailoring their approach to a particular situation, managers can be more effective in slowing the spread of invasive species," said Katriona Shea, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University who helped design the model.
The model will be detailed the April 2008 issue of the journal Ecological Applications.
-- LiveScience Staff Link
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New invasive aquatic plant position available in the Adirondack Park, New York
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, one of NY's eight Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management, is thrilled to announce the availability of a new position - Adirondack Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator (AISC). The AISC will join the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) Director and Terrestrial Invasive Species Coordinator and assist the development and implementation of invasive species programs in the Adirondack region.
The AISC's primary role will be to build upon APIPP's early detection and monitoring programs for aquatic invasives and to coordinate partners working on aquatic invasive species issues (a full job description is attached).
APIPP is a partnership program, hosted by the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and recently funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, involving more than 30 cooperating organizations and hundreds of volunteers working to protect the Adirondack region from the harmful impacts of non-native invasive species.
This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated individual to work in a creative, team-oriented environment on an important and high profile conservation issue. Please send a letter of interest, resume, and names and contact information for three references by Monday, May 5 to Hilary Oles, PO Box 65, Keene Valley, NY 12943 or mailto:holes@tnc.org. A start date of early to mid June is desired.
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Biologist to seek elusive mollusks in Winsted's Highland Lake
BY JIM MOORE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WINSTED, CONNECTICUT — Biologist Ethan Nedeau believes the elusive and nearly endangered Eastern pondmussel lurks in Highland Lake, and he soon will arrive to hunt it down. This state-listed "species of special concern" may complicate efforts to control invasive weeds that threaten water quality in the lake, which in turn supports home values where the greatest concentration of wealth (and tax dollars) are found here.
A suspicion that the mussel known to scientists as Ligumia nasuta might lurk in the depths delayed a state permit last year to continue four years of annual herbicide application. The Department of Environmental Protection finally agreed in July to allow the $14,950 application of Diquat, a herbicide used to kill invasive milfoil weeds, in exchange for the town's agreement to investigate the mussel population.
Nedeau is expected to arrive in May, don scuba gear and explore the lake bottom to document the population and distribution of Eastern pondmussels. His services are expected to cost up to $2,000, which will come from the town budget for lake water quality maintenance. Article
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Georgia opens invasive species center
By Brad Haire, University of Georgia
University of Georgia experts have opened a new center in Tifton, Ga., to limit the spread of invasive species and understand their impact on native plants. They hope to teach others how to do the same.
The UGA Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health will pool the resources and expertise found in the university’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said Dave Moorhead, a UGA professor of silviculture and the center’s co-director.
“Our strengths will be creating educational materials, partnering with others on the university level and creating outreach programs,” he said.
The center will be located on the UGA Tifton campus, he said, but its focus will include invasive and ecosystem health threats found around the Southeast, the country and even the world. Center co-director Keith Douce, a CAES entomologist, is in Europe teaching and learning about invasive species that could potentially cause problems here.
“With global trade, now more than ever, the possibility of invasive species being introduced from any part of the world is high,” Moorhead said.
An invasive species is one that is introduced either by accident or on purpose to an area where it hasn’t been in the past. At first, the species may go unnoticed, he said. But if a population is allowed to grow, it can out compete and dominate native species and cause major health problems for the ecosystem. Invasive species cause $100 million in damage annually in the U.S.
Georgia has many unwanted guests like privet and kudzu, a notorious, rapidly spreading vine of Southern legend. But other unwanted guests are now starting to wear out their welcome, too.
Honeysuckle, Japanese climbing fern and the vine Oriental bittersweet are stalking their way through Georgia forests. And cogongrass, an aggressive grass that can choke out native flora, has caused major problems in Florida and Mississippi. It now has a foothold in Georgia.
The Midwest and western states have problems with invasive species, too. Getting land managers on the same page there to control invasive species is a bit easier because a lot of the land is publicly owned, Moorhead said.
It’s different in the eastern U.S., where much of the land is privately owned, he said. “It’s more difficult to get a widespread program and get the word out in this area that invasives are starting to pose problems.”
The center evolved from the Bugwood Network, a UGA Web-based system used to collect, promote and distribute educational materials in entomology, forestry and natural resources. Article
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Species Task Force seasonal crew needed, Town of Lincoln, MA
2 Seasonal, Full Time Positions
Skill Level: Internship / Volunteer
Project Goals and Background Information: This is a project funded by the Lincoln Community Preservation Committee project for purposes of protecting the ecological integrity of the landscape.
Job Description: Crew members will be involved in conservation restoration projects. Duties will include removal of invasive species from conservation land using hand and power tools, and replanting with native species where appropriate. The invasive species to be focused on include bittersweet, buckthorn, garlic mustard, honeysuckle, phragmites, and black swallow-wort. Crew members will also census hemlock trees to determine the extent of the hemlock woolly adelgid infestation. Duties include taking inventory of various measurements, estimating health, and mapping results. Crew members will assist in the propagation of Galerucella beetles for purple loosestrife control.
Qualifications: Possess New England flora identification skills, ability to recognize various invasive species, ability to use various hand and power tools, ability to perform physically demanding tasks, ability and willingness to work in all New England summer weather conditions and tolerate ticks, poison ivy, mosquitoes, chiggers, hornets, etc., ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others, and possess valid driver's license. GPS/GIS experience beneficial.
Job duration: 10 weeks beginning in May or early June
Salary: $12 - $14 per hour depending upon experience
Contact Information: Tom Gumbart 781-259-2612 (phone) gumbartt@lincolntown.org
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Asian longhorned beetle eradicated in Illinois
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Asian longhorned beetle, a tree-killing pest, has been eradicated in Illinois, U.S., state and local officials said on Thursday.
Illinois is the first state to declare success against the insect. The beetle was discovered in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago in 1998. There have been no signs of the invasive pest in four years.
Between 1998 and 2006, approximately 1,771 trees were removed to destroy the invasive insect in Chicago. Chemical treatments also were used against the beetle.
USDA currently is working with its state and local government partners to eradicate ALB in parts of New York and in central New Jersey.
The Asian longhorned beetle is about 1.5 inches long and shiny black with antenna up to twice the length of their bodies, banded in black and white. It favors maple, birch, elm and poplar trees, among others, as its hosts. Article
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Rutgers Coop Extension hosts invasive plant talk on May 8
NEWTON, NJ — Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Sussex County will present its spring forest management series by hosting Dr. Mark Vodak, forestry specialist at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, on Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office, 129 Morris Turnpike in Newton.
Vodak will present “Are Invasive Plants a Problem in my Woodlot?” He will describe why invasive plants are of concern in woodlot management, what species are of most concern and what management strategies are recommended for their control.
Contact Rutgers Cooperative Extension at 973-948-3040 to pre-register. Admission is free.
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Muskrat population declining significantly in Connecticut
JOHN BURGESON jburgeson@ctpost.com
The tall, feather-like reeds that have been crowding out native plants along the coastline are claiming another victim — the muskrat.
Wildlife biologists throughout the Northeast and eastern Canada say that they have observed significant declines in muskrat populations, and the culprit seems to be phragmites australis, also known as the common reed.
Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environment Protection, said that muskrats — an aquatic rodent that resembles a small beaver — have been in steep decline since the 1990s.
"The most widely accepted reason for this has been a change in wetland vegetation," Rego said. "The cattails — their principal source of food — have been replaced by phragmites and also by the purple loose-strife."
Rego said that muskrats have no use for either of these invasive plants. "Cattails are an important source of food for muskrats," he said, noting the muskrat population drop was discovered after analyzing the records of fur trappers. About 400trapping licenses are issued annually in Connecticut.
Muskrats also use cattails to make their nests.
According to the DEP, about 24,000 muskrat pelts were harvested in 1984. In recent years, the number is about 4,000 or less. This decline has corresponded closely with the spread of phragmites, which creates a plant "monoculture" once it invades a marsh, biologists say.
"Phragmites had definitely expanded its range in the last couple of decades," said Todd Mervosh, a weed scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Windsor office. "It's a very aggressive plant — it's tall — other plants can't get sunlight," Mervosh said. "And it spreads through rhizomes — they look like roots but actually they're underground branches that spread out 20 feet or more."
He said that phragmites can only be effectively controlled with herbicides, and that there are only a few companies in the Northeast with the training and equipment to do this work in the marshes where the weed grows.
Rego said that there are three other hypotheses being considered, none of which have gained much traction in the scientific community.
The first of these includes the so-called "succession" of marshland, in which it gradually changes from an "open marsh," with mostly grass-like plants, to a "closed marsh" with more trees.
Another has to do with an increase in predators, such as owls, hawks and mink. The third involves the gradual improvement of water quality in the last 40 years, which has, paradoxically, led to a reduction in marsh plant life because cleaner water doesn't have as many organic nutrients.
Rego said that the DEP has studied muskrats in the Quinnipiac River Marsh Wildlife Area — bounded by New Haven, Hamden and North Haven — most extensively. But, he said, it's likely that similar declines have taken place in the marsh at the mouth of the Housatonic River — the Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Area — and other marshy sites between New Haven and Greenwich.
Rego said that phragmites involve two different plants that have a similar appearance. The invasive variety can be traced to a reed that originated in Europe.
"There is actually a domestic version of the plant which isn't nearly as bad," he said.
Mervosh said that the invasive phragmites are quite likely a hybrid of the native and European species. He doesn't see much letup in its advancement, either. "Unfortunately, it doesn't need a marsh — it can spread to upland areas, too." Full Article
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New computer model for gypsy moths
The gypsy moth is an invasive species that destroys over a million acres of forest land every year. A new computer model may help land managers formulate more effective plans of attack against these destructive pests.
The model indicates that the best strategies for managing the moths include eradicating medium-density infestations and reducing high-density infestations, rather than reducing spreading from the main infestation.
"Most managers currently use the same strategy in all situations, but our model suggests that by tailoring their approach to a particular situation, managers can be more effective in slowing the spread of invasive species," said Katriona Shea, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University who helped design the model.
The model will be detailed the April 2008 issue of the journal Ecological Applications.
-- LiveScience Staff Link
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New invasive aquatic plant position available in the Adirondack Park, New York
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, one of NY's eight Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management, is thrilled to announce the availability of a new position - Adirondack Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator (AISC). The AISC will join the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) Director and Terrestrial Invasive Species Coordinator and assist the development and implementation of invasive species programs in the Adirondack region.
The AISC's primary role will be to build upon APIPP's early detection and monitoring programs for aquatic invasives and to coordinate partners working on aquatic invasive species issues (a full job description is attached).
APIPP is a partnership program, hosted by the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and recently funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, involving more than 30 cooperating organizations and hundreds of volunteers working to protect the Adirondack region from the harmful impacts of non-native invasive species.
This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated individual to work in a creative, team-oriented environment on an important and high profile conservation issue. Please send a letter of interest, resume, and names and contact information for three references by Monday, May 5 to Hilary Oles, PO Box 65, Keene Valley, NY 12943 or mailto:holes@tnc.org. A start date of early to mid June is desired.
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Biologist to seek elusive mollusks in Winsted's Highland Lake
BY JIM MOORE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WINSTED, CONNECTICUT — Biologist Ethan Nedeau believes the elusive and nearly endangered Eastern pondmussel lurks in Highland Lake, and he soon will arrive to hunt it down. This state-listed "species of special concern" may complicate efforts to control invasive weeds that threaten water quality in the lake, which in turn supports home values where the greatest concentration of wealth (and tax dollars) are found here.
A suspicion that the mussel known to scientists as Ligumia nasuta might lurk in the depths delayed a state permit last year to continue four years of annual herbicide application. The Department of Environmental Protection finally agreed in July to allow the $14,950 application of Diquat, a herbicide used to kill invasive milfoil weeds, in exchange for the town's agreement to investigate the mussel population.
Nedeau is expected to arrive in May, don scuba gear and explore the lake bottom to document the population and distribution of Eastern pondmussels. His services are expected to cost up to $2,000, which will come from the town budget for lake water quality maintenance. Article
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Georgia opens invasive species center
By Brad Haire, University of Georgia
University of Georgia experts have opened a new center in Tifton, Ga., to limit the spread of invasive species and understand their impact on native plants. They hope to teach others how to do the same.
The UGA Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health will pool the resources and expertise found in the university’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said Dave Moorhead, a UGA professor of silviculture and the center’s co-director.
“Our strengths will be creating educational materials, partnering with others on the university level and creating outreach programs,” he said.
The center will be located on the UGA Tifton campus, he said, but its focus will include invasive and ecosystem health threats found around the Southeast, the country and even the world. Center co-director Keith Douce, a CAES entomologist, is in Europe teaching and learning about invasive species that could potentially cause problems here.
“With global trade, now more than ever, the possibility of invasive species being introduced from any part of the world is high,” Moorhead said.
An invasive species is one that is introduced either by accident or on purpose to an area where it hasn’t been in the past. At first, the species may go unnoticed, he said. But if a population is allowed to grow, it can out compete and dominate native species and cause major health problems for the ecosystem. Invasive species cause $100 million in damage annually in the U.S.
Georgia has many unwanted guests like privet and kudzu, a notorious, rapidly spreading vine of Southern legend. But other unwanted guests are now starting to wear out their welcome, too.
Honeysuckle, Japanese climbing fern and the vine Oriental bittersweet are stalking their way through Georgia forests. And cogongrass, an aggressive grass that can choke out native flora, has caused major problems in Florida and Mississippi. It now has a foothold in Georgia.
The Midwest and western states have problems with invasive species, too. Getting land managers on the same page there to control invasive species is a bit easier because a lot of the land is publicly owned, Moorhead said.
It’s different in the eastern U.S., where much of the land is privately owned, he said. “It’s more difficult to get a widespread program and get the word out in this area that invasives are starting to pose problems.”
The center evolved from the Bugwood Network, a UGA Web-based system used to collect, promote and distribute educational materials in entomology, forestry and natural resources. Article
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Species Task Force seasonal crew needed, Town of Lincoln, MA
2 Seasonal, Full Time Positions
Skill Level: Internship / Volunteer
Project Goals and Background Information: This is a project funded by the Lincoln Community Preservation Committee project for purposes of protecting the ecological integrity of the landscape.
Job Description: Crew members will be involved in conservation restoration projects. Duties will include removal of invasive species from conservation land using hand and power tools, and replanting with native species where appropriate. The invasive species to be focused on include bittersweet, buckthorn, garlic mustard, honeysuckle, phragmites, and black swallow-wort. Crew members will also census hemlock trees to determine the extent of the hemlock woolly adelgid infestation. Duties include taking inventory of various measurements, estimating health, and mapping results. Crew members will assist in the propagation of Galerucella beetles for purple loosestrife control.
Qualifications: Possess New England flora identification skills, ability to recognize various invasive species, ability to use various hand and power tools, ability to perform physically demanding tasks, ability and willingness to work in all New England summer weather conditions and tolerate ticks, poison ivy, mosquitoes, chiggers, hornets, etc., ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others, and possess valid driver's license. GPS/GIS experience beneficial.
Job duration: 10 weeks beginning in May or early June
Salary: $12 - $14 per hour depending upon experience
Contact Information: Tom Gumbart 781-259-2612 (phone) gumbartt@lincolntown.org
----------------------------------------------------------
Asian longhorned beetle eradicated in Illinois
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Asian longhorned beetle, a tree-killing pest, has been eradicated in Illinois, U.S., state and local officials said on Thursday.
Illinois is the first state to declare success against the insect. The beetle was discovered in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago in 1998. There have been no signs of the invasive pest in four years.
Between 1998 and 2006, approximately 1,771 trees were removed to destroy the invasive insect in Chicago. Chemical treatments also were used against the beetle.
USDA currently is working with its state and local government partners to eradicate ALB in parts of New York and in central New Jersey.
The Asian longhorned beetle is about 1.5 inches long and shiny black with antenna up to twice the length of their bodies, banded in black and white. It favors maple, birch, elm and poplar trees, among others, as its hosts. Article
---------------------------------------------------------
Rutgers Coop Extension hosts invasive plant talk on May 8
NEWTON, NJ — Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Sussex County will present its spring forest management series by hosting Dr. Mark Vodak, forestry specialist at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, on Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office, 129 Morris Turnpike in Newton.
Vodak will present “Are Invasive Plants a Problem in my Woodlot?” He will describe why invasive plants are of concern in woodlot management, what species are of most concern and what management strategies are recommended for their control.
Contact Rutgers Cooperative Extension at 973-948-3040 to pre-register. Admission is free.
----------------------------------------------------------
Monday, April 7, 2008
Week of April 6, 2008
Updated April 10
Trees treated for beetles in New Jersey and New York
NEWARK, N.J. - Nearly 80,000 trees in New Jersey and New York are being treated to protect them from a deadly beetle infestation. The Asian longhorned beetle has destroyed more than 30,000 trees since it arrived in the country about a decade ago.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said treatments began last week around New York City. They'll start April 21 on Staten Island and in New Jersey's Middlesex and Union Counties, where the beetles were discovered in 2002.
If unchecked, the invasive species could threaten the nation's lumber, maple syrup and tourism industries, according to the Agriculture Department.
The Asian longhorned beetle first appeared in New York City in 1996, after apparently hitching a ride from China in the wood of shipping crates. Subsequent infestations in New Jersey were discovered in 2002 and 2004.Agriculture Department spokeswoman Suzanne Bond said the agency has been treating trees since 2001 to eradicate the beetle from the continent.
The beetles measure about one to one-and-a-half inches long and have a shiny black exterior with white spots. They attack hardwood trees like maple, willow, ash, poplar and elm, usually in the early summer when the female makes an indentation in the bark and plants eggs.
To kill off the beetles, workers inject tree trunks and soil during the spring with an insecticide called imidacloprid, which is also used to kill lawn grubs and pet fleas. The chemical makes its way into the leaves during the summer, which are eaten by newborn beetles emerging from the bark. Article
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.
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Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida, is vulnerable to exotic plants, animals
BY KEVIN LOLLAR - klollar@news-press.com
Leaving the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary boardwalk for a trip through the back country is a little like playing “Where’s Waldo?”.
You look out into a busy green landscape dense with cypress, cabbage palms, live oak, wax myrtle, slash pine, palmetto, and, suddenly, there’s Waldo. Only it’s not a goofy-looking guy in a red-and-white striped shirt; it’s a thick mat of Old World climbing fern or an impenetrable wall of Brazilian pepper or a blanket of water hyacinth or a feral hog rooting up the countryside.
Welcome to exotic Corkscrew.
But note: “Exotic” here doesn’t mean “interesting” or “something we don’t see back in Ohio.” In this context, “exotic” means “non-native” — Old World climbing fern, Brazilian pepper, water hyacinth and feral hogs are all exotics — and in Florida, “non-native” often means “bad.”
While Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is often called “pristine” — a state Web site proclaims, “Visitors to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary find a gentle, pristine wilderness” — it is not.
“I drive through the back country, and I don’t even see the natives,” sanctuary resource manager Mike Knight said. “What I see is exotics popping up.”
If a “pristine wilderness” such as Corkscrew has problems with exotics, no place in South Florida is safe.
Corkscrew officials have identified nine Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Category I plant species at the sanctuary (Category I plants are “invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives”).
Two others are Category II species (“invasive exotics that have increased in abundance or frequency but have not yet altered Florida plant communities to the extent shown by Category I species”).
The exotic primrose willow is not listed by the council but is considered a nuisance at Corkscrew.
In addition, several exotic animal species have made a home in the sanctuary.
“It never ends,” sanctuary manager Ed Carlson said. “New stuff comes in all the time. That’s the curse of being in the subtropics.” Full Article
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Feral cats vs. endangered birds on Long Island
BY PATRICK WHITTLE patrick.whittle@newsday.com
Every spring, as birds flock back to Long Island in droves, Eileen Schwinn wonders whether this will be the season the cats get the last remaining pair of piping plover at Mount Sinai's Cedar Beach. Schwinn, president of the Eastern Long Island Audubon Society, is racked with emotion over what she says is a "dramatic decrease" in species such as plover, bobwhites and ovenbirds threatened by the claws of stray cats.
But Cedar Beach's 30 or so feral cats have a powerful ally in a smorgasbord of animal rights groups, some of whom say Long Island's strays - estimated to be in the tens of thousands Islandwide, according to one rescue group - have as much right to the beach as birds.
The controversy in Mount Sinai reflects a battle playing out from Atlantic Beach in western Nassau County to Sammy's Beach on the South Fork - birders and cat lovers at loggerheads over what to do about feral cats believed to be preying on bird species as common as the tern and as rare as the ground-nesting piping plover.
The plover, a Long Island icon that has been on the endangered species list since 1986, has emerged as the touchstone in the battle. And no pair of creatures is more exemplary of the controversy than the two plover that state Department of Environmental Conservation officials say have been the last nesting pair at Cedar Beach since 2001, if not longer.
In some cases, including Cedar Beach, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has threatened heavy fines if local governments fail to act to protect birds. Brookhaven, which has jurisdiction over Cedar Beach, has worked to reduce feral cat populations, but the town faces long odds because of the prolific nature of feral cat reproduction.
The San Diego-based Feral Cat Coalition estimates that a pair of unaltered cats, combined with their reproducing offspring under optimal conditions, could exponentially produce up to 420,000 kittens in seven years.
"I don't know if we'll ever get the last of them out of there," said Charlie McGinley, director of the Brookhaven Town Animal Shelter, who estimates that his shelter and other agencies have removed as many as 90 cats from Cedar Beach in the last six years. In the past, rescue groups spayed or neutered many of the cats and returned them to the colony, he said.
Feral cats - strays either abandoned or born in the wild - have galvanized activists around the country, who seek a humane way to reduce the estimated 30 million to 60 million nationwide. Many animal rights groups offer the TNR solution - "trap, neuter, return" - in which the cats are lured with food, trapped in cages, spayed or neutered, and taken back to where they were found.
Animal activists began caring for a colony of feral cats at Cedar Beach, a narrow spit of sand and pine trees on Suffolk's North Shore, more than 10 years ago. The animals were likely dumped there by former pet owners, activists said.
The cat lovers supplied food and shelters. But in 2002, a year after the DEC found cat prints all over an area where two piping plover and a nest of chicks disappeared, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ordered Brookhaven to get rid of the cats.
At first, the town partnered with cat activists, McGinley said. Activists trapped the cats, the town shelter spayed or neutered them, and activists relocated the animals to private, plover-free property.
A few months ago, a rift formed between McGinley and the activists, including a group called Caring for the Animals and Recovery of the Environment, when, McGinley said, town workers found more than 20 shelters and food that would encourage the cats to stay at Cedar Beach. A representative from Caring for the Animals and Recovery of the Environment denied the group was responsible for setting up the shelters.
The rift deepened in February when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, aware the plover would be back soon, told Brookhaven to work harder to remove cats from Cedar Beach or face a fine of $15,000 per day.
Bird lovers, including the Audubon Society's Schwinn, said many members of her group are torn because they support the rights of cats and birds. But she said the Cedar Beach plover deserve special attention. They have not successfully fledged a chick in at least seven years, a DEC spokeswoman said. The birds, which typically return to Long Island in March or April, have not been spotted this year, a DEC spokesman said. Full Article
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Maryland DNR proposes crayfish bait ban
By Karen Gardner News-Post Staff
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is asking fishermen to help stop the spread of the rusty crayfish in the Monocacy River.
The DNR planned a public hearing for Wednesday April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenbrier State Park Visitor Center to discuss proposed regulations for inland fisheries. One proposal calls for a ban on crayfish as bait in the Monocacy and Susquehanna rivers starting in 2009.
The rusty crayfish are an invasive species that crowd native crayfish out of their natural habitat. The rusties, as aquatic biologists call them, also have the same aquatic diets as many game fish.
That means less food for smallmouth bass and channel catfish, game fish that are popular with local fishermen.
Because it's hard for even trained biologists to tell rusties from native crayfish, DNR is asking fishermen to stop releasing any crayfish in their bait buckets into the Monocacy.
Rusty crayfish have found their way into the Susquehanna and other rivers in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. The DNR is also trying to stop the spread of rusty crayfish along the Susquehanna. Full Article
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University of North Carolina student body president J.J. Raynor tackles invasive plants
By Lindsay Ruebens, Staff Writer - www.dailytarheel.com
When Student Body President J.J. Raynor was compiling her ideas for running student government, she turned to sustainable campus groups for advice. One of the first environmental initiatives Raynor hopes to tackle is the prevention and removal of invasive plant species on campus.
"The time is right for environmental issues on campus," Raynor said. "They're issues of our generation, and it's time to deal with it, and I hope student government can be a resource for that." Full Article
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Trees treated for beetles in New Jersey and New York
NEWARK, N.J. - Nearly 80,000 trees in New Jersey and New York are being treated to protect them from a deadly beetle infestation. The Asian longhorned beetle has destroyed more than 30,000 trees since it arrived in the country about a decade ago.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said treatments began last week around New York City. They'll start April 21 on Staten Island and in New Jersey's Middlesex and Union Counties, where the beetles were discovered in 2002.
If unchecked, the invasive species could threaten the nation's lumber, maple syrup and tourism industries, according to the Agriculture Department.
The Asian longhorned beetle first appeared in New York City in 1996, after apparently hitching a ride from China in the wood of shipping crates. Subsequent infestations in New Jersey were discovered in 2002 and 2004.Agriculture Department spokeswoman Suzanne Bond said the agency has been treating trees since 2001 to eradicate the beetle from the continent.
The beetles measure about one to one-and-a-half inches long and have a shiny black exterior with white spots. They attack hardwood trees like maple, willow, ash, poplar and elm, usually in the early summer when the female makes an indentation in the bark and plants eggs.
To kill off the beetles, workers inject tree trunks and soil during the spring with an insecticide called imidacloprid, which is also used to kill lawn grubs and pet fleas. The chemical makes its way into the leaves during the summer, which are eaten by newborn beetles emerging from the bark. Article
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.
----------------------------------------------------------
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida, is vulnerable to exotic plants, animals
BY KEVIN LOLLAR - klollar@news-press.com
Leaving the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary boardwalk for a trip through the back country is a little like playing “Where’s Waldo?”.
You look out into a busy green landscape dense with cypress, cabbage palms, live oak, wax myrtle, slash pine, palmetto, and, suddenly, there’s Waldo. Only it’s not a goofy-looking guy in a red-and-white striped shirt; it’s a thick mat of Old World climbing fern or an impenetrable wall of Brazilian pepper or a blanket of water hyacinth or a feral hog rooting up the countryside.
Welcome to exotic Corkscrew.
But note: “Exotic” here doesn’t mean “interesting” or “something we don’t see back in Ohio.” In this context, “exotic” means “non-native” — Old World climbing fern, Brazilian pepper, water hyacinth and feral hogs are all exotics — and in Florida, “non-native” often means “bad.”
While Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is often called “pristine” — a state Web site proclaims, “Visitors to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary find a gentle, pristine wilderness” — it is not.
“I drive through the back country, and I don’t even see the natives,” sanctuary resource manager Mike Knight said. “What I see is exotics popping up.”
If a “pristine wilderness” such as Corkscrew has problems with exotics, no place in South Florida is safe.
Corkscrew officials have identified nine Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Category I plant species at the sanctuary (Category I plants are “invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives”).
Two others are Category II species (“invasive exotics that have increased in abundance or frequency but have not yet altered Florida plant communities to the extent shown by Category I species”).
The exotic primrose willow is not listed by the council but is considered a nuisance at Corkscrew.
In addition, several exotic animal species have made a home in the sanctuary.
“It never ends,” sanctuary manager Ed Carlson said. “New stuff comes in all the time. That’s the curse of being in the subtropics.” Full Article
--------------------------------------------------------
Feral cats vs. endangered birds on Long Island
BY PATRICK WHITTLE patrick.whittle@newsday.com
Every spring, as birds flock back to Long Island in droves, Eileen Schwinn wonders whether this will be the season the cats get the last remaining pair of piping plover at Mount Sinai's Cedar Beach. Schwinn, president of the Eastern Long Island Audubon Society, is racked with emotion over what she says is a "dramatic decrease" in species such as plover, bobwhites and ovenbirds threatened by the claws of stray cats.
But Cedar Beach's 30 or so feral cats have a powerful ally in a smorgasbord of animal rights groups, some of whom say Long Island's strays - estimated to be in the tens of thousands Islandwide, according to one rescue group - have as much right to the beach as birds.
The controversy in Mount Sinai reflects a battle playing out from Atlantic Beach in western Nassau County to Sammy's Beach on the South Fork - birders and cat lovers at loggerheads over what to do about feral cats believed to be preying on bird species as common as the tern and as rare as the ground-nesting piping plover.
The plover, a Long Island icon that has been on the endangered species list since 1986, has emerged as the touchstone in the battle. And no pair of creatures is more exemplary of the controversy than the two plover that state Department of Environmental Conservation officials say have been the last nesting pair at Cedar Beach since 2001, if not longer.
In some cases, including Cedar Beach, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has threatened heavy fines if local governments fail to act to protect birds. Brookhaven, which has jurisdiction over Cedar Beach, has worked to reduce feral cat populations, but the town faces long odds because of the prolific nature of feral cat reproduction.
The San Diego-based Feral Cat Coalition estimates that a pair of unaltered cats, combined with their reproducing offspring under optimal conditions, could exponentially produce up to 420,000 kittens in seven years.
"I don't know if we'll ever get the last of them out of there," said Charlie McGinley, director of the Brookhaven Town Animal Shelter, who estimates that his shelter and other agencies have removed as many as 90 cats from Cedar Beach in the last six years. In the past, rescue groups spayed or neutered many of the cats and returned them to the colony, he said.
Feral cats - strays either abandoned or born in the wild - have galvanized activists around the country, who seek a humane way to reduce the estimated 30 million to 60 million nationwide. Many animal rights groups offer the TNR solution - "trap, neuter, return" - in which the cats are lured with food, trapped in cages, spayed or neutered, and taken back to where they were found.
Animal activists began caring for a colony of feral cats at Cedar Beach, a narrow spit of sand and pine trees on Suffolk's North Shore, more than 10 years ago. The animals were likely dumped there by former pet owners, activists said.
The cat lovers supplied food and shelters. But in 2002, a year after the DEC found cat prints all over an area where two piping plover and a nest of chicks disappeared, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ordered Brookhaven to get rid of the cats.
At first, the town partnered with cat activists, McGinley said. Activists trapped the cats, the town shelter spayed or neutered them, and activists relocated the animals to private, plover-free property.
A few months ago, a rift formed between McGinley and the activists, including a group called Caring for the Animals and Recovery of the Environment, when, McGinley said, town workers found more than 20 shelters and food that would encourage the cats to stay at Cedar Beach. A representative from Caring for the Animals and Recovery of the Environment denied the group was responsible for setting up the shelters.
The rift deepened in February when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, aware the plover would be back soon, told Brookhaven to work harder to remove cats from Cedar Beach or face a fine of $15,000 per day.
Bird lovers, including the Audubon Society's Schwinn, said many members of her group are torn because they support the rights of cats and birds. But she said the Cedar Beach plover deserve special attention. They have not successfully fledged a chick in at least seven years, a DEC spokeswoman said. The birds, which typically return to Long Island in March or April, have not been spotted this year, a DEC spokesman said. Full Article
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Maryland DNR proposes crayfish bait ban
By Karen Gardner News-Post Staff
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is asking fishermen to help stop the spread of the rusty crayfish in the Monocacy River.
The DNR planned a public hearing for Wednesday April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenbrier State Park Visitor Center to discuss proposed regulations for inland fisheries. One proposal calls for a ban on crayfish as bait in the Monocacy and Susquehanna rivers starting in 2009.
The rusty crayfish are an invasive species that crowd native crayfish out of their natural habitat. The rusties, as aquatic biologists call them, also have the same aquatic diets as many game fish.
That means less food for smallmouth bass and channel catfish, game fish that are popular with local fishermen.
Because it's hard for even trained biologists to tell rusties from native crayfish, DNR is asking fishermen to stop releasing any crayfish in their bait buckets into the Monocacy.
Rusty crayfish have found their way into the Susquehanna and other rivers in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. The DNR is also trying to stop the spread of rusty crayfish along the Susquehanna. Full Article
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University of North Carolina student body president J.J. Raynor tackles invasive plants
By Lindsay Ruebens, Staff Writer - www.dailytarheel.com
When Student Body President J.J. Raynor was compiling her ideas for running student government, she turned to sustainable campus groups for advice. One of the first environmental initiatives Raynor hopes to tackle is the prevention and removal of invasive plant species on campus.
"The time is right for environmental issues on campus," Raynor said. "They're issues of our generation, and it's time to deal with it, and I hope student government can be a resource for that." Full Article
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Monday, November 12, 2007
Week of November 11, 2007
Updated November 15, 2007
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New York: Migratory Bird Die-Off in Great Lakes Linked to Invasive Species
More than 100 dead loons and other migratory birds have washed up on Great Lakes shores in the past week, prompting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to suspect another botulism-poisoning episode linked to the spread of invasive species. DEC is investigating the die-off and, although all results are not complete yet, preliminary evidence closely matches die-offs related to Type E botulism that have occurred every year on Lake Erie since 2000 and Lake Ontario since 2002, during fall migration, according to state Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone. Those incidents are tied to two invasive species consumed by birds during migration stopovers: the quagga mussel and a fish called the round goby. Loons especially feed on the round goby. As the round gobies have proliferated in recent years, particularly in Eastern Lake Ontario, cases of botulism poisoning have increased, said David Adams, a DEC waterbird specialist. Full Article
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Tunicates: Making Mussel Harvesting Increasingly Risky, Say Workers
CBC News
Tunicates, an invasive species cutting into the profits of mussel farmers on Prince Edward Island, Canada, are also increasing risks for the people harvesting them, say workers in the industry. The jelly-like tunicate cling to mussel lines, competing for food, slowing the growth of the shellfish, and making them more difficult to harvest. Full Article
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Asian Long-Horned Beetle: Additions to Quarantined Areas
Federal Register: Nov 5, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 213) AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as final rule.
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Opinion: Forget the Word "Invasive"
Saturday, November 10, 2007, Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Question: I have heard that Japanese stiltgrass is an invasive plant. What should I do to get rid of it?
Answer: The war on "invasives," and even using the word, has been a death knell to any plant pointed out and labeled in this botanical witch-hunt. The label itself is so nonspecific that it seems ludicrous to me that any person who considers themselves a scientist should ever nod their heads in agreement when yet another plant is added to the list... Full Article
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Job: Temporary Research Assistant (Biological Control), Connecticut US
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Japanese Knotweed: Allergies in Binghampton, NY
The whole time the darned stuff stays in bloom, my voice is barely up to speaking at all -- a great hardship to me. Along with that I find great difficulty breathing. I must alter my routes to necessary destinations to avoid exposure to the stuff, which can be fairly simple some years, but nearly impossible when it is flourishing everywhere, as it is now. My ears ache and I can't hear through them. My chest is congested along with my head. Gums are sore; teeth seem to be floating. Full Article
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BetterWorld Telecom Volunteers Control Invasives
Late last week, most of the BetterWorld DC-area team was out in the George Washington National Parway again helping The Nature Conservancy cut back the invasive Amur bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). Full Article
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