Updated 4/8/11. Recent additions are at the bottom of each week's post.
Register Your Invasive Plant Volunteer Group! (Mid-Atlantic Region)
Do you have a volunteer-based invasive plant management program in the mid-Atlantic region? If so, please register it!
If you oversee a group of volunteers who conduct invasive plant removals in DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, or WV, please take a minute to add your group to the Invasive Plant Volunteers Directory.
To register, click here to complete a short survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/InvasivePlantVolunteers
Why bother? Because understanding the number and distribution of volunteer groups in our area will help to:
Recognize the significance of volunteer efforts in restoring invaded lands,
Identify areas in need of volunteer assistance,
Help connect interested volunteers with a suitable group,
Build a stronger network of invasive plant workers in the region,
Build support for potential funding of volunteer-based programs.
The directory will eventually be posted to the Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Council (MAIPC) website at www.maipc.org.
Special thanks to Karan Rawlins, University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, for putting our survey into SurveyMonkey!
Thank you,
Jil
________________
JIL SWEARINGEN
IPM & Invasive Species Specialist
NCR Center for Urban Ecology
Washington, DC 20007
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Caterpillar infestation seen in midcoast Maine
The Associated Press
Posted April 06
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Conservation Department officials say an infestation of a noxious invasive caterpillar in the Brunswick area is worse this year than last.
Entomologists say web surveys during the winter show extremely high levels of brown-tail moth caterpillar webs in the tops of oak trees. Surveys were done in January and February in the southern Maine coastal area, from Belfast to south of Portland.
Entomologist Charlene Donahue says the number of webs in Brunswick, Bath, West Bath, Topsham and Bowdoinham appears to have doubled over last year. The caterpillar also is showing up in Falmouth, Turner, Augusta and Lewiston.
Read the full story here: link.
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Controlling Invasive Species in Your Woodlot
9am to noon on Saturday, May 21st, Sodus, New York
This outdoor hands-on session will be at a woodlot in Sodus, NY so dress appropriately for weather conditions.
During the workshop we'll cover identification and control options for invasive species in the woodlot and introduce participants to crop tree management, a forestry method well suited for owners of small woodlots.
Registration deadline is Friday May 13th 2011.
To register send $10.00 per person along with your name address and phone number to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County, 1581 Rte 88N, Newark, NY 14513
Any additional questions please call (315)-331-8415 or e-mail mgwayne@cornell.edu For special needs contact us one week prior to this program.
Sponsored by:
New York Forest Owners Association
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County Master Gardener/Master Forest Owner Programs
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CT DEP training targets spread of zebra mussels in Candlewood Lake
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Candlewood Lake Authority (CLA) has announced that training is available for people interested in volunteering their time to monitor boat launches on Candlewood Lake for the presence of the invasive plants and animals, such as zebra mussels. Zebra mussels were discovered in Lake Zoar and Lake Lillinonah on October 2010. This is the first new report of zebra mussels in Connecticut since 1998 when they were discovered in East and West Twin Lakes in Salisbury.
The training will educate volunteers on how to identify and detect invasive species and also to instruct boaters on how to do the same. Volunteers will also be talking to boaters about ways they can prevent the spread of zebra mussels. Volunteers will receive a handbook, supplies and a t-shirt that identifies them as volunteers.
The first training session will be held Saturday April 9, 2011 from 9:30 AM until 12:00 PM at the New Milford Police Department located at 49 Poplar Street (Route 202) in New Milford. For more information or to volunteer, contact the CLA at 860-354-6298 or by email at clapad@earthlink.net.
Read the full story at: link.
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Backpack and Spot Treatment Calibration Guidelines
Useful information from out West...
A simple, six-step method for calibrating your single-nozzle backpack or other spot-treatment spray equipment.
link
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Maryland Invasive Plant Bill Set to Become Law
News from the Anacostia Watershed Society
The invasive plant bill (HB 831) we have worked on for the last two years has now passed both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly. The bill was sponsored by 19 Delegates and was passed unanimously in the State Senate yesterday, 46-0! AWS staff is thrilled to see this bill passed since we brought back the conversation to the table at the Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC) two years ago. At that time we came up with a proposed bill we crafted with the valuable help of one of our best interns ever: Leena Chapagain. Thanks you so much, Leena! Almost at the same time another bill was being proposed by a lawyer from Baltimore and his visionary school-age son! Consensually AWS decided to sit down with all the stakeholders and craft a new bill, that's the HB 831. The other stakeholders were the representatives from the following organizations: Maryland Department of Agriculture, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Anacostia Watershed Society, The Nature Conservancy, Sylvan Green Earth Consulting, Maryland Nursery and Landscape Association –among other representatives of the horticultural industry--, and Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP.
Read the full story here: link.
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Nature’s “Melting Pot”: Invasive Species and Ecosystem Value
Courtesy of the Southern IPM blog
In Friday’s OpEd section in the New York Times, writer Hugh Raffles offered an interesting–but somewhat inaccurate–view on exotic invasive species. His premise was that invasive species can provide diversity and benefits to the earth, just as new immigrants contribute to the diversity and health of society. You can read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/opinion/03Raffles.html?_r=2
Since the article was published on Friday, several of our colleagues who work in the area of invasive species have developed responses to the article. The following is by Sylvan Kaufman of Sylvan Green Earth Consulting in Maryland:
"Although the author is correct that many non-native species provide beneficial goods and services, there is a fundamental difference between the melting pot of humanity and the melting pot of a community of plants and animals. Humans are all one species even if they have different cultural backgrounds. Communities are made up of many species. If a non-native plant or animal threatens the continued existence of one that has lived here for thousands of years, do we just let that species disappear or do we decide that it may have some value and that we should protect it? For many species, we don’t yet know what value they may provide humans. It takes years of research to determine whether the chemical compounds of a particular plant might yield a life-saving drug, or if the pollinator services offered by honeybees are more valuable than those offered by a diversity of native insects. "
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Virginia Invasive Plant Removal Day, May 7
Join volunteers for the 3rd annual event at sites throughout Virginia on an endeavor to stop the spread of non-native invasive plants.
Virginia Invasive species are recognized nationally and locally as a costly and leading threat to healthy ecosystems. The estimated annual cost of invasive species in Virginia is $1 billion (Va Dept. of Conservation & Recreation). Non-native invasive plants, animals, and diseases occur in all of Virginia's ecosystems and negatively impact water quality, wildlife populations, and other natural resources. Virginia's citizens can improve the situation by not planting or spreading invasive plants, by removing invasives on their own properties, and by helping to remove them from parks and other public areas. Help us spread more awareness and understanding to engage Virginians in these efforts.
Invasive plants are threatening Virginia's natural areas from Norfolk to the Shenandoahs. Plant invaders alter wildlife habitats and reduce biodiversity. They can kill trees, picture kudzu climbing to the tops of trees, and cost money, like hydrilla depressing fisheries or getting caught in boat props. But volunteers like you can make a difference. In 2009, More than 400 volunteers contributed more than 1300 hours of service and removed more than 250 bags of invasive plants. In 2010, more than 300 volunteers contributed more than 750 hours of service in works sites covering more than 50 acres. Their service and additional in-kind donations are valued at more than $15,000. We need your support again in 2011.
For more information, see link.
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Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Week of March 28, 2011
Updated 3/31/11
Connecticut DEP Reports Didymo Discovered in the West Branch Farmington River
First Confirmation of this Invasive Species in Connecticut
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced that the highly invasive freshwater alga, Didymosphenia geminata, known as “didymo”, has been discovered in the West Branch Farmington River, a very popular trout stream in northwestern Connecticut.
The presence of didymo was first confirmed in the northeastern United States in 2007, and has since spread to other popular trout streams in a number of Northeastern states (New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia). This is the first report of didymo in Connecticut.
DEP first learned of the possible presence of didymo in the West Branch Farmington River from several anglers on March 18th. One of these anglers also provided an initial sample to DEP. Following initial review by DEP staff, samples were sent to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation where biologists have direct experience identifying didymo. Late last Friday, Vermont officials confirmed that the sample was indeed didymo.
“This find is very troubling,” said DEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette. “Extensive blooms of this organism can harm the river ecosystem and decrease its recreational and economic value. In an effort to confirm identification, staff from DEP’s Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse surveyed a number of sites in the river and a major tributary along a seven mile stretch of the West Branch Farmington River in Hartland and Barkhamsted. Unfortunately numerous clumps of didymo were found at all the surveyed sites in the river downstream of the Riverton bridge. Once didymo has spread, there’s no practical way to remove it from a river.”
Didymo is most frequently found in cold, relatively shallow streams and rivers having a rocky bottom, characteristics that are also typical of good trout habitat. During blooms, didymo can form thick mats of material that feel like wet wool and are typically gray, white and/or brown, but never green in color. These mats form on the bottoms of rivers and streams and can potentially smother aquatic plants, aquatic insects and mollusks, impact fish habitat, and alter aquatic food chains. Dense mats of didymo can also reduce the recreational and aesthetic value of the affected river. Since didymo also prefers areas open to sunlight, it is not anticipated that this species will become problematic in smaller headwater streams as long as they have well shaded riparian and naturally forested riparian areas.
Humans are the primary vector responsible for the recent spread of didymo. Anglers, kayakers and canoeists, boaters and jet skiers can all unknowingly spread didymo. The microscopic cells can cling to fishing gear, waders (felt soles can be especially problematic), boots and boats, and remain viable for months under even slightly moist conditions. To prevent the spread of didymo to additional waters, DEP asks that anglers, especially those who also fish the Farmington River or streams outside Connecticut, and other users practice CHECK, CLEAN, DRY procedures.
• CHECK: Before leaving a river, stream or lake, remove all obvious clumps of algae and plant material from fishing gear, waders, clothing & footwear, canoes & kayaks, and anything else that has been in the water and look for hidden clumps. Leave them at the site. If you find any later, clean your gear and dispose of all material in the trash.
• CLEAN: Soak/spray & scrub boats and all other “hard” items for at least one minute in either very hot (140°F) water, a 2% bleach solution, or a 5% dishwashing detergent solution. Absorbent materials such as clothes and felt soles on waders should be soaked for at least 40 minutes in very hot water (140°F), or 30 minutes in hot water (115°F) with 5% dishwashing detergent. Freezing thoroughly will also kill didymo.
• DRY: If cleaning is not practical, after the item is completely dry to touch, wait an additional 48 hours before contact or use in any other waterway.
The above procedures will also be effective against other unwanted organisms.
Didymo is just one of a number of aquatic invasive species that have either invaded the state or are threatening to do so. DEP will continue its work to combat the spread of invasive species, focusing on prevention, education and early detection. DEP is an active member of the Invasive Plants Council and supports both an Invasive Plant Program and an Aquatic Nuisance Species Program in collaboration with the University of Connecticut. When available, DEP has provided funding from a variety of sources to educate the public on the threats posed by invasive species and to combat specific invasive species including fanwort, water chestnut and hydrilla. In addition, the DEP has recently proposed new regulations to prohibit the possession or importation into the state of a number of invasive invertebrates.
Since its discovery in the northeast in 2007, DEP has taken additional precautions to prevent the introduction and/or spread of didymo (and other invasive species). DEP’s Inland Fisheries Division instituted an operational “Biosecurity” policy for its own field operations, including elimination of the use of felt-soled waders. Also, as part of its invasive species outreach efforts, informational fliers on didymo were distributed to many of the state’s bait & tackle shops and information about didymo has been prominently displayed in the CT Anglers Guide and on its website.
Individuals wishing to report possible sightings of didymo and other aquatic nuisance species can contact DEP’s Inland Fisheries Division at 860-424-3474. More information on didymo and other aquatic nuisance species can be found on the DEP website (www.ct.gov/dep) or in the CT Angler’s Guide (www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/fishing/anglers_guide/anguide.pdf). An excellent source for detailed information on didymo is the Biosecurity New Zealand web site (http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo).
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USDA Treats New York Trees Against Asian Longhorned Beetle
WASHINGTON, March 24, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will treat a total of 29,764 trees susceptible to the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) with the insecticide imidacloprid in New York this spring.
Control treatments will start the week of April 4, weather permitting, on 21,294 trees in Queens, 299 trees in Brooklyn and on 8,171 trees in Staten Island. Treatments are a vital component of the area-wide eradication strategies used to prevent further infestation and reduce populations of this invasive pest.
Control treatment applications are conducted by program officials, through the use of contracted New York licensed pesticide applicators. ALB host trees are treated by directly injecting the insecticide into the soil around the base of the tree, or into the trunk of the tree, allowing the imidacloprid to be dispersed through the tree’s vascular system. This enables the insecticide to reach ALB adults feeding on small twigs and leaves, and larvae feeding just beneath the bark of treated host trees.
Imidacloprid is a registered pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. It is used in agriculture, the lawn care industry to kill lawn grubs and in some pet treatments to kill fleas. Approved for ALB program use, imidacloprid is applied each year for ALB eradication to a limited area in the United States. APHIS oversees treatment applications and conducts environmental monitoring as part of the ALB eradication program.
The public can assist the eradication effort by allowing program officials access to their property to evaluate susceptible trees for any signs of ALB infestation and/or to treat trees that are susceptible to ALB infestation. Control treatments are applied to noninfested ALB host trees. All ALB infested trees or trees showing signs of infestation must be removed and destroyed in order to eliminate the ALB infestation. This action applies to treated trees as well.
ALB threatens urban and suburban trees, as well as valued forest resources, and threatens such industries as maple syrup production, hardwood lumber processing, nurseries and tourism. Control treatments are part of the ALB cooperative eradication program’s effort to prevent further infestation of this invasive insect and reduce populations.
APHIS and its cooperators undertake eradication by imposing quarantines, regulating the movement of ALB and ALB host material, conducting visual inspections, removing infested trees and chemically treating noninfested host trees as part of an integrated eradication strategy.
The ALB program is a cooperative effort among various federal, state and local agencies including, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service; as well as the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. For more information on the treatment program, call in New York 1-866-265-0301 or 1-877-STOP-ALB or visit www.BeetleBusters.info for more information about ALB, including pictures and where to report a suspected beetle or suspected signs of infestation.
For treatment maps, review the ALB website at www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/
plant_pest_info/asian_lhb/index.shtml and select “ALB Program Maps.”
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Invasive Stink Bugs: Wanted Dead or Alive
The Saugerties Post Star
Saugerties, NY —
The ‘new kid on the block’, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is a recent addition to the urban/agricultural landscape in the Hudson Valley. It was first observed entering NY homes in 2008. Populations of this species have been steadily on the rise over the past three years, making their presence known primarily in the southern parts of the valley. This insect has been found invading the homes of suburban and Metropolitan New Yorkers living in the 5 boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk, Orange, Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Dutchess counties. Many residents are taking notice of them as temperatures rise and insects become more active, making their way out of homes and back into the landscape.
The BMSB does not bite or sting people, pets or livestock. Being a member of the Hemiptera family of insects, it inserts its piercing/sucking mouthparts into plants and feeds on the juices found in stems, leaves and seeds. The insect has shown a wide host range including tomato, pepper, lima bean, soybean, sweet and field corn, apple, pear, peach, berries and some ornamental trees and shrubs. In addition to causing severe damage to farmers’ crops and homeowners’ gardens, the pest has become a residential nuisance as adults fly from near and far to congregate on and in houses during the fall while seeking winter shelter. Reports from the Mid Atlantic region indicate some homeowners have removed thousands of BMSB from their dwellings this winter. Locally, homeowners in the Hudson Valley region also report finding BMSB in their homes this spring with samples being sent to scientists at Cornell’s Hudson Valley Laboratory in Highland, NY. Thus far the laboratory has received over 30 reports and samples from the region, with specimens mostly coming from inside the home, ranging from just a few insects along the window sills to hundreds being observed in closets, attic spaces and stacks of covered firewood.
Since its introduction from Asia into the mid-Atlantic during the mid-1990’s, the BMSB has made its way to the top of the insect ‘most wanted list’. It was first identified in the United States in 2001 in Allentown, Pennsylvania from a specimen sent to Cornell’s Entomologist E. Richard Hoebeck. The pest has spread throughout the mid-Atlantic but was relatively unnoticed except by scientists who study such events. However, over the past two years, BMSB has developed into populations rivaling biblical proportions in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic causing extensive economic injury to vegetable and fruit crops in the region. In 2010, their feeding damage resulted in 20 to 80% crop loss on some farms in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey....
Anyone who has seen this pest is asked to send a sample to Peter Jentsch, BMSB Project, Cornell Hudson Valley Lab, P.O. Box 727, Highland, N.Y. 12528. The bugs should be placed in a small plastic container, such as a medicine bottle or film canister. A submission form available on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website at (http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/scouting%20reports/BMSB%20Project/BMSB%20Sample%20Submission%20Form.pdf) should be filled out and sent along with the sample so the distribution of the insect can be mapped. Live specimens will be added to the research colony for the Eastern New York Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Project, which began last year.
For more information on this pest, visit the NE IPM Center at http://www.northeastipm.org/bmsb.cfm.
To read the full story, go to link.
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BioBullies Curriculum Available
Natural Biodiversity is pleased to announce the completion of the BioBullies curriculum. This supplemental environmental curriculum focuses on the education of fourth through eighth graders about invasive species.The curriculum is available on the Natural Biodiversity website at www.naturalbiodiversity.org/biobullies/curriculum, or to request a high resolution CD, contact Natural Biodiversity.
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Connecticut DEP Reports Didymo Discovered in the West Branch Farmington River
First Confirmation of this Invasive Species in Connecticut
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced that the highly invasive freshwater alga, Didymosphenia geminata, known as “didymo”, has been discovered in the West Branch Farmington River, a very popular trout stream in northwestern Connecticut.
The presence of didymo was first confirmed in the northeastern United States in 2007, and has since spread to other popular trout streams in a number of Northeastern states (New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia). This is the first report of didymo in Connecticut.
DEP first learned of the possible presence of didymo in the West Branch Farmington River from several anglers on March 18th. One of these anglers also provided an initial sample to DEP. Following initial review by DEP staff, samples were sent to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation where biologists have direct experience identifying didymo. Late last Friday, Vermont officials confirmed that the sample was indeed didymo.
“This find is very troubling,” said DEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette. “Extensive blooms of this organism can harm the river ecosystem and decrease its recreational and economic value. In an effort to confirm identification, staff from DEP’s Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse surveyed a number of sites in the river and a major tributary along a seven mile stretch of the West Branch Farmington River in Hartland and Barkhamsted. Unfortunately numerous clumps of didymo were found at all the surveyed sites in the river downstream of the Riverton bridge. Once didymo has spread, there’s no practical way to remove it from a river.”
Didymo is most frequently found in cold, relatively shallow streams and rivers having a rocky bottom, characteristics that are also typical of good trout habitat. During blooms, didymo can form thick mats of material that feel like wet wool and are typically gray, white and/or brown, but never green in color. These mats form on the bottoms of rivers and streams and can potentially smother aquatic plants, aquatic insects and mollusks, impact fish habitat, and alter aquatic food chains. Dense mats of didymo can also reduce the recreational and aesthetic value of the affected river. Since didymo also prefers areas open to sunlight, it is not anticipated that this species will become problematic in smaller headwater streams as long as they have well shaded riparian and naturally forested riparian areas.
Humans are the primary vector responsible for the recent spread of didymo. Anglers, kayakers and canoeists, boaters and jet skiers can all unknowingly spread didymo. The microscopic cells can cling to fishing gear, waders (felt soles can be especially problematic), boots and boats, and remain viable for months under even slightly moist conditions. To prevent the spread of didymo to additional waters, DEP asks that anglers, especially those who also fish the Farmington River or streams outside Connecticut, and other users practice CHECK, CLEAN, DRY procedures.
• CHECK: Before leaving a river, stream or lake, remove all obvious clumps of algae and plant material from fishing gear, waders, clothing & footwear, canoes & kayaks, and anything else that has been in the water and look for hidden clumps. Leave them at the site. If you find any later, clean your gear and dispose of all material in the trash.
• CLEAN: Soak/spray & scrub boats and all other “hard” items for at least one minute in either very hot (140°F) water, a 2% bleach solution, or a 5% dishwashing detergent solution. Absorbent materials such as clothes and felt soles on waders should be soaked for at least 40 minutes in very hot water (140°F), or 30 minutes in hot water (115°F) with 5% dishwashing detergent. Freezing thoroughly will also kill didymo.
• DRY: If cleaning is not practical, after the item is completely dry to touch, wait an additional 48 hours before contact or use in any other waterway.
The above procedures will also be effective against other unwanted organisms.
Didymo is just one of a number of aquatic invasive species that have either invaded the state or are threatening to do so. DEP will continue its work to combat the spread of invasive species, focusing on prevention, education and early detection. DEP is an active member of the Invasive Plants Council and supports both an Invasive Plant Program and an Aquatic Nuisance Species Program in collaboration with the University of Connecticut. When available, DEP has provided funding from a variety of sources to educate the public on the threats posed by invasive species and to combat specific invasive species including fanwort, water chestnut and hydrilla. In addition, the DEP has recently proposed new regulations to prohibit the possession or importation into the state of a number of invasive invertebrates.
Since its discovery in the northeast in 2007, DEP has taken additional precautions to prevent the introduction and/or spread of didymo (and other invasive species). DEP’s Inland Fisheries Division instituted an operational “Biosecurity” policy for its own field operations, including elimination of the use of felt-soled waders. Also, as part of its invasive species outreach efforts, informational fliers on didymo were distributed to many of the state’s bait & tackle shops and information about didymo has been prominently displayed in the CT Anglers Guide and on its website.
Individuals wishing to report possible sightings of didymo and other aquatic nuisance species can contact DEP’s Inland Fisheries Division at 860-424-3474. More information on didymo and other aquatic nuisance species can be found on the DEP website (www.ct.gov/dep) or in the CT Angler’s Guide (www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/fishing/anglers_guide/anguide.pdf). An excellent source for detailed information on didymo is the Biosecurity New Zealand web site (http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo).
----------------------------------------------------------
USDA Treats New York Trees Against Asian Longhorned Beetle
WASHINGTON, March 24, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will treat a total of 29,764 trees susceptible to the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) with the insecticide imidacloprid in New York this spring.
Control treatments will start the week of April 4, weather permitting, on 21,294 trees in Queens, 299 trees in Brooklyn and on 8,171 trees in Staten Island. Treatments are a vital component of the area-wide eradication strategies used to prevent further infestation and reduce populations of this invasive pest.
Control treatment applications are conducted by program officials, through the use of contracted New York licensed pesticide applicators. ALB host trees are treated by directly injecting the insecticide into the soil around the base of the tree, or into the trunk of the tree, allowing the imidacloprid to be dispersed through the tree’s vascular system. This enables the insecticide to reach ALB adults feeding on small twigs and leaves, and larvae feeding just beneath the bark of treated host trees.
Imidacloprid is a registered pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. It is used in agriculture, the lawn care industry to kill lawn grubs and in some pet treatments to kill fleas. Approved for ALB program use, imidacloprid is applied each year for ALB eradication to a limited area in the United States. APHIS oversees treatment applications and conducts environmental monitoring as part of the ALB eradication program.
The public can assist the eradication effort by allowing program officials access to their property to evaluate susceptible trees for any signs of ALB infestation and/or to treat trees that are susceptible to ALB infestation. Control treatments are applied to noninfested ALB host trees. All ALB infested trees or trees showing signs of infestation must be removed and destroyed in order to eliminate the ALB infestation. This action applies to treated trees as well.
ALB threatens urban and suburban trees, as well as valued forest resources, and threatens such industries as maple syrup production, hardwood lumber processing, nurseries and tourism. Control treatments are part of the ALB cooperative eradication program’s effort to prevent further infestation of this invasive insect and reduce populations.
APHIS and its cooperators undertake eradication by imposing quarantines, regulating the movement of ALB and ALB host material, conducting visual inspections, removing infested trees and chemically treating noninfested host trees as part of an integrated eradication strategy.
The ALB program is a cooperative effort among various federal, state and local agencies including, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service; as well as the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. For more information on the treatment program, call in New York 1-866-265-0301 or 1-877-STOP-ALB or visit www.BeetleBusters.info for more information about ALB, including pictures and where to report a suspected beetle or suspected signs of infestation.
For treatment maps, review the ALB website at www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/
plant_pest_info/asian_lhb/index.shtml and select “ALB Program Maps.”
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Stink Bugs: Wanted Dead or Alive
The Saugerties Post Star
Saugerties, NY —
The ‘new kid on the block’, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is a recent addition to the urban/agricultural landscape in the Hudson Valley. It was first observed entering NY homes in 2008. Populations of this species have been steadily on the rise over the past three years, making their presence known primarily in the southern parts of the valley. This insect has been found invading the homes of suburban and Metropolitan New Yorkers living in the 5 boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk, Orange, Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Dutchess counties. Many residents are taking notice of them as temperatures rise and insects become more active, making their way out of homes and back into the landscape.
The BMSB does not bite or sting people, pets or livestock. Being a member of the Hemiptera family of insects, it inserts its piercing/sucking mouthparts into plants and feeds on the juices found in stems, leaves and seeds. The insect has shown a wide host range including tomato, pepper, lima bean, soybean, sweet and field corn, apple, pear, peach, berries and some ornamental trees and shrubs. In addition to causing severe damage to farmers’ crops and homeowners’ gardens, the pest has become a residential nuisance as adults fly from near and far to congregate on and in houses during the fall while seeking winter shelter. Reports from the Mid Atlantic region indicate some homeowners have removed thousands of BMSB from their dwellings this winter. Locally, homeowners in the Hudson Valley region also report finding BMSB in their homes this spring with samples being sent to scientists at Cornell’s Hudson Valley Laboratory in Highland, NY. Thus far the laboratory has received over 30 reports and samples from the region, with specimens mostly coming from inside the home, ranging from just a few insects along the window sills to hundreds being observed in closets, attic spaces and stacks of covered firewood.
Since its introduction from Asia into the mid-Atlantic during the mid-1990’s, the BMSB has made its way to the top of the insect ‘most wanted list’. It was first identified in the United States in 2001 in Allentown, Pennsylvania from a specimen sent to Cornell’s Entomologist E. Richard Hoebeck. The pest has spread throughout the mid-Atlantic but was relatively unnoticed except by scientists who study such events. However, over the past two years, BMSB has developed into populations rivaling biblical proportions in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic causing extensive economic injury to vegetable and fruit crops in the region. In 2010, their feeding damage resulted in 20 to 80% crop loss on some farms in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey....
Anyone who has seen this pest is asked to send a sample to Peter Jentsch, BMSB Project, Cornell Hudson Valley Lab, P.O. Box 727, Highland, N.Y. 12528. The bugs should be placed in a small plastic container, such as a medicine bottle or film canister. A submission form available on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website at (http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/scouting%20reports/BMSB%20Project/BMSB%20Sample%20Submission%20Form.pdf) should be filled out and sent along with the sample so the distribution of the insect can be mapped. Live specimens will be added to the research colony for the Eastern New York Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Project, which began last year.
For more information on this pest, visit the NE IPM Center at http://www.northeastipm.org/bmsb.cfm.
To read the full story, go to link.
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BioBullies Curriculum Available
Natural Biodiversity is pleased to announce the completion of the BioBullies curriculum. This supplemental environmental curriculum focuses on the education of fourth through eighth graders about invasive species.The curriculum is available on the Natural Biodiversity website at www.naturalbiodiversity.org/biobullies/curriculum, or to request a high resolution CD, contact Natural Biodiversity.
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Monday, January 25, 2010
Week of Januray 25, 2010
Updated 1/28/10
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National park battling infestation of hogs
The Associated Press
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- National park biologists are trying to come to grips with a hog infestation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
In 2009, the park's hog team removed 620 wild hogs, the third highest since the hog control program started in the late 1950s. Biologists say the hog population spiked last year because of a bountiful mast crop that enabled the sows to produce more than one litter.
Park biologist Bill Stiver told the Knoxville News-Sentinel the introduction of wild, semi-domesticated hogs into the park has made hog control even more difficult.
"The speculation is that hunters are illegally releasing feral pigs that eventually make their way inside the park," Stiver said. "It's a major problem not just here, but all over North America."
He said numerous hogs killed this year had spotted markings and curly tails associated with domestic pigs.
"We're getting a handful of animals that morphologically look different from our traditional wild boar," Stiver said. "Some of them act different, too. Instead of running away, they let you walk up to them."
Hogs in the park date to the early 1920s, when a herd of European hogs escaped from a game reserve on Hooper's Bald in the mountains of Graham County, N.C. The wild hogs moved into the park by the 1940s and began to wreak havoc on the ecosystem by eating rare plants and salamanders, defecating in streams and turning up the ground.
Biologists believe the wild hogs that invaded the park already had crossed with free-ranging domestic pigs. Their appearance, however, retained the lean hips, large tusks, straight tails and black hair of their European ancestors.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Potential Invasive Pests Workshop
October 11-14, 2010
Mayfair Hotel • Miami (Coconut Grove), Florida USA
Read more at link.
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Camels enlisted to battle Tamarisk (Salt Cedar)
By Bryan Nelson
Mother Nature Network
Tamarisk is one hard-to-kill invasive plant. Since it was first introduced from Eurasia to the United States in the 1800s, it has spread through the West like wildfire — actually, faster than wildfire. Efforts to eradicate it by burning it, cutting it, or dowsing it in herbicides have all failed. But tamarisk does have one formidable foe: hungry camels.
Known for their stubborn personalities, humpy postures and ability to survive for weeks without water, camels and dromedaries also have a keen appetite for salty fare — and tamarisk is as salty as they come. That's why ranchers in Colorado have enlisted the inglorious beasts to eat their way through this invasive species, eradicating it once and for all, according to High Country News.
"They will eat all day if given the opportunity," says Maggie Repp, a camel rancher in Loma, Colo. "My camels have killed every tamarisk on our place, so why not give it a whirl?"
A drooling dromedary may not strike you as a potential landscaper, but they do a good job. Repp says 10 camels can destroy half an acre of tamarisk in two days. That's not necessarily a solution for clearing the pesky shrub from the whole expanse of the Great Plains, but it's the perfect remedy for removing the odd tamarisk patch from your pasture.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
NYSDEC head slated for Save the River event
By JAEGUN LEE
Watertown Daily Times
CLAYTON, NY — State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis and other speakers will discuss the impact of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes and the latest status of the Asian carp invasion at Save the River's 21st annual Winter Weekend Conference.
This year's event will be Feb. 5 and 6 at the Clayton Opera House, 405 Riverside Drive.
Read more at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
USDA awards more than $4 million in weedy and invasive species research grants
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced today that USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is awarding $4.6 million to 13 universities for research to develop ecologically and economically rational strategies for management, control or elimination of weedy or invasive species.
"Invasive plants and animals are a major threat to food and fiber production, costing U.S. producers between $7 billion and $27 billion per year, but by doing research on controlling and managing weedy and invasive species we help protect the productivity of America's farmers and ranchers," said Merrigan.
Funded projects include work at Cornell University to minimize negative impacts of the European cranefly in perennial grass-based agroecosystems ($454,000).
----------------------------------------------------------
Japanese stiltgrass summit
The River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area is hosting a research and management summit on the invasive Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) on August 11-12, 2010 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Japanese stiltgrass, also called Nepalese browntop or eulalia, is an aggressive invader of forested habitats in the eastern United States. This summit will discuss recent research and management techniques and will feature presentations, panel discussions, field trips, and poster sessions.
Check www.rtrcwma.org/stiltgrass for conference updates!
--------------------------------------------------------
Expert to discuss local decline of bats at NSRWA lecture in Norwell, CT
By Gabrielle Boyle
GateHouse News Service
NORWELL, CT — A deadly fungus has depleted the bat population in Massachusetts and throughout the Northeast.
Dr. Tom French has been studying the reasons behind the sudden decline of bats in the United States over the past few years.
“It is what is called White Nose Syndrome, and it is quite catastrophic,” the doctor explained. “Unfortunately this is spreading rapidly… so we are scared to death how far it will go.”
French, of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, handles many of these kinds of matters everyday. This particular matter however is happening so quickly and abruptly, that he said attention should be brought on the situation as soon as possible. French is the upcoming speaker for the Water Watch Lecture Series put together by the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. [...]
French will be speaking on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., at the South Shore Natural Science Center. He will be showing slides that he has prepared and answering any questions attendees may have. The lecture is free and open to the public. The science center is located at 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell, MA. For more information, call (781) 659-8168 or check out the Web site www.nsrwa.org.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
TNC Strike Team position
The Nature Conservancy, Illinois Chapter is hiring a “Restoration Specialist – Invasive Strike Team” position. This is an 8 month position and will be based in the southern Illinois region. Deadline to apply for the position is Thursday, February 4, 2010. For a job description and to apply go to www.nature.org/careers.
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Fish-killing virus has invaded Lake Superior
By: Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune
Lake Superior’s newest troublesome invasion won’t come from a giant Asian carp after all, but from a tiny virus that already has caused big fish die-offs along the eastern Great Lakes.
Researchers at Cornell University announced Wednesday that they have found fish-killing VHS virus in fish samples from Lake Superior, including the Twin Ports harbor.
A small number of fish from Superior Bay and St. Louis Bay, as well as some from Paradise and Skanee Bays in Michigan, tested positive for the virus.
“It’s another sad day for the Great Lakes,’’ said Phyllis Green, superintendant of Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.
The research team spent several days in June collecting and sampling healthy fish in Lake Superior. Nearly 900 fish were collected from the lake. The finding means the disease has spread across all of the Great Lakes.
“It’s very unfortunate but not unforeseen. ... It’s obviously going to change how anglers and management agencies conduct business,’’ said Brian Borkholder, fisheries biologist with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Minnesota and Wisconsin already have rules and guidelines in place to limit the spread of other invasive species, so anglers and boaters may be asked only to step up efforts as opposed to making major changes.
“Because of [other] invasive species, anglers have already had to deal with issues such as draining livewells, disposing of bait properly and spraying or drying their boats before going to other waters. This will just heighten things a little bit,” said Roy Johannes, DNR aquaculture and fish health consultant in St. Paul. [...]
Supporters of stronger regulations to thwart invasive species say VHS is only the latest of 180 species to invade the lakes. [...]
Read more at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
National park battling infestation of hogs
The Associated Press
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- National park biologists are trying to come to grips with a hog infestation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
In 2009, the park's hog team removed 620 wild hogs, the third highest since the hog control program started in the late 1950s. Biologists say the hog population spiked last year because of a bountiful mast crop that enabled the sows to produce more than one litter.
Park biologist Bill Stiver told the Knoxville News-Sentinel the introduction of wild, semi-domesticated hogs into the park has made hog control even more difficult.
"The speculation is that hunters are illegally releasing feral pigs that eventually make their way inside the park," Stiver said. "It's a major problem not just here, but all over North America."
He said numerous hogs killed this year had spotted markings and curly tails associated with domestic pigs.
"We're getting a handful of animals that morphologically look different from our traditional wild boar," Stiver said. "Some of them act different, too. Instead of running away, they let you walk up to them."
Hogs in the park date to the early 1920s, when a herd of European hogs escaped from a game reserve on Hooper's Bald in the mountains of Graham County, N.C. The wild hogs moved into the park by the 1940s and began to wreak havoc on the ecosystem by eating rare plants and salamanders, defecating in streams and turning up the ground.
Biologists believe the wild hogs that invaded the park already had crossed with free-ranging domestic pigs. Their appearance, however, retained the lean hips, large tusks, straight tails and black hair of their European ancestors.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Potential Invasive Pests Workshop
October 11-14, 2010
Mayfair Hotel • Miami (Coconut Grove), Florida USA
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Camels enlisted to battle Tamarisk (Salt Cedar)
By Bryan Nelson
Mother Nature Network
Tamarisk is one hard-to-kill invasive plant. Since it was first introduced from Eurasia to the United States in the 1800s, it has spread through the West like wildfire — actually, faster than wildfire. Efforts to eradicate it by burning it, cutting it, or dowsing it in herbicides have all failed. But tamarisk does have one formidable foe: hungry camels.
Known for their stubborn personalities, humpy postures and ability to survive for weeks without water, camels and dromedaries also have a keen appetite for salty fare — and tamarisk is as salty as they come. That's why ranchers in Colorado have enlisted the inglorious beasts to eat their way through this invasive species, eradicating it once and for all, according to High Country News.
"They will eat all day if given the opportunity," says Maggie Repp, a camel rancher in Loma, Colo. "My camels have killed every tamarisk on our place, so why not give it a whirl?"
A drooling dromedary may not strike you as a potential landscaper, but they do a good job. Repp says 10 camels can destroy half an acre of tamarisk in two days. That's not necessarily a solution for clearing the pesky shrub from the whole expanse of the Great Plains, but it's the perfect remedy for removing the odd tamarisk patch from your pasture.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
NYSDEC head slated for Save the River event
By JAEGUN LEE
Watertown Daily Times
CLAYTON, NY — State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Alexander B. "Pete" Grannis and other speakers will discuss the impact of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes and the latest status of the Asian carp invasion at Save the River's 21st annual Winter Weekend Conference.
This year's event will be Feb. 5 and 6 at the Clayton Opera House, 405 Riverside Drive.
Read more at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
USDA awards more than $4 million in weedy and invasive species research grants
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced today that USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is awarding $4.6 million to 13 universities for research to develop ecologically and economically rational strategies for management, control or elimination of weedy or invasive species.
"Invasive plants and animals are a major threat to food and fiber production, costing U.S. producers between $7 billion and $27 billion per year, but by doing research on controlling and managing weedy and invasive species we help protect the productivity of America's farmers and ranchers," said Merrigan.
Funded projects include work at Cornell University to minimize negative impacts of the European cranefly in perennial grass-based agroecosystems ($454,000).
----------------------------------------------------------
Japanese stiltgrass summit
The River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area is hosting a research and management summit on the invasive Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) on August 11-12, 2010 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Japanese stiltgrass, also called Nepalese browntop or eulalia, is an aggressive invader of forested habitats in the eastern United States. This summit will discuss recent research and management techniques and will feature presentations, panel discussions, field trips, and poster sessions.
Check www.rtrcwma.org/stiltgrass for conference updates!
--------------------------------------------------------
Expert to discuss local decline of bats at NSRWA lecture in Norwell, CT
By Gabrielle Boyle
GateHouse News Service
NORWELL, CT — A deadly fungus has depleted the bat population in Massachusetts and throughout the Northeast.
Dr. Tom French has been studying the reasons behind the sudden decline of bats in the United States over the past few years.
“It is what is called White Nose Syndrome, and it is quite catastrophic,” the doctor explained. “Unfortunately this is spreading rapidly… so we are scared to death how far it will go.”
French, of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, handles many of these kinds of matters everyday. This particular matter however is happening so quickly and abruptly, that he said attention should be brought on the situation as soon as possible. French is the upcoming speaker for the Water Watch Lecture Series put together by the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. [...]
French will be speaking on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., at the South Shore Natural Science Center. He will be showing slides that he has prepared and answering any questions attendees may have. The lecture is free and open to the public. The science center is located at 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell, MA. For more information, call (781) 659-8168 or check out the Web site www.nsrwa.org.
Read more at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
TNC Strike Team position
The Nature Conservancy, Illinois Chapter is hiring a “Restoration Specialist – Invasive Strike Team” position. This is an 8 month position and will be based in the southern Illinois region. Deadline to apply for the position is Thursday, February 4, 2010. For a job description and to apply go to www.nature.org/careers.
--------------------------------------------------------
Fish-killing virus has invaded Lake Superior
By: Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune
Lake Superior’s newest troublesome invasion won’t come from a giant Asian carp after all, but from a tiny virus that already has caused big fish die-offs along the eastern Great Lakes.
Researchers at Cornell University announced Wednesday that they have found fish-killing VHS virus in fish samples from Lake Superior, including the Twin Ports harbor.
A small number of fish from Superior Bay and St. Louis Bay, as well as some from Paradise and Skanee Bays in Michigan, tested positive for the virus.
“It’s another sad day for the Great Lakes,’’ said Phyllis Green, superintendant of Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.
The research team spent several days in June collecting and sampling healthy fish in Lake Superior. Nearly 900 fish were collected from the lake. The finding means the disease has spread across all of the Great Lakes.
“It’s very unfortunate but not unforeseen. ... It’s obviously going to change how anglers and management agencies conduct business,’’ said Brian Borkholder, fisheries biologist with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Minnesota and Wisconsin already have rules and guidelines in place to limit the spread of other invasive species, so anglers and boaters may be asked only to step up efforts as opposed to making major changes.
“Because of [other] invasive species, anglers have already had to deal with issues such as draining livewells, disposing of bait properly and spraying or drying their boats before going to other waters. This will just heighten things a little bit,” said Roy Johannes, DNR aquaculture and fish health consultant in St. Paul. [...]
Supporters of stronger regulations to thwart invasive species say VHS is only the latest of 180 species to invade the lakes. [...]
Read more at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week of November 2, 2009
Updated November 6. The latest news is at the bottom of the post.
---------------------------------------------------------
More than $1 Million for projects to improve the health of Long Island Sound
Funds awarded to control perennial pepperweed
(Waterford, Conn. – Oct. 29, 2009) – Gathering together on the shores of Long Island Sound, top federal and state environmental officials announced 33 grants to state and local government and community groups under the Long Island Sound Futures Fund. The $1,011,878 will be leveraged by $1.92 million contributed by the recipients, providing a total of nearly $2.94 million for on-the-ground conservation in Connecticut and New York. [...]
This year’s grant program funded 21 large grants (grants greater than $10,000) totaling $943,755. Five grants were awarded for water quality; four for habitat restoration; one for watershed planning; one for invasive species control; seven for education; and three for stewardship projects. [...]
The grants include $38,538 to control perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) at West Meadow Beach, Town of Brookhaven, New York. EEA Inc. assisted the Town of Brookhaven with their grant application and perennial pepperweed control plan.
EEA scientists discover perennial pepperweed in 2006
EEA scientist Denise Harrington discovered New York State's only known infestation of perennial pepperweed at West Meadow Beach in 2006. Numerous plants were found occupying the upper edge of the salt shrub zone, immediately landward of marsh elder. This year, Kathy Schwager of The Nature Conservancy and EEA scientist Bill Jacobs returned to the site to map the plant's current extent. The infestation appears to be spreading.
Perennial pepperweed poses a serious threat to native maritime ecosystems by creating large, dense, monospecific stands that displace native plants. Infestations at West Meadow Beach are scattered, covering a total area of approximately one acre in size.
Link
Photo by PCA Alien Plant Working Group
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Invasives still a major concern in Great Lakes
By Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio
MILWAUKEE (WPR) Even with new clean-up money on the way, scientists continue to worry about invasive species in the Great Lakes.
Congress has agreed to spend $475-million on a Great Lakes restoration plan over the next year. But some worry the money won't be as effective as it could be without tougher federal controls on ballast water discharges from ships in the Great Lakes. Contaminated ballast is believed to be a key source of invasive species in the waters.
This week, an Obama administration panel held a hearing to look at new policies for the Great Lakes and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. University of Notre Dame biologist David Lodge described some of harm invasives are causing for great lakes whitefish, who have become increasingly skinny and not as valuable to commercial fisheries.
The federal task force is supposed to make specific policy recommendations within a few months. Those could influence how some of the new money is spent.
Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org
Read the story at link.
----------------------------------------------------
Help the Great Lakes
President's boost in budget proposal should be backed fully by Congress
The Buffalo News: Opinion
Having a Chicago politician as president of the United States — and another as his chief of staff — has some scary implications that should never be completely ignored.
But one good thing about a White House with connections on The Loop is that there is likely to be a healthy amount of concern for the Great Lakes.
That concern was reflected in President Obama's budget proposal, which included a helpful $475 million for projects to clean up the five lakes that provide drinking water, transportation routes, recreational opportunities and so much other support for the economic and environmental spheres that include Buffalo.
The lakes and their tributaries are so large, and so seldom catch fire any more, that the problems can be hard for non-experts to see. But problems there are — as well as opportunities.
The lakes are polluted, and becoming more so every day. Invasive species, brought in by ocean-going vessels that are key to the regional economy, are becoming an ever-greater problem. Bordering wetlands are also polluted and gummed up in many ways. That's no way to treat the source of one-fifth of the planet's surface fresh water supply, water source for 35 million people, and the reason why cities from Rochester to Toronto to Detroit to Chicago to Milwaukee were founded in the first place.
The president's budget proposals will go a long way to address all those problems. They will help municipal sewage treatment facilities and other sources of pollution clean up their acts, restore damaged wildlife habitats and restore more of the lakes' bays, coves and shores to the kind of ecosystem that can sustain wildlife and human habitation.
And, in the bargain, the money will provide productive employment for many people at a time when such opportunities are in short supply.
In the long process of reviewing the budget, the Senate went along with Obama's full $475 million request. The House cut it to $400 million. The difference will be resolved on conference committee and then voted on again by both bodies.
The lesser amount would be an improvement over past years' funding. But the whole request would do a lot more, for projects that have been too long delayed already, employing people who will have something very great indeed to show for their work. Congressional delegations from the Great Lakes state should take note — and get to work.
Read the article at link.
----------------------------------------------------
President signs legislation to benefit Great Lakes
By Ducks Unlimited
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – November 2, 2009 –President Obama signed historic legislation aimed at the restoring the Great Lakes, Friday, after the House and Senate approved the measure. According to Ducks Unlimited, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will provide $475 million for a comprehensive program to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Ducks Unlimited stands ready to turn this financial commitment into cleaner water and better habitat for waterfowl, wildlife and citizens of the Great Lakes and beyond.
“Congress and the President have delivered on their promise to help protect and restore one of our national treasures,’ said Robert D. Hoffman, Director of Ducks Unlimited’s Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “We are grateful to all of the Great Lakes partners and Congressional and Administration champions for making this funding a reality.”
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was proposed by the President to address the most serious issues that face the Great Lakes. Loss of habitat, invasive species, nonpoint source pollution, and toxic sediments threaten the health and economic well being of residents and damages the United States largest fresh water resource. Program administrators have a valuable document in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, a blueprint developed by more than 1,500 people representing governmental, industry, and nonprofit groups to set priorities and identify needs, which will receive funding for its most pressing programs.
Read the full story at link.
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Lake weeds the top topic at two Natick, MA meetings this week
By Charlie Breitrose/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 02, 2009
NATICK, MA — The Board of Selectmen and the Conservation Commission this week will each discuss the ongoing negotiations about using herbicide to control weeds in Lake Cochituate, Massachusetts.
Selectmen tonight will hear from Carole Berkowitz, spokeswoman for Protect Our Water Resources. POWR opposes a plan by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to use chemicals to fight milfoil, a non-native weed infesting parts of the lake. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.
POWR and the Natick Conservation Commission have both appealed a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) decision allowing the DCR to use herbicide. In the decision, DEP officials stripped many conditions set by the Conservation Commission when it agreed to let the DCR use the herbicide diquat on five acres of the lake near the public beach and boat ramp.
The conditions removed from the commission's ruling included: monitoring the amount of the chemical in the lake water; posting warnings of the chemical use; and requiring the DCR to run a pilot project to study how well a diver-assisted suction harvester (DASH) boat removes the weeds.
A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15, and Berkowitz said witness statements and reports for the hearing will soon be available.
Natick Conservation Agent Bob Bois said there is still a chance the hearing will not be needed. He and other town officials recently met with representatives from DCR to try to come to an agreement.
"There was a good discussion. We looked for common interests and we agreed to meet again," he said. "Our hope is we can reach a settlement between DCR and the Conservation Commission, which includes restoring the original order of conditions."
The lake weeds will also be the topic of discussion at the Conservation Commission's Wednesday night meeting, Bois said. Officials from the DCR will give an annual report on Lake Cochituate starting at 7:15 p.m. in Town Hall.
Bois said he hopes they will tell the commission about how well a DASH boat fared in a test run on Lake Cochituate during the spring.
"We're hoping it's one of the things DCR will talk about - the effectiveness of the DASH boat used in April," he said. "It would be nice to share that information with the board."
Berkowitz said POWR want to use a DASH boat to control the milfoil in the lake. She said she had a professional diver, who may be interested in bidding to run the DASH boat, come out to look at the lake last week.
The DCR used the boat to clear a channel in Snake Brook Cove, which lies between North and Middle ponds.
"The diver looked at it and it's good," Berkowitz said. "It was clean (of weeds). He was very impressed."
Other items likely to be covered by DCR officials are the harvesting of water chestnut plants in Fiske Pond, and the management of milfoil in Lake Cochituate's South and Middle ponds, Bois said.
Read the story at link.
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New funding for milfoil in Maine
STANDISH, Maine (AP) — The Maine Milfoil Consortium, a group that addresses the threat of invasive aquatic plants in the state's lakes, has been awarded $500,000 in federal funds.
The money will be used to mitigate and control invasive milfoil in seven "test bed" lakes, which pose a high risk of spread to other waters.
The mission of the consortium is to address the milfoil infestation threat through a program of prevention, research, management, mitigation, and eradication through the application of "best practices."
The consortium says 26 Maine lakes are infested with variable-leaf milfoil, which disturbs the ecology of lakes vital to recreational boaters, homeowners and businesses.
Photo: Little Sebago Lake Association's modified pontoon boat sucks up and filters the plant fragments gathered by divers.
---------------------------------------------------
Connecticut targets invasive plants
HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut authorities are hoping that new projects in four towns will help stop the spread of fast-growing invasive plants.
The state Department of Environmental Protection says the invasive plants threaten other plants and animals in the native ecosystems.
The biggest project is a $78,000 effort to fight the aggressive fanwort plant in the Bantam River system in Litchfield and Morris. If it's left to grow, it could harm Bantam Lake, which is Connecticut's largest natural lake.
Smaller projects are targeting the fast-growing "mile-a-minute" vine in New Milford and Newtown, and water chestnut plants that took hold in a Hartford flood control pond after getting into the Connecticut River.
Read the story at link.
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Mountains as Model Systems for Understanding Drivers of Plant Invasion
http://www.mri.scnatweb.ch/dmdocuments/mri_news_no3_PollAlexander.pdf
For more info contact directly:
Claudia Drexler, Communication Manager
Greg Greenwood, Executive Director
The Mountain Research Initiative
c/o Institute of Geography,
University of Berne
Erlachstrasse 9a Trakt 3
3012 Bern
Switzerland
mri[at]giub.unibe.ch
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Invasive plant removal volunteer event in New Jersey
November 7, 2009 - November 7, 2009
9 am - noon
Free, Pre-Registration Requested
201-915-3409
Non-native, invasive plants pose enormous threats to native plant communities and the associated wildlife communities. Come lend a hand in helping to remove these intruders from the Richard J. Sullivan Natural Area near the Interpretive Center. Gloves, tools and snacks will be provided. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of Liberty State Park and Bayonne Nature Club
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JOB OPENING: Executive Director, National Invasive Species Council in WASHINGTON, DC
Open Period:
Friday, October 30, 2009 to Friday, November 06, 2009
If selected for this positon you will serve as a key contact and coordinator for the NISC, representing the perspectives of its member departments and agencies, and ensuring the Council’s effectiveness in meeting the duties of the Executive Order 13122. If selected you wll have full responsibility for coordination the development of the Invasive Species Management Plan, updating the plan biennially, reporting on success in achieving the goals for the plan to the Office of Management and Budget and assisting the NISC in performing the duties outlined in Executive Order 13112. Works on policy aspect of invasive species to support the NISC activities across a variety of disciplines and agencies.
Link
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Invasive Beetle Found in Juniata County, Pennsylvania
ABC27 News
Harrisburg, Pa. - A tree-destroying insect first discovered in Pennsylvania two years ago has been found in Juniata County.
An infestation of Emerald Ash Borer beetles was discovered along Route 333 near the Mifflin County border, in Milford Township, according to the state Department of Agriculture (web | news) . The invasive beetle has been found in 10 other counties since first appearing in Pennsylvania in 2007.
The state has imposed a quarantine on the 11 counties where the beetle was found. The quarantine restricts the movement of ash nursery stock, green lumber and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, and all wood chips. Because ash is difficult to identify from other tree species, all hardwood firewood and wood chips - including oak, maple and hickory - are considered quarantined.
The Emerald Ash Borer has also been detected in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Mifflin, Washington and Westmoreland counties. [...]
n addition to Pennsylvania, the beetle is attacking ash trees in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and is responsible for the death and decline of more than 40 million trees.
There is no known practical control for the insect other than destroying infested trees.
Read the story at link.
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Connecticut funds mile-a-minute vine fight
By Robert Miller
Staff Writer
NewsTimes.com
Mile-a-minute vine, the kudzu of the North, may be less troublesome in 2010.
The [Connecticut] Department of Environmental Protection last week announced it will give New Milford $14,000 and Newtown $11,000 to fight the fast-growing and highly invasive weed.
"That's fantastic news,'' said Kathleen Nelson, who has led New Milford's fight against the vine and who had not expected the funding. "Now we have to come up with a new game plan.''
The state is paying for four invasive species projects with $115,000 from Supplemental Environmental Project payments made to DEP as part of the resolution of enforcement actions.
DEP fisheries biologist Peter Aarrestad said the DEP had to cancel some environmental grants to municipalities this year because of the state's budget crisis.
But the money received in enforcements, which the DEP can't use for its own staff or projects, was available for grants.
"We thought it was a good creative use of the money,'' Aarrestad said.
The state also gave a $78,000 grant to control fanwort -- an invasive aquatic plant -- in the Bantam River and Bantam Lake in Litchfield and a $6,000 grant to get ride of water chestnuts growing in a flood control pond in Hartford. [...]
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Lake Hickory, North Carolina, weed problem clearing up
By Dianne Whitacre Straley
CharlotteObserver.com
Lake Hickory is having fewer problems with aquatic weeds and algae, according to state water quality studies.
An invasion of parrotfeather weed, which limited boating and threatened the supply of drinking water six years ago, is under control, a state water quality staff member says. And algae is no longer causing complaints of foul odors and bad-tasting water, said Kevin Greer, assistant public services director for the city of Hickory.
Greer credited better efforts at reducing the amount of runoff heading to Lake Hickory as an important step in reducing algae. Runoff may be carrying fewer nutrients, which feed algae growth, he said.
Erosion control in Catawba County and counties upstream from Lake Hickory has helped, said Greer, who reported recently to the Hickory City Council on the state studies.
The construction of more low-lying areas called rain gardens has slowed the rush of storm water, allowing it to soak into the ground rather than pour into the reservoir. Rain gardens, like one built behind Lowe's home improvement store in the Viewmont section of Hickory, are important in controlling runoff from large parking lots that cannot absorb rainwater.
Nutrient levels in Lake Hickory have not worsened, even through the area is becoming more developed with homes, where the fertilizers used on lawns end up in the lake. "I think people are getting smarter and are using less fertilizer," Greer said.
Lake Hickory has not had a problem with the invasive aquatic weed parrotfeather in two years, Greer said. The plant is a native of South America and is sold for use in ornamental fish ponds. No one is knows for sure how it got into the lake.
Duke Power biologists spotted a 2- to 3-acre growth of parrotfeather in Lake Hickory in 2001 and alerted the state. By 2003, the weed covered 125 acres.
The weed was so thick near the U.S. 321 bridge in 2003 that boaters could not reach the nearby marina. Hickory was concerned the acres of weeds would clog the pipe that carries water from Lake Hickory to the city's water treatment plant. Dense growth of parrotfeather can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and worsen water quality and fish habitat.
In 2004, 2006 and 2007, the city and the state shared the cost of spraying the herbicide Komeen, which has been successful in stopping parrotfeather, said Rob Emens, an environmental specialist in the weed program of the N.C. Division of Water Resources.
"It was amazing we could get it under control so quickly," Emens said.
Some weeds have washed downstream and rooted in Lookout Shoals Lake, where they have been largely controlled with sterile grass carp that were introduced by the state. The carp eat the weed.
Emens says there is a potential for parrotfeather to return to Lake Hickory. It and other weeds are spread by boaters, who could bring it from other lakes on their trailers or propellers. In an attempt to halt the spread, the state has posted signs at boat launching ramps urging boaters to throw away any "hitchhikers" - aquatic weeds.
Aquatic plants will quickly outgrow ornamental ponds, and owners should dispose of the extra in a compost pile or garbage can. Do not toss aquatic weeds into the lake, Emens said.
Read the story at link.
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Invasive plants choking Griswold, Connecticut ponds
By DEBORAH STRASZHEIM
Norwich Bulletin
Griswold, Conn. — Studies of three major ponds in Griswold — Ashland, Hopeville and Glasgo/Doaneville — show they are infested with invasive aquatic plants that in some cases have clogged the area between shoreline and open water.
“Fanwort is particularly prevalent in all of the lakes, and it’s a particularly nasty plant because it grows very prolifically, especially in shallow water,” said George Knoecklein, who was contracted by the town to evaluate the three bodies of water along with Pachaug Pond. “By and large, most of the shallow coves are choked with this plant.” [...]
Read the story at link.
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New York calls on U.S. Coast Guard to expedite action to stop invasive species
Stricter Standards for Ballast Water Discharge Can Curb Invasive Species Pathways
Looking to stop the rapid spread of invasive species, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today urged the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to expedite new restrictions on the ability of ships to discharge ballast water in America's waters.
"The establishment of a strong, environmentally protective, national ballast water discharge standard is a critical and necessary component of the nation's invasive species programs," said Grannis.
One of the principal ways that aquatic invasive species move around the globe is by figuratively hitchhiking in the ballast tanks of ships. Most of the 180 known species that have invaded the Great Lakes arrived via ballast water from international shipping. Some of the well-known species include zebra and quagga mussels, round gobies, spiny and fishhook waterfleas, and bloody red shrimp.
The USCG is currently accepting public comments on draft regulations on the treatment standards for ballast water used by ships ("Standards for Living Organisms in Ship's Ballast Water Discharged into U.S. Waters") through Dec. 4.
"New York State and its many partners are striving to put effective prevention measures in place for all invasive species," said Grannis. "We do this one pathway at a time - by understanding the ways plants and animals are moved around the globe by humans and then finding practical ways to shut off those pathways. Ballast water has been long-recognized as a major conduit for an ever-growing list of aquatic invasive species and we must constrict the flow as soon as we can.
New York has supported a federal proposal to require ships to treat ballast water before it is discharged (a standard known as "1000 X IMO" or one-thousand times the International Maritime Organization standard). New York issued a water quality certification making this standard appliable for all vessels traveling in New York Waters. However, Commissioner Grannis raised concerns that the time frame for implementing the standard set forth in the Coast Guard draft regulations is too long - for some ships, it wouldn't be fully phased in until 2025 - to adequately protect our waters.
Currently, New York is one of three states to enact a ballast-water standard that is more protective than federal standards. In the submitted testimony, Commissioner Grannis said that to ensure uniformity across the board, ballast water should be regulated under a strong federal program and not on a state-by-state basis. The establishment of a national discharge standard equivalent to the most stringent state standards currently in place would result in a consistent national regulatory framework for vessels that navigate in U.S. waters. In addition, the establishment of a strong, environmentally protective standard will result in the development and production of advanced technology to meet product demand, the commissioner said.
DEC has worked collaboratively with the state Attorney General's Office, as well as other states, especially the Great Lakes states and California, in efforts to influence federal actions to address the risks and dangers associated with ballast water and the need for stricter federal regulations.
Additional information about these regulations is available at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg522/cg5224/bwm.asp on the USCG website.
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"Great Invaders" workshops in Florida
By MARK ESTES, Correspondent
News-JournalOnline.com
More than a dozen concerned local residents came to Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach on a recent Saturday to learn about a growing problem -- the invasion of non-natives into Florida.
No, it wasn't about snowbirds. The program, called "The Great Invaders," was a free five-hour workshop for homeowners on dealing with invasive exotic plants.
"Invasive plants are an ongoing problem for us, so we decided to promote education on the subject," park service specialist Terri Newmans said. "We want to encourage volunteers to help us clean exotics out of the park and at home."
According to Newmans, the Recreation Area's biggest invasive problem involves the Brazilian pepper and lantana, although there are other invasive plants present.
"We have some air potato and others, but Brazil pepper and lantana are the big problems," Newmans said.
Maia McGuire, Florida Sea Grant Extension agent, opened the program with a discussion of what invasive plants are and how they are designated invasive. She passed around samples of a number of invasive species. A plant is native if it was growing in Florida prior to the arrival of Europeans. All others are considered non-native or exotic.
"Non-native or exotic is not necessarily bad, it simply means they were introduced to this area," McGuire said. "However, if they have a negative impact, then they can become classified as invasive."
The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council updates the list of problematic plants every two years. 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.
Category II invasive plants have increased in abundance or frequency but haven't yet altered Florida plant communities to the extent shown by Category I plants. [...]
Repeat performance
WHAT: A second presentation of "The Great Invaders" workshop on invasive plants
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday
WHERE: Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach.
FOOD: Participants are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch.
HOW TO REGISTER: Call park service specialist Terri Newmans at 386-517-2086 or e-mail her at terri.newmans[at]dep.state.fl.us.
Read the story at link.
Photo by N-J | Mark Estes.
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Residents in New Hampshire rally behind proposal for milfoil control funding
by Erin Plummer
NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com
MOULTONBORO — Town residents are rallying behind the formation of a new committee and the proposed creation of a reserve fund to control milfoil.
Peter Jensen with Conservation Commission Chair Bob Clark and other residents made a presentation to the Board of Selectmen on a proposal for addressing milfoil infestation in Lake Winnipesaukee and other town water bodies.
Jensen said Amy Smagula, Exotic Aquatic Species Coordinator with the Department of Environmental Services, mapped out around 200 acres of milfoil in the 68 miles she examined.
Jensen said that of the properties on the town's current $2.85 billion valuation, 71 percent are on the shoreline and 16 percent have water access. The properties that are not located on the water have owners that still utilize the lake's resources. Studies have shown that valuations in towns with milfoil infestation can go down between 10 and 20 percent. A drop of 7 percent in the property value due to milfoil could mean a reduction in revenue of $1 million, with that figure tripling if revenue drops 13 percent.
Clark helped form a milfoil committee to address the management of milfoil in Moultonboro and around Lake Winnipesaukee. Jensen said the committee is asking that a milfoil reserve fund be formed in 2010 and money be deposited for the treatment and management of milfoil. The typical cost of a state-approved method of treatment is between $80,000 and $91,000. The committee is requesting that $100,000 be put into the fund to support the effort at the town level. [...]
Jensen said the money in the reserve fund can be used for a greater town effort but can also be available to smaller control projects that need it. The funds would also go toward control and prevention of re-infestation, as total eradication is near impossible.
"The cost of not doing it seems to be much higher than the cost of doing it," Jensen said.
Karin Nelson of the Lee's Pond Association said the hope is to have a plan of attack and perhaps a vacuum so that milfoil starts being removed from the pond, which has a heavy infestation. [...]
The fund's creation will need to be an article on the 2010 town warrant, an article selectmen said should be a petition article. Board members said including an item that size in the budget would likely not be the best course, especially with economic constraints and concerns over the future of the town's role in school funding. Board members said they would support the article.
Other associations have or have expressed interest in turning in petition articles for milfoil control and the matter of having a blanket article for all areas was discussed.
Read the story at link.
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Lower Hudson PRISM meeting on November 19
The next Lower Hudson PRISM meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 19th from 1-3:30 at the DEC Region 3 Office in New Paltz. The meeting will follow the mile-a-minute project meeting (see below), so people can attend both.
Best,
Ed McGowan
Here are the final details for the next Mile-a-Minute project of the Hudson Valley meeting:
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Time: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: NP Conference Room 126B-Catskill (name of room)
DEC Region 3 Office
21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz, NY 12561
The meeting will consist of a few organized presentations and end with open discussion. Agenda coming soon. Unfortunately we will not be visiting a weevil site as previously mentioned - there won't be much to look at.
This meeting will serve as a wrap-up/re-cap of the season and provide guidance for those interested in preparing for management of mile-a-minute next season. Think of it as a mini workshop on how to get weevils for biocontrol - this will be explained in detail and there will be experienced and knowledgeable people there to answer questions regarding weevils.
Bring lunch.
Stephanie Stanczak
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Invasive Plant Inventory and Survey Methods for Land Managers: A Web Seminar Series, scheduled for January-February 2010
Center for Invasive Plant Management, USDA Western Integrated Pest Management, Montana State University, University of Idaho, Utah State University, Michigan State University
Project Summary
CIPM received a grant from the Western IPM Center to develop and present a series of six interactive web seminars on invasive plant inventory and survey methods. The FREE seminar series will be based on chapters from the publication Inventory and Survey Methods for Nonindigenous Plant Species (L.J. Rew and M.L. Pokorny, editors, 2006, Montana State University Extension). CIPM coordinated and funded the development and printing of the publication, which presents practical inventory and survey methods that are successfully applied over large areas, and provides guidance on selecting methods to best meet the objectives of an integrated pest management strategy. Six chapters from the publication will be presented. Presenters are indicated in bold and are the chapter authors except where noted.
* Getting Started: Fundamentals of Nonindigenous Plant Species Inventory/Survey
Monica L. Pokorny, Steven A. Dewey, and Steven R. Radosevich
Erik Lehnhoff of CIPM will be presenting.
* Landscape-Scale Wildland Inventories/Surveys: Utah State University Methods
Steven A. Dewey and Kimberly A. Andersen
* Digital Aerial Sketch-Mapping for Early Detection and Mapping
Jason W. Karl and Mark Porter
* Stratified Random Sampling Method
Lisa J. Rew and Bruce D. Maxwell
* Adaptive Sampling Design
Timothy S. Prather
* Remote Sensing for Detection of Nonindigenous Species
Timothy S. Prather and Lawrence W. Lass
The six-week web seminar series is scheduled for January-February, 2010. There is no fee but advanced registration is required. If you would like to be notified when registration opens, please email the project coordinator at mmcfadzen[at]montana.edu.
Link
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EPA Proposes New Pesticide Labeling to Control Spray Drift and Protect Human Health
Release date: 11/04/2009
Contact Information: Dale Kemery kemery.dale[at]epa.gov
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rolled out proposed guidance for new pesticide labeling to reduce off-target spray and dust drift. The new instructions, when implemented, will improve the clarity and consistency of pesticide labels and help prevent harm from spray drift. The agency is also requesting comment on a petition to evaluate children’s exposure to pesticide drift.
“The new label statements will help reduce problems from pesticide drift,” said Steve Owens, the assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. “The new labels will carry more uniform and specific directions on restricting spray drift while giving pesticide applicators clear and workable instructions.”
The new instructions will prohibit drift that could cause adverse health or environmental effects. Also, on a pesticide-by-pesticide basis, EPA will evaluate scientific information on risk and exposure based on individual product use patterns. These assessments will help the agency determine whether no-spray buffer zones or other measures – such as restrictions on droplet or particle size, nozzle height, or weather conditions – are needed to protect people, wildlife, water resources, schools and other sensitive sites from potential harm.
In addition to the draft notice on pesticide-drift labeling, EPA is also seeking comment on a draft pesticide drift labeling interpretation document that provides guidance to state and tribal enforcement officials. A second document provides background information on pesticide drift, a description of current and planned EPA actions, a reader’s guide explaining key terms and concepts, and specific questions on which EPA is seeking input. These documents and further information are available in docket EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0628 at http://www.regulations.gov.
In a second Federal Register notice, EPA is also requesting comment on a petition filed recently by environmental and farm worker organizations. The petitioners ask EPA to evaluate children’s exposure to pesticide drift and to adopt, on an interim basis, requirements for “no-spray” buffer zones near homes, schools, day-care centers, and parks. EPA will evaluate this new petition and take whatever action may be appropriate after the evaluation is complete. For further information and to submit comments, please see docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0825 at http://www.regulations.gov.
More information: Link.
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Invasive Asian carp one flood away from Great Lakes
Jennifer Janssen
AnnArbor.com
Advocates for the Great Lakes at the National Wildlife Federation are worried that all of the work to restore the Great Lakes could come to nothing if immediate action is not taken to keep Asian carp from invading Lake Michigan.
Only a narrow floodplain lies between Asian carp in the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that leads directly into the Great Lakes. In September, researchers found the first evidence that the carp may be present in the Des Plaines dangerously far north of an electric barrier in the canal.
One flood is all it will take to merge the waters of the Des Plaines and the nearby Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal -- allowing the invasive carp direct access to the Lakes. This is not a far-fetched scenario — flooding merged the two waters in 2008 and 2007. [...]
Great Lakes advocates are urging that a barrier must be built immediately on the low, narrow strip of land between the potentially carp-infested Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Temporary fixes, including sandbags or an earthen berm are necessary to keep Des Plaines waters and carp out of the Great Lakes in the coming weeks and months.
Fortunately, Congress just approved funding and authorization for the Army Corps of Engineers to take emergency action to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species. However, that is no guarantee that a barrier will be constructed in time - before the next flood.
To learn more about the Asian carp and invasive species solutions, visit the Great Lakes Regional Center.
Read the full story at link.
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AMERICORP OPPORTUNITY starting November 16
We are looking for anyone interested in nature, conservation of natural resources, and the protection of urban woodlands. AmeriCorps is dedicated to helping local people solve pressing community problems.
Location: Arlington, VA (housing and relocation costs are not provided)
Anticipated Start Date: November 16, 2009
The time allocation for position will be approximately as follows:
1. Invasive plant removal under the immediate, direct supervision of either County staff, or the staff of partner organizations (75%)
2. Environmental rehabilitation activities, including planting, stream clean out, and stream bank stabilization (15%)
3. Training activities related to invasive plant removal, environmental rehabilitation, and local ecology (10%)
To apply: send cover letter, resume/CV, and three references to mortega[at]arlingtonva.us.
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Garlic farmer uses compost harvested from invasive plants at Carding Mill Pond
By Nancy Hershfield/Special to the Town Crier
SUDBURY, MA - While others are completing their harvesting, Sudbury resident Michael O’Connor is just beginning to get his crop in the ground. Fall is planting season for garlic, and O’Connor is planting his new garlic field off Dutton Road (the field runs along the northwest side of Carding Mill Pond). He expects to have 15,000 cloves planted by Veteran’s Day, which he hopes will result in close to a ton of garlic next July.
Under a license from the town to farm the field, O’Connor is looking to supply area gardeners and farmers with localized, acclimated, organically grown hard-neck seed garlic in a limited amount by next summer. His garlic farm, Old Sudbury Garlic Farm, plans to distribute its handcrafted garlic through local farmers markets and online.
What’s special about his farm, explains O’Connor, is its sustainable cycle of local fertilizer and farm fields. To help grow his fields, O’Connor is composting invasive plant species harvested in August from adjoining Carding Mill Pond for "good use" in his garlic beds.
Invasive weeds, like water chestnuts, duck weed (Lemna), Hydrodictyon and Elodea canadensis, have been overrunning Carding Mill Pond behind Wayside Inn for years, causing fish to die from lack of oxygen and forcing many birds and waterfowl to leave during the summer because they can’t swim through the overgrowth. For the past six summers, the Hop Brook Protection Agency (HBPA) has been spearheading a harvesting project to rid the pond of the weeds so more wildlife can return to the pond.
Harvesting Carding Mill Pond
Every summer, HBPA borrows an aquatic plant harvester and conveyor from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (GMNWR) to cut the weeds. The harvester looks like a large floating lawnmower, and has underwater blades that cut the weeds and a conveyor belt that collects the vegetation. The vegetation is then transferred onto a shore conveyor belt, which transfers the weeds into a dump truck the Sudbury Department of Public Works provides. This year the harvester took out 57.5 truckloads of vegetation from the pond (nearly half the amount compared to last year).
"There is a real beauty in using the harvested material from the mill pond as composted organic matter for the neighboring farm field," said O’Connor. "It is a sustainable cycle of local material that is inexpensive, organic, abundant and very beneficial to the soil. Along with the re-mineralization of the fields, I believe that it will dramatically boost the strength and activity of the soil web, the result of which I hope will be exceptionally nutrient dense vegetables." [...]
Read the full story at link.
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Pembroke, MA pond treatment could affect endangered species
By Steve Annear
Pembroke Mariner & Reporter
Thu Nov 05, 200
Pembroke, MA - Treatment of invasive plant growth in Oldham Pond will be delayed following the discovery of an endangered species of mussel in the pond.
The Pembroke Watershed Association received word from the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP), part of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, on Oct. 22 that the copper sulfate used to treat the invasive plants could have “short and long-term damage” on the species.
“They found the Eastern Pond Mussel, they are saying the copper sulfate can’t be used in the pond because it could effect it,” said Ray Holman, president of the PWA.
According to the NHESP, the proposed treatment would result in interference with eating, breeding, and migratory behavior and poses a risk of harming the rare mussels.
Holman said the PWA would have to come up with some other way to treat the pond, now that a copper sulfate treatment is not an option.
Aquatic Control Technology Inc., the company hired by the PWA to treat the pond, was scheduled to begin pond treatment last summer. The company had to hold off while a mussel biologist investigated the pond to see if two rare species were living there. Only one was discovered, the Eastern Pond Mussel.
The PWA will hold the $12,660 reserved for treatment, which was approved by Town Meeting voters last May.
According to Holman, they will hold onto the money until an alternative option is offered.
“Some money has already been spent for all these different things being done between Aquatic Control. We just have to wait and come up with something,” he said.
Read the story at link.
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Great Lakes get $475 million funding boost
Environmentalists laud additional federal funding
By Jerry Zremski
News Washington Bureau Chief
Updated: November 06, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Great Lakes will get an unprecedented boost in federal funding now that President Obama, almost unnoticed, has signed bipartisan legislation.
Obama approved the $475 million, one-year infusion of funding for the lakes last week when he quietly signed an annual spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs, which include his Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. [...]
The funding greatly enhances the odds that Buffalo will receive federal funding for a $60 million project to remove contaminated sediments from the Buffalo River, said Julie O’Neill, executive director of the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.
It also boosts the chances of winning local funding for a habitat rehabilitation project on the Niagara River, O’Neill said. Buffalo is in a better position than many communities in bidding for federal money for such projects because matching local funds already have been specified, she said.
The $475 million represents nearly a doubling of the previous annual federal commitment to the lakes.
In addition to funding the cleanup of contaminated sediments, the money will help to restore wetlands and other wildlife habitats and to prevent flooding. It also will be used to try to stop invasive species such as the Asian carp, which is threatening to invade Lake Michigan from the Illinois River. [...]
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the money will provide a long-term boost to the region’s economy. “Cleaning up the Great Lakes will allow the region’s fishing and tourism industry to grow, providing much-needed jobs and millions of dollars in revenue,” he said.
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, said on the House floor last week that the money was the first major federal commitment to the Great Lakes since he came to Congress in the mid-1990s.
But support for the measure was not unanimous among the region’s congressional delegation. Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, voted against the spending bill that included the Great Lakes money.
Lee said that he supported the Great Lakes effort and had signed letters lobbying for it but that he could not vote for the legislation that included the money because the $32 billion measure was 17 percent bigger than the previous year’s spending bill for the same programs.
“I’m all for supporting the environment, but this bill was spending money we didn’t have,” he said. “It was excessive in its nature.”
The Interior Department spending bill probably won’t be Lee’s only opportunity to vote for increased Great Lakes funding. In February, Obama is expected to propose a budget for the next federal fiscal year that will include another increase.
“The fact that this is just the beginning of a five-year, $5 billion commitment is a very exciting thing,” O’Neill said.
Read the story at link.
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Kudzu-eating pest found in northeast Georgia
By Sharon Dowdy
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences University of Georgia
Researchers from the University of Georgia and Dow AgroSciences have identified a kudzu-eating pest in northeast Georgia that has never been found in the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, the bug also eats legume crops, especially soybeans.
The bug has tentatively been identified as the bean plataspid (Megacopta cribraria), a native to India and China. It is pea-sized and brownish in color with a wide posterior, said Dan Suiter, an entomologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“It kind of waddles when it walks on a surface, but it flies really well,”
he said.
It’s also commonly called lablab bug and globular stink bug. Like its distant cousin the stink bug, when threatened, it releases a chemical that stinks.
Suiter and CAES diagnostician Lisa Ames first saw the pest when samples were sent to them in mid-October from UGA Cooperative Extension agents and pest control professionals in Barrow, Gwinnett and Jackson counties. Samples have since arrived from Clarke, Hall, Greene, Oconee and Walton counties.
Homeowners first reported the pest after finding large groups of the bugs lighting on their homes.
“At one home in Hoshton, Ga., we found the bugs all over the side of a lady’s house,” Suiter said. “There is a kudzu patch behind her home that provides food, and they were attracted to the light color of the siding. At this time of year, the insects are most active in the afternoon when it gets warm.”
In addition to homes, the bug is attracted to light-colored vehicles.
The week the bug samples arrived at Suiter’s lab, Joe Eger was visiting. The Dow AgroSciences field biologist has 35 years of experience studying the bean plataspid insect and has named new genera and species and identified the insect for museums across the world.
Eger’s identification was confirmed by David Rider at North Dakota State University and Tom Henry at the Smithsonian Institution.
Suiter believes the bug arrived here by accident.
“We do have the world’s busiest airport here, but we’ll never know how the bug first got here,” he said. “When it found kudzu here, it found a food source, and it doesn’t have any natural enemies here that we are aware of.”
Suiter says the pest’s populations are, for now, contained to northeast Georgia. It’s an “invasive species feeding on an invasive species.”
“We have no idea what the long-term impact on kudzu will be, but we also have to consider the fact that it feeds on crops, too,” he said. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword. It eats kudzu, which is good, but it also stinks and gets on homes. The ominous threat is that it eats soybeans and other legume crops.”
“We will be working with the University of Georgia and USDA to find the best way of dealing with this insect,” said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin. “At this time, there is not enough information to determine its current range and what its potential as a pest may be.”
Representatives of each agency met this week to form an action plan. Information has been sent to Extension agents and pest control companies across the state.
County agents are asked to look for the bug, scout kudzu patches and report any findings to Suiter. Homeowners who find the pest should call their local Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.
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Aquatic Invasive Species Vector Management: A Prevention Solution, December 2, 2009 workshop - update
If you are planning on attending the Mid-Atlantic Regional Panel of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force and Maryland Sea Grant's one-day workshop:
Aquatic Invasive Species Vector Management: A Prevention Solution, December 2, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland at the Admiral Fell Inn, note that the special conference hotel rate ends November 8. If you are thinking of attending, it would be a good idea to make a reservation before Sunday November 8.
For registration and full details visit: http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/vectorworkshop/
Hope to see you there, further details below.
Regards,
Fredrika Moser and Jonathan McKnight
Workshop Details
This one-day event will bring regional attention to aquatic invasive species introduction pathways.
The Mid-Atlantic region has an important and timely opportunity to move beyond managing individual species and toward a more holistic approach – managing the pathways or vectors for invasions. The workshop will focus on preventing the introduction of non-native aquatic species through vector management. The workshop outcome will provide recommendations on strategies states, local governments, NGOs, legislatures, the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Mid-Atlantic Panel, and other groups and individuals can pursue to manage vectors and prevent unwanted introductions of non-native species.
Please come to this workshop ready to participate and contribute to developing recommendations for advancing invasive species vector research and management.
See you there!
Workshop steering committee: Jonathan McKnight (MD DNR), Fredrika Moser (MDSG), Lisa Moss (USFWS), Read Porter (ELI), Greg Ruiz (SERC) and Mario Tamburri (UMCES, ACT).
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More than $1 Million for projects to improve the health of Long Island Sound
Funds awarded to control perennial pepperweed
(Waterford, Conn. – Oct. 29, 2009) – Gathering together on the shores of Long Island Sound, top federal and state environmental officials announced 33 grants to state and local government and community groups under the Long Island Sound Futures Fund. The $1,011,878 will be leveraged by $1.92 million contributed by the recipients, providing a total of nearly $2.94 million for on-the-ground conservation in Connecticut and New York. [...]This year’s grant program funded 21 large grants (grants greater than $10,000) totaling $943,755. Five grants were awarded for water quality; four for habitat restoration; one for watershed planning; one for invasive species control; seven for education; and three for stewardship projects. [...]
The grants include $38,538 to control perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) at West Meadow Beach, Town of Brookhaven, New York. EEA Inc. assisted the Town of Brookhaven with their grant application and perennial pepperweed control plan.
EEA scientists discover perennial pepperweed in 2006
EEA scientist Denise Harrington discovered New York State's only known infestation of perennial pepperweed at West Meadow Beach in 2006. Numerous plants were found occupying the upper edge of the salt shrub zone, immediately landward of marsh elder. This year, Kathy Schwager of The Nature Conservancy and EEA scientist Bill Jacobs returned to the site to map the plant's current extent. The infestation appears to be spreading.
Perennial pepperweed poses a serious threat to native maritime ecosystems by creating large, dense, monospecific stands that displace native plants. Infestations at West Meadow Beach are scattered, covering a total area of approximately one acre in size.
Link
Photo by PCA Alien Plant Working Group
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Invasives still a major concern in Great Lakes
By Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio
MILWAUKEE (WPR) Even with new clean-up money on the way, scientists continue to worry about invasive species in the Great Lakes.Congress has agreed to spend $475-million on a Great Lakes restoration plan over the next year. But some worry the money won't be as effective as it could be without tougher federal controls on ballast water discharges from ships in the Great Lakes. Contaminated ballast is believed to be a key source of invasive species in the waters.
This week, an Obama administration panel held a hearing to look at new policies for the Great Lakes and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. University of Notre Dame biologist David Lodge described some of harm invasives are causing for great lakes whitefish, who have become increasingly skinny and not as valuable to commercial fisheries.
The federal task force is supposed to make specific policy recommendations within a few months. Those could influence how some of the new money is spent.
Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org
Read the story at link.
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Help the Great Lakes
President's boost in budget proposal should be backed fully by Congress
The Buffalo News: Opinion
Having a Chicago politician as president of the United States — and another as his chief of staff — has some scary implications that should never be completely ignored.
But one good thing about a White House with connections on The Loop is that there is likely to be a healthy amount of concern for the Great Lakes.
That concern was reflected in President Obama's budget proposal, which included a helpful $475 million for projects to clean up the five lakes that provide drinking water, transportation routes, recreational opportunities and so much other support for the economic and environmental spheres that include Buffalo.
The lakes and their tributaries are so large, and so seldom catch fire any more, that the problems can be hard for non-experts to see. But problems there are — as well as opportunities.
The lakes are polluted, and becoming more so every day. Invasive species, brought in by ocean-going vessels that are key to the regional economy, are becoming an ever-greater problem. Bordering wetlands are also polluted and gummed up in many ways. That's no way to treat the source of one-fifth of the planet's surface fresh water supply, water source for 35 million people, and the reason why cities from Rochester to Toronto to Detroit to Chicago to Milwaukee were founded in the first place.
The president's budget proposals will go a long way to address all those problems. They will help municipal sewage treatment facilities and other sources of pollution clean up their acts, restore damaged wildlife habitats and restore more of the lakes' bays, coves and shores to the kind of ecosystem that can sustain wildlife and human habitation.
And, in the bargain, the money will provide productive employment for many people at a time when such opportunities are in short supply.
In the long process of reviewing the budget, the Senate went along with Obama's full $475 million request. The House cut it to $400 million. The difference will be resolved on conference committee and then voted on again by both bodies.
The lesser amount would be an improvement over past years' funding. But the whole request would do a lot more, for projects that have been too long delayed already, employing people who will have something very great indeed to show for their work. Congressional delegations from the Great Lakes state should take note — and get to work.
Read the article at link.
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President signs legislation to benefit Great Lakes
By Ducks Unlimited
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – November 2, 2009 –President Obama signed historic legislation aimed at the restoring the Great Lakes, Friday, after the House and Senate approved the measure. According to Ducks Unlimited, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will provide $475 million for a comprehensive program to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Ducks Unlimited stands ready to turn this financial commitment into cleaner water and better habitat for waterfowl, wildlife and citizens of the Great Lakes and beyond.
“Congress and the President have delivered on their promise to help protect and restore one of our national treasures,’ said Robert D. Hoffman, Director of Ducks Unlimited’s Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “We are grateful to all of the Great Lakes partners and Congressional and Administration champions for making this funding a reality.”
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was proposed by the President to address the most serious issues that face the Great Lakes. Loss of habitat, invasive species, nonpoint source pollution, and toxic sediments threaten the health and economic well being of residents and damages the United States largest fresh water resource. Program administrators have a valuable document in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, a blueprint developed by more than 1,500 people representing governmental, industry, and nonprofit groups to set priorities and identify needs, which will receive funding for its most pressing programs.
Read the full story at link.
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Lake weeds the top topic at two Natick, MA meetings this week
By Charlie Breitrose/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 02, 2009
NATICK, MA — The Board of Selectmen and the Conservation Commission this week will each discuss the ongoing negotiations about using herbicide to control weeds in Lake Cochituate, Massachusetts.
Selectmen tonight will hear from Carole Berkowitz, spokeswoman for Protect Our Water Resources. POWR opposes a plan by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to use chemicals to fight milfoil, a non-native weed infesting parts of the lake. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.
POWR and the Natick Conservation Commission have both appealed a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) decision allowing the DCR to use herbicide. In the decision, DEP officials stripped many conditions set by the Conservation Commission when it agreed to let the DCR use the herbicide diquat on five acres of the lake near the public beach and boat ramp.
The conditions removed from the commission's ruling included: monitoring the amount of the chemical in the lake water; posting warnings of the chemical use; and requiring the DCR to run a pilot project to study how well a diver-assisted suction harvester (DASH) boat removes the weeds.
A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15, and Berkowitz said witness statements and reports for the hearing will soon be available.
Natick Conservation Agent Bob Bois said there is still a chance the hearing will not be needed. He and other town officials recently met with representatives from DCR to try to come to an agreement.
"There was a good discussion. We looked for common interests and we agreed to meet again," he said. "Our hope is we can reach a settlement between DCR and the Conservation Commission, which includes restoring the original order of conditions."
The lake weeds will also be the topic of discussion at the Conservation Commission's Wednesday night meeting, Bois said. Officials from the DCR will give an annual report on Lake Cochituate starting at 7:15 p.m. in Town Hall.
Bois said he hopes they will tell the commission about how well a DASH boat fared in a test run on Lake Cochituate during the spring.
"We're hoping it's one of the things DCR will talk about - the effectiveness of the DASH boat used in April," he said. "It would be nice to share that information with the board."
Berkowitz said POWR want to use a DASH boat to control the milfoil in the lake. She said she had a professional diver, who may be interested in bidding to run the DASH boat, come out to look at the lake last week.
The DCR used the boat to clear a channel in Snake Brook Cove, which lies between North and Middle ponds.
"The diver looked at it and it's good," Berkowitz said. "It was clean (of weeds). He was very impressed."
Other items likely to be covered by DCR officials are the harvesting of water chestnut plants in Fiske Pond, and the management of milfoil in Lake Cochituate's South and Middle ponds, Bois said.
Read the story at link.
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New funding for milfoil in Maine
STANDISH, Maine (AP) — The Maine Milfoil Consortium, a group that addresses the threat of invasive aquatic plants in the state's lakes, has been awarded $500,000 in federal funds.The money will be used to mitigate and control invasive milfoil in seven "test bed" lakes, which pose a high risk of spread to other waters.
The mission of the consortium is to address the milfoil infestation threat through a program of prevention, research, management, mitigation, and eradication through the application of "best practices."
The consortium says 26 Maine lakes are infested with variable-leaf milfoil, which disturbs the ecology of lakes vital to recreational boaters, homeowners and businesses.
Photo: Little Sebago Lake Association's modified pontoon boat sucks up and filters the plant fragments gathered by divers.
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Connecticut targets invasive plants
HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut authorities are hoping that new projects in four towns will help stop the spread of fast-growing invasive plants.
The state Department of Environmental Protection says the invasive plants threaten other plants and animals in the native ecosystems.
The biggest project is a $78,000 effort to fight the aggressive fanwort plant in the Bantam River system in Litchfield and Morris. If it's left to grow, it could harm Bantam Lake, which is Connecticut's largest natural lake.
Smaller projects are targeting the fast-growing "mile-a-minute" vine in New Milford and Newtown, and water chestnut plants that took hold in a Hartford flood control pond after getting into the Connecticut River.
Read the story at link.
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Mountains as Model Systems for Understanding Drivers of Plant Invasion
http://www.mri.scnatweb.ch/dmdocuments/mri_news_no3_PollAlexander.pdf
For more info contact directly:
Claudia Drexler, Communication Manager
Greg Greenwood, Executive Director
The Mountain Research Initiative
c/o Institute of Geography,
University of Berne
Erlachstrasse 9a Trakt 3
3012 Bern
Switzerland
mri[at]giub.unibe.ch
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Invasive plant removal volunteer event in New Jersey
November 7, 2009 - November 7, 2009
9 am - noon
Free, Pre-Registration Requested
201-915-3409
Non-native, invasive plants pose enormous threats to native plant communities and the associated wildlife communities. Come lend a hand in helping to remove these intruders from the Richard J. Sullivan Natural Area near the Interpretive Center. Gloves, tools and snacks will be provided. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of Liberty State Park and Bayonne Nature Club
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JOB OPENING: Executive Director, National Invasive Species Council in WASHINGTON, DC
Open Period:
Friday, October 30, 2009 to Friday, November 06, 2009
If selected for this positon you will serve as a key contact and coordinator for the NISC, representing the perspectives of its member departments and agencies, and ensuring the Council’s effectiveness in meeting the duties of the Executive Order 13122. If selected you wll have full responsibility for coordination the development of the Invasive Species Management Plan, updating the plan biennially, reporting on success in achieving the goals for the plan to the Office of Management and Budget and assisting the NISC in performing the duties outlined in Executive Order 13112. Works on policy aspect of invasive species to support the NISC activities across a variety of disciplines and agencies.
Link
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Invasive Beetle Found in Juniata County, Pennsylvania
ABC27 News
Harrisburg, Pa. - A tree-destroying insect first discovered in Pennsylvania two years ago has been found in Juniata County.An infestation of Emerald Ash Borer beetles was discovered along Route 333 near the Mifflin County border, in Milford Township, according to the state Department of Agriculture (web | news) . The invasive beetle has been found in 10 other counties since first appearing in Pennsylvania in 2007.
The state has imposed a quarantine on the 11 counties where the beetle was found. The quarantine restricts the movement of ash nursery stock, green lumber and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, and all wood chips. Because ash is difficult to identify from other tree species, all hardwood firewood and wood chips - including oak, maple and hickory - are considered quarantined.
The Emerald Ash Borer has also been detected in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Mifflin, Washington and Westmoreland counties. [...]
n addition to Pennsylvania, the beetle is attacking ash trees in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and is responsible for the death and decline of more than 40 million trees.
There is no known practical control for the insect other than destroying infested trees.
Read the story at link.
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Connecticut funds mile-a-minute vine fight
By Robert Miller
Staff Writer
NewsTimes.com
Mile-a-minute vine, the kudzu of the North, may be less troublesome in 2010.
The [Connecticut] Department of Environmental Protection last week announced it will give New Milford $14,000 and Newtown $11,000 to fight the fast-growing and highly invasive weed.
"That's fantastic news,'' said Kathleen Nelson, who has led New Milford's fight against the vine and who had not expected the funding. "Now we have to come up with a new game plan.''
The state is paying for four invasive species projects with $115,000 from Supplemental Environmental Project payments made to DEP as part of the resolution of enforcement actions.
DEP fisheries biologist Peter Aarrestad said the DEP had to cancel some environmental grants to municipalities this year because of the state's budget crisis.
But the money received in enforcements, which the DEP can't use for its own staff or projects, was available for grants.
"We thought it was a good creative use of the money,'' Aarrestad said.
The state also gave a $78,000 grant to control fanwort -- an invasive aquatic plant -- in the Bantam River and Bantam Lake in Litchfield and a $6,000 grant to get ride of water chestnuts growing in a flood control pond in Hartford. [...]
Read the full story at link.
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Lake Hickory, North Carolina, weed problem clearing up
By Dianne Whitacre Straley
CharlotteObserver.com
Lake Hickory is having fewer problems with aquatic weeds and algae, according to state water quality studies.
An invasion of parrotfeather weed, which limited boating and threatened the supply of drinking water six years ago, is under control, a state water quality staff member says. And algae is no longer causing complaints of foul odors and bad-tasting water, said Kevin Greer, assistant public services director for the city of Hickory.
Greer credited better efforts at reducing the amount of runoff heading to Lake Hickory as an important step in reducing algae. Runoff may be carrying fewer nutrients, which feed algae growth, he said.
Erosion control in Catawba County and counties upstream from Lake Hickory has helped, said Greer, who reported recently to the Hickory City Council on the state studies.
The construction of more low-lying areas called rain gardens has slowed the rush of storm water, allowing it to soak into the ground rather than pour into the reservoir. Rain gardens, like one built behind Lowe's home improvement store in the Viewmont section of Hickory, are important in controlling runoff from large parking lots that cannot absorb rainwater.
Nutrient levels in Lake Hickory have not worsened, even through the area is becoming more developed with homes, where the fertilizers used on lawns end up in the lake. "I think people are getting smarter and are using less fertilizer," Greer said.
Lake Hickory has not had a problem with the invasive aquatic weed parrotfeather in two years, Greer said. The plant is a native of South America and is sold for use in ornamental fish ponds. No one is knows for sure how it got into the lake.
Duke Power biologists spotted a 2- to 3-acre growth of parrotfeather in Lake Hickory in 2001 and alerted the state. By 2003, the weed covered 125 acres.
The weed was so thick near the U.S. 321 bridge in 2003 that boaters could not reach the nearby marina. Hickory was concerned the acres of weeds would clog the pipe that carries water from Lake Hickory to the city's water treatment plant. Dense growth of parrotfeather can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and worsen water quality and fish habitat.
In 2004, 2006 and 2007, the city and the state shared the cost of spraying the herbicide Komeen, which has been successful in stopping parrotfeather, said Rob Emens, an environmental specialist in the weed program of the N.C. Division of Water Resources.
"It was amazing we could get it under control so quickly," Emens said.
Some weeds have washed downstream and rooted in Lookout Shoals Lake, where they have been largely controlled with sterile grass carp that were introduced by the state. The carp eat the weed.
Emens says there is a potential for parrotfeather to return to Lake Hickory. It and other weeds are spread by boaters, who could bring it from other lakes on their trailers or propellers. In an attempt to halt the spread, the state has posted signs at boat launching ramps urging boaters to throw away any "hitchhikers" - aquatic weeds.
Aquatic plants will quickly outgrow ornamental ponds, and owners should dispose of the extra in a compost pile or garbage can. Do not toss aquatic weeds into the lake, Emens said.
Read the story at link.
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Invasive plants choking Griswold, Connecticut ponds
By DEBORAH STRASZHEIM
Norwich Bulletin
Griswold, Conn. — Studies of three major ponds in Griswold — Ashland, Hopeville and Glasgo/Doaneville — show they are infested with invasive aquatic plants that in some cases have clogged the area between shoreline and open water.
“Fanwort is particularly prevalent in all of the lakes, and it’s a particularly nasty plant because it grows very prolifically, especially in shallow water,” said George Knoecklein, who was contracted by the town to evaluate the three bodies of water along with Pachaug Pond. “By and large, most of the shallow coves are choked with this plant.” [...]
Read the story at link.
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New York calls on U.S. Coast Guard to expedite action to stop invasive species
Stricter Standards for Ballast Water Discharge Can Curb Invasive Species Pathways
Looking to stop the rapid spread of invasive species, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today urged the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to expedite new restrictions on the ability of ships to discharge ballast water in America's waters.
"The establishment of a strong, environmentally protective, national ballast water discharge standard is a critical and necessary component of the nation's invasive species programs," said Grannis.
One of the principal ways that aquatic invasive species move around the globe is by figuratively hitchhiking in the ballast tanks of ships. Most of the 180 known species that have invaded the Great Lakes arrived via ballast water from international shipping. Some of the well-known species include zebra and quagga mussels, round gobies, spiny and fishhook waterfleas, and bloody red shrimp.
The USCG is currently accepting public comments on draft regulations on the treatment standards for ballast water used by ships ("Standards for Living Organisms in Ship's Ballast Water Discharged into U.S. Waters") through Dec. 4.
"New York State and its many partners are striving to put effective prevention measures in place for all invasive species," said Grannis. "We do this one pathway at a time - by understanding the ways plants and animals are moved around the globe by humans and then finding practical ways to shut off those pathways. Ballast water has been long-recognized as a major conduit for an ever-growing list of aquatic invasive species and we must constrict the flow as soon as we can.
New York has supported a federal proposal to require ships to treat ballast water before it is discharged (a standard known as "1000 X IMO" or one-thousand times the International Maritime Organization standard). New York issued a water quality certification making this standard appliable for all vessels traveling in New York Waters. However, Commissioner Grannis raised concerns that the time frame for implementing the standard set forth in the Coast Guard draft regulations is too long - for some ships, it wouldn't be fully phased in until 2025 - to adequately protect our waters.
Currently, New York is one of three states to enact a ballast-water standard that is more protective than federal standards. In the submitted testimony, Commissioner Grannis said that to ensure uniformity across the board, ballast water should be regulated under a strong federal program and not on a state-by-state basis. The establishment of a national discharge standard equivalent to the most stringent state standards currently in place would result in a consistent national regulatory framework for vessels that navigate in U.S. waters. In addition, the establishment of a strong, environmentally protective standard will result in the development and production of advanced technology to meet product demand, the commissioner said.
DEC has worked collaboratively with the state Attorney General's Office, as well as other states, especially the Great Lakes states and California, in efforts to influence federal actions to address the risks and dangers associated with ballast water and the need for stricter federal regulations.
Additional information about these regulations is available at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg522/cg5224/bwm.asp on the USCG website.
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"Great Invaders" workshops in Florida
By MARK ESTES, Correspondent
News-JournalOnline.com
More than a dozen concerned local residents came to Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach on a recent Saturday to learn about a growing problem -- the invasion of non-natives into Florida.No, it wasn't about snowbirds. The program, called "The Great Invaders," was a free five-hour workshop for homeowners on dealing with invasive exotic plants.
"Invasive plants are an ongoing problem for us, so we decided to promote education on the subject," park service specialist Terri Newmans said. "We want to encourage volunteers to help us clean exotics out of the park and at home."
According to Newmans, the Recreation Area's biggest invasive problem involves the Brazilian pepper and lantana, although there are other invasive plants present.
"We have some air potato and others, but Brazil pepper and lantana are the big problems," Newmans said.
Maia McGuire, Florida Sea Grant Extension agent, opened the program with a discussion of what invasive plants are and how they are designated invasive. She passed around samples of a number of invasive species. A plant is native if it was growing in Florida prior to the arrival of Europeans. All others are considered non-native or exotic.
"Non-native or exotic is not necessarily bad, it simply means they were introduced to this area," McGuire said. "However, if they have a negative impact, then they can become classified as invasive."
The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council updates the list of problematic plants every two years. 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.
Category II invasive plants have increased in abundance or frequency but haven't yet altered Florida plant communities to the extent shown by Category I plants. [...]
Repeat performance
WHAT: A second presentation of "The Great Invaders" workshop on invasive plants
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday
WHERE: Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach.
FOOD: Participants are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch.
HOW TO REGISTER: Call park service specialist Terri Newmans at 386-517-2086 or e-mail her at terri.newmans[at]dep.state.fl.us.
Read the story at link.
Photo by N-J | Mark Estes.
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Residents in New Hampshire rally behind proposal for milfoil control funding
by Erin Plummer
NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com
MOULTONBORO — Town residents are rallying behind the formation of a new committee and the proposed creation of a reserve fund to control milfoil.
Peter Jensen with Conservation Commission Chair Bob Clark and other residents made a presentation to the Board of Selectmen on a proposal for addressing milfoil infestation in Lake Winnipesaukee and other town water bodies.
Jensen said Amy Smagula, Exotic Aquatic Species Coordinator with the Department of Environmental Services, mapped out around 200 acres of milfoil in the 68 miles she examined.
Jensen said that of the properties on the town's current $2.85 billion valuation, 71 percent are on the shoreline and 16 percent have water access. The properties that are not located on the water have owners that still utilize the lake's resources. Studies have shown that valuations in towns with milfoil infestation can go down between 10 and 20 percent. A drop of 7 percent in the property value due to milfoil could mean a reduction in revenue of $1 million, with that figure tripling if revenue drops 13 percent.
Clark helped form a milfoil committee to address the management of milfoil in Moultonboro and around Lake Winnipesaukee. Jensen said the committee is asking that a milfoil reserve fund be formed in 2010 and money be deposited for the treatment and management of milfoil. The typical cost of a state-approved method of treatment is between $80,000 and $91,000. The committee is requesting that $100,000 be put into the fund to support the effort at the town level. [...]
Jensen said the money in the reserve fund can be used for a greater town effort but can also be available to smaller control projects that need it. The funds would also go toward control and prevention of re-infestation, as total eradication is near impossible.
"The cost of not doing it seems to be much higher than the cost of doing it," Jensen said.
Karin Nelson of the Lee's Pond Association said the hope is to have a plan of attack and perhaps a vacuum so that milfoil starts being removed from the pond, which has a heavy infestation. [...]
The fund's creation will need to be an article on the 2010 town warrant, an article selectmen said should be a petition article. Board members said including an item that size in the budget would likely not be the best course, especially with economic constraints and concerns over the future of the town's role in school funding. Board members said they would support the article.
Other associations have or have expressed interest in turning in petition articles for milfoil control and the matter of having a blanket article for all areas was discussed.
Read the story at link.
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Lower Hudson PRISM meeting on November 19
The next Lower Hudson PRISM meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 19th from 1-3:30 at the DEC Region 3 Office in New Paltz. The meeting will follow the mile-a-minute project meeting (see below), so people can attend both.
Best,
Ed McGowan
Here are the final details for the next Mile-a-Minute project of the Hudson Valley meeting:
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Time: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: NP Conference Room 126B-Catskill (name of room)
DEC Region 3 Office
21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz, NY 12561
The meeting will consist of a few organized presentations and end with open discussion. Agenda coming soon. Unfortunately we will not be visiting a weevil site as previously mentioned - there won't be much to look at.
This meeting will serve as a wrap-up/re-cap of the season and provide guidance for those interested in preparing for management of mile-a-minute next season. Think of it as a mini workshop on how to get weevils for biocontrol - this will be explained in detail and there will be experienced and knowledgeable people there to answer questions regarding weevils.
Bring lunch.
Stephanie Stanczak
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Invasive Plant Inventory and Survey Methods for Land Managers: A Web Seminar Series, scheduled for January-February 2010
Center for Invasive Plant Management, USDA Western Integrated Pest Management, Montana State University, University of Idaho, Utah State University, Michigan State University
Project Summary
CIPM received a grant from the Western IPM Center to develop and present a series of six interactive web seminars on invasive plant inventory and survey methods. The FREE seminar series will be based on chapters from the publication Inventory and Survey Methods for Nonindigenous Plant Species (L.J. Rew and M.L. Pokorny, editors, 2006, Montana State University Extension). CIPM coordinated and funded the development and printing of the publication, which presents practical inventory and survey methods that are successfully applied over large areas, and provides guidance on selecting methods to best meet the objectives of an integrated pest management strategy. Six chapters from the publication will be presented. Presenters are indicated in bold and are the chapter authors except where noted.
* Getting Started: Fundamentals of Nonindigenous Plant Species Inventory/Survey
Monica L. Pokorny, Steven A. Dewey, and Steven R. Radosevich
Erik Lehnhoff of CIPM will be presenting.
* Landscape-Scale Wildland Inventories/Surveys: Utah State University Methods
Steven A. Dewey and Kimberly A. Andersen
* Digital Aerial Sketch-Mapping for Early Detection and Mapping
Jason W. Karl and Mark Porter
* Stratified Random Sampling Method
Lisa J. Rew and Bruce D. Maxwell
* Adaptive Sampling Design
Timothy S. Prather
* Remote Sensing for Detection of Nonindigenous Species
Timothy S. Prather and Lawrence W. Lass
The six-week web seminar series is scheduled for January-February, 2010. There is no fee but advanced registration is required. If you would like to be notified when registration opens, please email the project coordinator at mmcfadzen[at]montana.edu.
Link
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EPA Proposes New Pesticide Labeling to Control Spray Drift and Protect Human Health
Release date: 11/04/2009
Contact Information: Dale Kemery kemery.dale[at]epa.gov
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rolled out proposed guidance for new pesticide labeling to reduce off-target spray and dust drift. The new instructions, when implemented, will improve the clarity and consistency of pesticide labels and help prevent harm from spray drift. The agency is also requesting comment on a petition to evaluate children’s exposure to pesticide drift.
“The new label statements will help reduce problems from pesticide drift,” said Steve Owens, the assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. “The new labels will carry more uniform and specific directions on restricting spray drift while giving pesticide applicators clear and workable instructions.”
The new instructions will prohibit drift that could cause adverse health or environmental effects. Also, on a pesticide-by-pesticide basis, EPA will evaluate scientific information on risk and exposure based on individual product use patterns. These assessments will help the agency determine whether no-spray buffer zones or other measures – such as restrictions on droplet or particle size, nozzle height, or weather conditions – are needed to protect people, wildlife, water resources, schools and other sensitive sites from potential harm.
In addition to the draft notice on pesticide-drift labeling, EPA is also seeking comment on a draft pesticide drift labeling interpretation document that provides guidance to state and tribal enforcement officials. A second document provides background information on pesticide drift, a description of current and planned EPA actions, a reader’s guide explaining key terms and concepts, and specific questions on which EPA is seeking input. These documents and further information are available in docket EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0628 at http://www.regulations.gov.
In a second Federal Register notice, EPA is also requesting comment on a petition filed recently by environmental and farm worker organizations. The petitioners ask EPA to evaluate children’s exposure to pesticide drift and to adopt, on an interim basis, requirements for “no-spray” buffer zones near homes, schools, day-care centers, and parks. EPA will evaluate this new petition and take whatever action may be appropriate after the evaluation is complete. For further information and to submit comments, please see docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0825 at http://www.regulations.gov.
More information: Link.
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Invasive Asian carp one flood away from Great Lakes
Jennifer Janssen
AnnArbor.com
Advocates for the Great Lakes at the National Wildlife Federation are worried that all of the work to restore the Great Lakes could come to nothing if immediate action is not taken to keep Asian carp from invading Lake Michigan.
Only a narrow floodplain lies between Asian carp in the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that leads directly into the Great Lakes. In September, researchers found the first evidence that the carp may be present in the Des Plaines dangerously far north of an electric barrier in the canal.
One flood is all it will take to merge the waters of the Des Plaines and the nearby Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal -- allowing the invasive carp direct access to the Lakes. This is not a far-fetched scenario — flooding merged the two waters in 2008 and 2007. [...]
Great Lakes advocates are urging that a barrier must be built immediately on the low, narrow strip of land between the potentially carp-infested Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Temporary fixes, including sandbags or an earthen berm are necessary to keep Des Plaines waters and carp out of the Great Lakes in the coming weeks and months.
Fortunately, Congress just approved funding and authorization for the Army Corps of Engineers to take emergency action to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species. However, that is no guarantee that a barrier will be constructed in time - before the next flood.
To learn more about the Asian carp and invasive species solutions, visit the Great Lakes Regional Center.
Read the full story at link.
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AMERICORP OPPORTUNITY starting November 16
We are looking for anyone interested in nature, conservation of natural resources, and the protection of urban woodlands. AmeriCorps is dedicated to helping local people solve pressing community problems.
Location: Arlington, VA (housing and relocation costs are not provided)
Anticipated Start Date: November 16, 2009
The time allocation for position will be approximately as follows:
1. Invasive plant removal under the immediate, direct supervision of either County staff, or the staff of partner organizations (75%)
2. Environmental rehabilitation activities, including planting, stream clean out, and stream bank stabilization (15%)
3. Training activities related to invasive plant removal, environmental rehabilitation, and local ecology (10%)
To apply: send cover letter, resume/CV, and three references to mortega[at]arlingtonva.us.
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Garlic farmer uses compost harvested from invasive plants at Carding Mill Pond
By Nancy Hershfield/Special to the Town Crier
SUDBURY, MA - While others are completing their harvesting, Sudbury resident Michael O’Connor is just beginning to get his crop in the ground. Fall is planting season for garlic, and O’Connor is planting his new garlic field off Dutton Road (the field runs along the northwest side of Carding Mill Pond). He expects to have 15,000 cloves planted by Veteran’s Day, which he hopes will result in close to a ton of garlic next July.
Under a license from the town to farm the field, O’Connor is looking to supply area gardeners and farmers with localized, acclimated, organically grown hard-neck seed garlic in a limited amount by next summer. His garlic farm, Old Sudbury Garlic Farm, plans to distribute its handcrafted garlic through local farmers markets and online.
What’s special about his farm, explains O’Connor, is its sustainable cycle of local fertilizer and farm fields. To help grow his fields, O’Connor is composting invasive plant species harvested in August from adjoining Carding Mill Pond for "good use" in his garlic beds.
Invasive weeds, like water chestnuts, duck weed (Lemna), Hydrodictyon and Elodea canadensis, have been overrunning Carding Mill Pond behind Wayside Inn for years, causing fish to die from lack of oxygen and forcing many birds and waterfowl to leave during the summer because they can’t swim through the overgrowth. For the past six summers, the Hop Brook Protection Agency (HBPA) has been spearheading a harvesting project to rid the pond of the weeds so more wildlife can return to the pond.
Harvesting Carding Mill Pond
Every summer, HBPA borrows an aquatic plant harvester and conveyor from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (GMNWR) to cut the weeds. The harvester looks like a large floating lawnmower, and has underwater blades that cut the weeds and a conveyor belt that collects the vegetation. The vegetation is then transferred onto a shore conveyor belt, which transfers the weeds into a dump truck the Sudbury Department of Public Works provides. This year the harvester took out 57.5 truckloads of vegetation from the pond (nearly half the amount compared to last year).
"There is a real beauty in using the harvested material from the mill pond as composted organic matter for the neighboring farm field," said O’Connor. "It is a sustainable cycle of local material that is inexpensive, organic, abundant and very beneficial to the soil. Along with the re-mineralization of the fields, I believe that it will dramatically boost the strength and activity of the soil web, the result of which I hope will be exceptionally nutrient dense vegetables." [...]
Read the full story at link.
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Pembroke, MA pond treatment could affect endangered species
By Steve Annear
Pembroke Mariner & Reporter
Thu Nov 05, 200
Pembroke, MA - Treatment of invasive plant growth in Oldham Pond will be delayed following the discovery of an endangered species of mussel in the pond.
The Pembroke Watershed Association received word from the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP), part of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, on Oct. 22 that the copper sulfate used to treat the invasive plants could have “short and long-term damage” on the species.
“They found the Eastern Pond Mussel, they are saying the copper sulfate can’t be used in the pond because it could effect it,” said Ray Holman, president of the PWA.
According to the NHESP, the proposed treatment would result in interference with eating, breeding, and migratory behavior and poses a risk of harming the rare mussels.
Holman said the PWA would have to come up with some other way to treat the pond, now that a copper sulfate treatment is not an option.
Aquatic Control Technology Inc., the company hired by the PWA to treat the pond, was scheduled to begin pond treatment last summer. The company had to hold off while a mussel biologist investigated the pond to see if two rare species were living there. Only one was discovered, the Eastern Pond Mussel.
The PWA will hold the $12,660 reserved for treatment, which was approved by Town Meeting voters last May.
According to Holman, they will hold onto the money until an alternative option is offered.
“Some money has already been spent for all these different things being done between Aquatic Control. We just have to wait and come up with something,” he said.
Read the story at link.
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Great Lakes get $475 million funding boost
Environmentalists laud additional federal funding
By Jerry Zremski
News Washington Bureau Chief
Updated: November 06, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Great Lakes will get an unprecedented boost in federal funding now that President Obama, almost unnoticed, has signed bipartisan legislation.
Obama approved the $475 million, one-year infusion of funding for the lakes last week when he quietly signed an annual spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs, which include his Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. [...]
The funding greatly enhances the odds that Buffalo will receive federal funding for a $60 million project to remove contaminated sediments from the Buffalo River, said Julie O’Neill, executive director of the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.
It also boosts the chances of winning local funding for a habitat rehabilitation project on the Niagara River, O’Neill said. Buffalo is in a better position than many communities in bidding for federal money for such projects because matching local funds already have been specified, she said.
The $475 million represents nearly a doubling of the previous annual federal commitment to the lakes.
In addition to funding the cleanup of contaminated sediments, the money will help to restore wetlands and other wildlife habitats and to prevent flooding. It also will be used to try to stop invasive species such as the Asian carp, which is threatening to invade Lake Michigan from the Illinois River. [...]
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the money will provide a long-term boost to the region’s economy. “Cleaning up the Great Lakes will allow the region’s fishing and tourism industry to grow, providing much-needed jobs and millions of dollars in revenue,” he said.
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, said on the House floor last week that the money was the first major federal commitment to the Great Lakes since he came to Congress in the mid-1990s.
But support for the measure was not unanimous among the region’s congressional delegation. Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, voted against the spending bill that included the Great Lakes money.
Lee said that he supported the Great Lakes effort and had signed letters lobbying for it but that he could not vote for the legislation that included the money because the $32 billion measure was 17 percent bigger than the previous year’s spending bill for the same programs.
“I’m all for supporting the environment, but this bill was spending money we didn’t have,” he said. “It was excessive in its nature.”
The Interior Department spending bill probably won’t be Lee’s only opportunity to vote for increased Great Lakes funding. In February, Obama is expected to propose a budget for the next federal fiscal year that will include another increase.
“The fact that this is just the beginning of a five-year, $5 billion commitment is a very exciting thing,” O’Neill said.
Read the story at link.
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Kudzu-eating pest found in northeast Georgia
By Sharon Dowdy
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences University of Georgia
Researchers from the University of Georgia and Dow AgroSciences have identified a kudzu-eating pest in northeast Georgia that has never been found in the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, the bug also eats legume crops, especially soybeans.
The bug has tentatively been identified as the bean plataspid (Megacopta cribraria), a native to India and China. It is pea-sized and brownish in color with a wide posterior, said Dan Suiter, an entomologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“It kind of waddles when it walks on a surface, but it flies really well,”
he said.
It’s also commonly called lablab bug and globular stink bug. Like its distant cousin the stink bug, when threatened, it releases a chemical that stinks.
Suiter and CAES diagnostician Lisa Ames first saw the pest when samples were sent to them in mid-October from UGA Cooperative Extension agents and pest control professionals in Barrow, Gwinnett and Jackson counties. Samples have since arrived from Clarke, Hall, Greene, Oconee and Walton counties.
Homeowners first reported the pest after finding large groups of the bugs lighting on their homes.
“At one home in Hoshton, Ga., we found the bugs all over the side of a lady’s house,” Suiter said. “There is a kudzu patch behind her home that provides food, and they were attracted to the light color of the siding. At this time of year, the insects are most active in the afternoon when it gets warm.”
In addition to homes, the bug is attracted to light-colored vehicles.
The week the bug samples arrived at Suiter’s lab, Joe Eger was visiting. The Dow AgroSciences field biologist has 35 years of experience studying the bean plataspid insect and has named new genera and species and identified the insect for museums across the world.
Eger’s identification was confirmed by David Rider at North Dakota State University and Tom Henry at the Smithsonian Institution.
Suiter believes the bug arrived here by accident.
“We do have the world’s busiest airport here, but we’ll never know how the bug first got here,” he said. “When it found kudzu here, it found a food source, and it doesn’t have any natural enemies here that we are aware of.”
Suiter says the pest’s populations are, for now, contained to northeast Georgia. It’s an “invasive species feeding on an invasive species.”
“We have no idea what the long-term impact on kudzu will be, but we also have to consider the fact that it feeds on crops, too,” he said. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword. It eats kudzu, which is good, but it also stinks and gets on homes. The ominous threat is that it eats soybeans and other legume crops.”
“We will be working with the University of Georgia and USDA to find the best way of dealing with this insect,” said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin. “At this time, there is not enough information to determine its current range and what its potential as a pest may be.”
Representatives of each agency met this week to form an action plan. Information has been sent to Extension agents and pest control companies across the state.
County agents are asked to look for the bug, scout kudzu patches and report any findings to Suiter. Homeowners who find the pest should call their local Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.
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Aquatic Invasive Species Vector Management: A Prevention Solution, December 2, 2009 workshop - update
If you are planning on attending the Mid-Atlantic Regional Panel of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force and Maryland Sea Grant's one-day workshop:
Aquatic Invasive Species Vector Management: A Prevention Solution, December 2, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland at the Admiral Fell Inn, note that the special conference hotel rate ends November 8. If you are thinking of attending, it would be a good idea to make a reservation before Sunday November 8.
For registration and full details visit: http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/vectorworkshop/
Hope to see you there, further details below.
Regards,
Fredrika Moser and Jonathan McKnight
Workshop Details
This one-day event will bring regional attention to aquatic invasive species introduction pathways.
The Mid-Atlantic region has an important and timely opportunity to move beyond managing individual species and toward a more holistic approach – managing the pathways or vectors for invasions. The workshop will focus on preventing the introduction of non-native aquatic species through vector management. The workshop outcome will provide recommendations on strategies states, local governments, NGOs, legislatures, the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Mid-Atlantic Panel, and other groups and individuals can pursue to manage vectors and prevent unwanted introductions of non-native species.
Please come to this workshop ready to participate and contribute to developing recommendations for advancing invasive species vector research and management.
See you there!
Workshop steering committee: Jonathan McKnight (MD DNR), Fredrika Moser (MDSG), Lisa Moss (USFWS), Read Porter (ELI), Greg Ruiz (SERC) and Mario Tamburri (UMCES, ACT).
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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Week of Jun 8, 2009
Updated June 14
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N.Y. setting traps for invasive beetles
Dave Henderson, Ithaca Journal
New York is targeting another potential invasive species, a tree-eating beetle named the Emerald Ash Borer.
The Department of Environmental Conservation will be deploying the purple prism traps in treelines throughout the state in an attempt to trap the beetles. There will also be a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species.
The main route that enables this insect, as well as other invasive species, to spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That is why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source (http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/28722.html).
New York has more than 900 million ash trees. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many urban trees.
DEC's approach to monitoring for the insect is twofold: First, traps to attract and catch the EAB are being hung in ash trees within a 100-mile radius from previously documented EAB locations in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, and central Pennsylvania.
This month traps will be placed in Western New York areas including Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Erie, Wyoming, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Livingston and Monroe counties, and in Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Clinton counties along our northern border.
The DEC will also be monitoring "high-risk sites" such as campgrounds, major highway corridors, wood industries and locations with large ash populations. Nearly 6,000 traps will be deployed.
The bright purple, prism-shaped EAB traps are made of sticky-coated corrugated plastic and contain scented lures. After 45 days, the traps will be inspected and samples collected. After 90 days, the traps will be collected and removed from the trees.
Read the full article at link.
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NYSDEC to track emerald ash borer
Adirondack Almanac
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is setting baited traps in ash trees across upstate New York in an effort to search for possible infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a tree-killing beetle. You will soon be seeing the purple prism traps deployed in treelines throughout New York, with a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species, including several Adirondack counties.
Research has shown that a main way EAB, as well as other invasive species, spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That's why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source.
According to the DEC, New York has more than 900 million ash trees, representing about 7 percent of all trees in the state, and all are at risk should EAB become established. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many local elms.
Read the full story at link
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Invasive red algae causes snarls for South Carolina shrimpers
The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette
Biologists are monitoring red algae that has popped up around the Lowcountry, including in Beaufort County, and will be checking its possible spread to other parts of the South Carolina coast.
The seaweed, known as gracilaria, is growing quickly in the Charleston Harbor, said David Whitaker, a biologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
Fishermen traveling the coast have heard that shrimping nets have been tangled in and destroyed by the invasive plant.
"It's pretty bad from Charleston to Rockville," said Donald Jordan of Georgetown County, who owns the shrimp boat, Kelly Ann. "From Charleston on south is where it seems to be worse. I heard it was tearing some nets up."
Read the full story at link.
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Brazilian peppers devour carbon dioxide, study finds
DOUG SWORD, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
SARASOTA - No one is suggesting that "Save the Brazilian Pepper" societies should start cropping up, but it turns out there is more to the noxious, invasive plant than its good looks.
Long decried as a weedy kin to poison ivy and a threatener of endangered species, the fast-growing pepper literally sucks carbon out of the atmosphere, according to a study.
Because of concerns over climate change, reducing the carbon footprint for a person or a community has become a cause celebre in environmental circles, perhaps positioning the pepper tree for a kinder public image.
But probably not.
The pepper has taken over an estimated 1 million acres, mainly in Florida's southern half. It endangers wildlife by replacing habitat that supports hundreds of species of birds while supporting only a handful itself. It costs governments and businesses millions to remove it from shorelines, highway medians and utility lines. And it is one of the factors stalling Everglades restoration.
Whatever benefit the plant may provide when it comes to carbon, the "negatives far outweigh the positives," said Kenneth Langeland, a professor at the University of Florida's Center for Aquatic and Invasive Species.
The new research was conducted by New College professor Meg Lowman in conjunction with Colorado State University.
Lowman acknowledges that the findings run counter to the generally murderous view toward the pepper.
"I'm not recommending any policy as a scientist. I'm just presenting the facts," she said. And it appears the fact is that the pepper is "an amazing storer of carbon."
Read the full article at link.
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Japanese knotweed replacing purple loosestrife in New Hampshire
By CHELSEA CONABOY, Concord Monitor
JAPANESE KNOTWEED is replacing purple loosestrife as one of the most pervasive invasive species in the state. Knotweed came to the United States from Japan in the 1800s to be used mostly as a landscaping plant. It grows in thick clusters, similar to bamboo, and has no known predators here.
Unlike loosestrife, a pretty but insidious plant that can choke wetlands if left unchecked, there is no known biological means of controlling knotweed. For more than 10 years, the state has been battling loosestrife by shipping in a kind of beetle that eats the plant, weakening it and controlling its spread.
Doug Cygan, invasive species coordinator with the Department of Agriculture, said that plant is now under control, but the calls to his office regarding knotweed are increasing.
So far, Cygan said, there's no good biological means of controlling knotweed. He recommends using herbicide.
"Do not mow it," he said.
Mowing along highways has largely contributed to the spread of the plant. Each plant has several hundred nodes, or joints. When the plant is chopped up by a lawnmower, each node can sprout into a new plant. Cygan said the state has stopped mowing areas of knotweed and is removing populations of the plant that occur in areas of road construction.
For more information about controlling knotweed, call Cygan at 271-3488.
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Position Announcement
Position: Invasive Plants Coordinator
Location: University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia USA
Appointment: Grant-funded full-time position (salary $28,716 - $33,023 with benefits). The position is currently funded for one year with renewal contingent upon availability of continuing grant funds and satisfactory progress of employee
Available: Closing date for receipt of applications is June 26, 2009. Position could be available as early as July 15, 2009.
Position Description: This position will be the Invasive Plants Coordinator for the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (http://www.bugwood.org/) at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus.
Interested persons must complete official online University application at:
https://www.ugajobsearch.com/; Select Search Postings, Enter Position Number:
20090604.
Printable version of this e-mail at: http://www.bugwood.org/position.pdf
Please direct any and all questions to:
Dr. G. Keith Douce, Dr. David J. Moorhead or Chuck Bargeron
Phone: 229-386-3298
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
Fax: 229-386-3352
The University of Georgia, Tifton GA
Email: cbargero@uga.edu
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Connecticut's Moosup Pond being treated for slimy, invasive weed
By EMILY GROVES, Norwich Bulletin
Plainfield, Conn. — For more than six years, a slimy, green invasive species has been growing in Moosup Pond, sticking to swimmers, boats and fishing lines.
“It will take over the entire pond if it’s not dealt with,” Jeff Megin, president of the Moosup Pond Association, said of the weed known as Variable-Leaf Watermilfoil.
But Monday will mark the beginning of the end of the weeds’ growth. The pond will be treated with a herbicide to kill the weeds.
Funded by a mix of town and grant funds, the treatment, which will be conducted by Aquatic Control Technology Inc. of Sutton, Mass., will cost $15,000.
First Selectman Paul Sweet said the town had budgeted $5,000 for the procedure in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and the additional costs will be paid for by a $5,000 state Department of Environmental Protection grant and $5,000 from the town’s contingency fund. The town had planned to use another state DEP grant for the treatment, but the money was rescinded last month.
Megin said the treatment needs to be done in early June, and without the additional town funds, they would have had to wait until next year.
The pond will be closed Monday during treatment, but will reopen for fishing, swimming and boating Tuesday, Megin said. He said the herbicide, which is granulated pellets designed to kill the weeds at the root, will not harm the pond’s fish.
Megin said the only lasting effect of the treatment is that the water cannot be used for irrigation until further notice.
Megin said the treatment is 70 to 90 percent effective, but the town will likely need to do another smaller scale treatment in two years, to mop up any remaining weeds.
Read the full story at link.
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Mass. students tackle invading pepperweed
Mish Michaels, TV38
Ever heard of Pepperweed? If so, you have trouble. This foreign invader or invasive species came in over the years with other seeds from Europe and Asia. Now these weeds are taking up residence in the Northeast, locally choking out native plants in salt marshes on the North Shore.
"This is one of the northern most points where Pepperweed is being found," said Liz Duff, Mass Audubon's Education Coordinator. I met up with Liz and several students from the Sparhawk School in Salisbury to tackle thick patches of Pepperweed, one root at a time.
"Pepperweed is pretty easy to recognize. It grows on the upper edge of a salt marsh and is visible from the road. The tall, skinny plant grows 1 to 3 feet tall and has alternating leaves. The roots smell like horseradish. The seeds travel in the tides and can spread rapidly that way," Liz explained to me and the students. "Our job is to pull the plants and our aim is to get as much of the root out as possible."
This weeding can be done from May to July before the plants flower. The students went to work -- yes, me too -- pulling and bagging the invaders. Last year, volunteers removed 3,000 pounds of Pepperweed. All of it incinerated to prevent any further spread.
Pepperweed is a threat to biodiversity and wetland habitats.
"The invasive plants are also a threat to agricultural lands which is another economic factor," stated Liz. "It's only been the past decade that we have been seeing it here in the Great Marsh region stretching from Salisbury down to Gloucester."
The students were enthusiastic and eager to change the landscape. "You're out in the field pulling the weeds and feeling like you are actually doing something great," said Sparhawk student Allison Lord. "It just shows that the average person can really make a difference," added Patrick O'Connell.
"Invasives like Pepperweed are threatening biodiversity of our native ecosystems. We need to fight back," concluded Liz. If you would like to volunteer, there are plenty of opportunities to tackle invasive species including Pepperweed.
Great Marsh Pepperweed Eradication Project
Read the story and watch the video at link.
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Update of Noxious Weed Regulations
June 9, 2009
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing to make several changes to the regulations governing the importation and interstate movement of noxious weeds. We would add definitions of terms used in the regulations, add details regarding the process of applying for the permits used to import or move noxious weeds, add a requirement for the treatment of niger seed and add provisions for petitioning to add a taxon to or remove a taxon from the noxious weed lists. These changes would update the regulations to reflect current statutory authority and program operations and improve the effectiveness of the regulations.
Read the full story at link.
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Emerald Ash Borer Found in Westmoreland County, PA; Quarantine Imposed
HARRISBURG, Pa., June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been found in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, bringing to seven the number of counties where the ash tree-destroying pest has been identified, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced today.
The invasive beetle was first detected in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007 in Butler County, and subsequently was found in Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin counties. To help slow the spread of the beetle, the state-imposed quarantine for those six counties is being expanded to include Westmoreland County.
State and federal Emerald Ash Borer quarantines restrict the movement from the quarantine area of ash nursery stock, green lumber and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, and all wood chips.
This summer, 20 crews -- 15 in Western Pennsylvania, one in Mifflin County, and four in the eastern part of the state -- and two regional coordinators have been deployed to assess the spread of the beetle. The Westmoreland County crew detected the new infestation.
"Our survey crews are assessing the extent of the infestation in Westmoreland County and surrounding areas," said Wolff. "We remind consumers to heed the quarantine when traveling and camping this spring and summer -- not just in the quarantined areas but throughout Pennsylvania -- to prevent any further spread of the beetle."
Due to the difficulty in distinguishing between species of hardwood firewood, all hardwood firewood -- including ash, oak, maple and hickory -- are considered quarantined.
Read the full story at link.
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Vermont lake group considers fees to fund treatment
By Tom Mitchell, RutlandHerald.com
CASTLETON — A private group is looking into the possible creation of a special services district on Lake Bomoseen that could impose fees on docks and boats to help pay for a herbicide to kill Eurasian water milfoil."
There is … a proposal by the water-quality committee of the LBA to seek to establish the lake as a separate specials service district," Michael Rosen, president of the Lake Bomoseen Association, said recently.
The plan or model now being presented by the water-quality committee to LBA directors involves in part the use of herbicides to kill Eurasian water milfoil, Rosen said. Creation of the services district would allow the body to charge fees that could support a treatment, Rosen said. Creation of a district would require approval by the Legislature, he added.
Funds raised by formation of such a district could also be used to pay for other long-term methods of managing the weed problem in the lake and other nuisances like zebra mussels that already invade the lake, Rosen said.
Bonding, grants and donations could help finance management projects, officials said. "Unfortunately, it appears the (Eurasian water) milfoil is fairly extensive, depending on the season and summer, year and weather," Rosen said.
LBA has begun looking at a special service district on Lake George as an example of what could be done on Bomoseen, he said.
A commission on the lake levies a $25 fee on docks for example, Barbara Woodard, an LBA director, said. The district also imposes fees for stickers on boats using the lake, she said. "You'd pick one up if you were going out for the day," Woodard said. The funds are used to pay for marine patrols, she said.
Read the full storyh at link.
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Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers
The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers of all ages for a tree girdling event to help native plants on Sat. June 17 from 9:00 - 12:00. For more information, go to http://www.albanypinebush.org/getting_involved/volunteer_opportunities.htm and click on volunteer opportunities in the right hand column -or - sign up with bbemis@nycap.rr.com
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Online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass
To all land stewards and those concerned about invasive species,
Just wanted to let you know that an online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass locations is now up and operating on DNR's WLBG website:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/WLBG/index.asp, on the Get Involved page. Information that comes in via this form (plus phone calls, FAX and email) will be ground-truthed and shared with the folks at the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of
Georgia, for the WeedsUS mapping effort. Over the course of this summer, we will be adding already reported sites to a master map, which will be posted both at WeedsUS and the DNR site.
Please make use of this method of reporting WLBG sites! And let me know of any difficulties you have with the form, or suggestions you may have for improving it.
Thank you,
Kerrie L. Kyde
Habitat Ecologist/ Invasive Plant Specialist
Wildlife and Heritage Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
11960 Clopper Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
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N.Y. setting traps for invasive beetles
Dave Henderson, Ithaca Journal
New York is targeting another potential invasive species, a tree-eating beetle named the Emerald Ash Borer.
The Department of Environmental Conservation will be deploying the purple prism traps in treelines throughout the state in an attempt to trap the beetles. There will also be a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species.The main route that enables this insect, as well as other invasive species, to spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That is why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source (http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/28722.html).
New York has more than 900 million ash trees. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many urban trees.
DEC's approach to monitoring for the insect is twofold: First, traps to attract and catch the EAB are being hung in ash trees within a 100-mile radius from previously documented EAB locations in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, and central Pennsylvania.
This month traps will be placed in Western New York areas including Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Erie, Wyoming, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Livingston and Monroe counties, and in Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Clinton counties along our northern border.
The DEC will also be monitoring "high-risk sites" such as campgrounds, major highway corridors, wood industries and locations with large ash populations. Nearly 6,000 traps will be deployed.
The bright purple, prism-shaped EAB traps are made of sticky-coated corrugated plastic and contain scented lures. After 45 days, the traps will be inspected and samples collected. After 90 days, the traps will be collected and removed from the trees.
Read the full article at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
NYSDEC to track emerald ash borer
Adirondack Almanac
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is setting baited traps in ash trees across upstate New York in an effort to search for possible infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a tree-killing beetle. You will soon be seeing the purple prism traps deployed in treelines throughout New York, with a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species, including several Adirondack counties.
Research has shown that a main way EAB, as well as other invasive species, spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That's why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source.
According to the DEC, New York has more than 900 million ash trees, representing about 7 percent of all trees in the state, and all are at risk should EAB become established. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many local elms.
Read the full story at link
--------------------------------------------------------
Invasive red algae causes snarls for South Carolina shrimpers
The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette
Biologists are monitoring red algae that has popped up around the Lowcountry, including in Beaufort County, and will be checking its possible spread to other parts of the South Carolina coast.
The seaweed, known as gracilaria, is growing quickly in the Charleston Harbor, said David Whitaker, a biologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
Fishermen traveling the coast have heard that shrimping nets have been tangled in and destroyed by the invasive plant.
"It's pretty bad from Charleston to Rockville," said Donald Jordan of Georgetown County, who owns the shrimp boat, Kelly Ann. "From Charleston on south is where it seems to be worse. I heard it was tearing some nets up."
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Brazilian peppers devour carbon dioxide, study finds
DOUG SWORD, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
SARASOTA - No one is suggesting that "Save the Brazilian Pepper" societies should start cropping up, but it turns out there is more to the noxious, invasive plant than its good looks.
Long decried as a weedy kin to poison ivy and a threatener of endangered species, the fast-growing pepper literally sucks carbon out of the atmosphere, according to a study.
Because of concerns over climate change, reducing the carbon footprint for a person or a community has become a cause celebre in environmental circles, perhaps positioning the pepper tree for a kinder public image.
But probably not.
The pepper has taken over an estimated 1 million acres, mainly in Florida's southern half. It endangers wildlife by replacing habitat that supports hundreds of species of birds while supporting only a handful itself. It costs governments and businesses millions to remove it from shorelines, highway medians and utility lines. And it is one of the factors stalling Everglades restoration.
Whatever benefit the plant may provide when it comes to carbon, the "negatives far outweigh the positives," said Kenneth Langeland, a professor at the University of Florida's Center for Aquatic and Invasive Species.
The new research was conducted by New College professor Meg Lowman in conjunction with Colorado State University.
Lowman acknowledges that the findings run counter to the generally murderous view toward the pepper.
"I'm not recommending any policy as a scientist. I'm just presenting the facts," she said. And it appears the fact is that the pepper is "an amazing storer of carbon."
Read the full article at link.
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Japanese knotweed replacing purple loosestrife in New Hampshire
By CHELSEA CONABOY, Concord Monitor
JAPANESE KNOTWEED is replacing purple loosestrife as one of the most pervasive invasive species in the state. Knotweed came to the United States from Japan in the 1800s to be used mostly as a landscaping plant. It grows in thick clusters, similar to bamboo, and has no known predators here.
Unlike loosestrife, a pretty but insidious plant that can choke wetlands if left unchecked, there is no known biological means of controlling knotweed. For more than 10 years, the state has been battling loosestrife by shipping in a kind of beetle that eats the plant, weakening it and controlling its spread.
Doug Cygan, invasive species coordinator with the Department of Agriculture, said that plant is now under control, but the calls to his office regarding knotweed are increasing.
So far, Cygan said, there's no good biological means of controlling knotweed. He recommends using herbicide.
"Do not mow it," he said.
Mowing along highways has largely contributed to the spread of the plant. Each plant has several hundred nodes, or joints. When the plant is chopped up by a lawnmower, each node can sprout into a new plant. Cygan said the state has stopped mowing areas of knotweed and is removing populations of the plant that occur in areas of road construction.
For more information about controlling knotweed, call Cygan at 271-3488.
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Position Announcement
Position: Invasive Plants Coordinator
Location: University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia USA
Appointment: Grant-funded full-time position (salary $28,716 - $33,023 with benefits). The position is currently funded for one year with renewal contingent upon availability of continuing grant funds and satisfactory progress of employee
Available: Closing date for receipt of applications is June 26, 2009. Position could be available as early as July 15, 2009.
Position Description: This position will be the Invasive Plants Coordinator for the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (http://www.bugwood.org/) at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus.
Interested persons must complete official online University application at:
https://www.ugajobsearch.com/; Select Search Postings, Enter Position Number:
20090604.
Printable version of this e-mail at: http://www.bugwood.org/position.pdf
Please direct any and all questions to:
Dr. G. Keith Douce, Dr. David J. Moorhead or Chuck Bargeron
Phone: 229-386-3298
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
Fax: 229-386-3352
The University of Georgia, Tifton GA
Email: cbargero@uga.edu
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Connecticut's Moosup Pond being treated for slimy, invasive weed
By EMILY GROVES, Norwich Bulletin
Plainfield, Conn. — For more than six years, a slimy, green invasive species has been growing in Moosup Pond, sticking to swimmers, boats and fishing lines.
“It will take over the entire pond if it’s not dealt with,” Jeff Megin, president of the Moosup Pond Association, said of the weed known as Variable-Leaf Watermilfoil.
But Monday will mark the beginning of the end of the weeds’ growth. The pond will be treated with a herbicide to kill the weeds.
Funded by a mix of town and grant funds, the treatment, which will be conducted by Aquatic Control Technology Inc. of Sutton, Mass., will cost $15,000.
First Selectman Paul Sweet said the town had budgeted $5,000 for the procedure in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and the additional costs will be paid for by a $5,000 state Department of Environmental Protection grant and $5,000 from the town’s contingency fund. The town had planned to use another state DEP grant for the treatment, but the money was rescinded last month.
Megin said the treatment needs to be done in early June, and without the additional town funds, they would have had to wait until next year.
The pond will be closed Monday during treatment, but will reopen for fishing, swimming and boating Tuesday, Megin said. He said the herbicide, which is granulated pellets designed to kill the weeds at the root, will not harm the pond’s fish.
Megin said the only lasting effect of the treatment is that the water cannot be used for irrigation until further notice.
Megin said the treatment is 70 to 90 percent effective, but the town will likely need to do another smaller scale treatment in two years, to mop up any remaining weeds.
Read the full story at link.
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Mass. students tackle invading pepperweed
Mish Michaels, TV38
Ever heard of Pepperweed? If so, you have trouble. This foreign invader or invasive species came in over the years with other seeds from Europe and Asia. Now these weeds are taking up residence in the Northeast, locally choking out native plants in salt marshes on the North Shore."This is one of the northern most points where Pepperweed is being found," said Liz Duff, Mass Audubon's Education Coordinator. I met up with Liz and several students from the Sparhawk School in Salisbury to tackle thick patches of Pepperweed, one root at a time.
"Pepperweed is pretty easy to recognize. It grows on the upper edge of a salt marsh and is visible from the road. The tall, skinny plant grows 1 to 3 feet tall and has alternating leaves. The roots smell like horseradish. The seeds travel in the tides and can spread rapidly that way," Liz explained to me and the students. "Our job is to pull the plants and our aim is to get as much of the root out as possible."
This weeding can be done from May to July before the plants flower. The students went to work -- yes, me too -- pulling and bagging the invaders. Last year, volunteers removed 3,000 pounds of Pepperweed. All of it incinerated to prevent any further spread.
Pepperweed is a threat to biodiversity and wetland habitats.
"The invasive plants are also a threat to agricultural lands which is another economic factor," stated Liz. "It's only been the past decade that we have been seeing it here in the Great Marsh region stretching from Salisbury down to Gloucester."
The students were enthusiastic and eager to change the landscape. "You're out in the field pulling the weeds and feeling like you are actually doing something great," said Sparhawk student Allison Lord. "It just shows that the average person can really make a difference," added Patrick O'Connell.
"Invasives like Pepperweed are threatening biodiversity of our native ecosystems. We need to fight back," concluded Liz. If you would like to volunteer, there are plenty of opportunities to tackle invasive species including Pepperweed.
Great Marsh Pepperweed Eradication Project
Read the story and watch the video at link.
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Update of Noxious Weed Regulations
June 9, 2009
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing to make several changes to the regulations governing the importation and interstate movement of noxious weeds. We would add definitions of terms used in the regulations, add details regarding the process of applying for the permits used to import or move noxious weeds, add a requirement for the treatment of niger seed and add provisions for petitioning to add a taxon to or remove a taxon from the noxious weed lists. These changes would update the regulations to reflect current statutory authority and program operations and improve the effectiveness of the regulations.
Read the full story at link.
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Emerald Ash Borer Found in Westmoreland County, PA; Quarantine Imposed
HARRISBURG, Pa., June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been found in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, bringing to seven the number of counties where the ash tree-destroying pest has been identified, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced today.
The invasive beetle was first detected in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007 in Butler County, and subsequently was found in Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin counties. To help slow the spread of the beetle, the state-imposed quarantine for those six counties is being expanded to include Westmoreland County.
State and federal Emerald Ash Borer quarantines restrict the movement from the quarantine area of ash nursery stock, green lumber and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, and all wood chips.
This summer, 20 crews -- 15 in Western Pennsylvania, one in Mifflin County, and four in the eastern part of the state -- and two regional coordinators have been deployed to assess the spread of the beetle. The Westmoreland County crew detected the new infestation.
"Our survey crews are assessing the extent of the infestation in Westmoreland County and surrounding areas," said Wolff. "We remind consumers to heed the quarantine when traveling and camping this spring and summer -- not just in the quarantined areas but throughout Pennsylvania -- to prevent any further spread of the beetle."
Due to the difficulty in distinguishing between species of hardwood firewood, all hardwood firewood -- including ash, oak, maple and hickory -- are considered quarantined.
Read the full story at link.
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Vermont lake group considers fees to fund treatment
By Tom Mitchell, RutlandHerald.com
CASTLETON — A private group is looking into the possible creation of a special services district on Lake Bomoseen that could impose fees on docks and boats to help pay for a herbicide to kill Eurasian water milfoil."
There is … a proposal by the water-quality committee of the LBA to seek to establish the lake as a separate specials service district," Michael Rosen, president of the Lake Bomoseen Association, said recently.
The plan or model now being presented by the water-quality committee to LBA directors involves in part the use of herbicides to kill Eurasian water milfoil, Rosen said. Creation of the services district would allow the body to charge fees that could support a treatment, Rosen said. Creation of a district would require approval by the Legislature, he added.
Funds raised by formation of such a district could also be used to pay for other long-term methods of managing the weed problem in the lake and other nuisances like zebra mussels that already invade the lake, Rosen said.
Bonding, grants and donations could help finance management projects, officials said. "Unfortunately, it appears the (Eurasian water) milfoil is fairly extensive, depending on the season and summer, year and weather," Rosen said.
LBA has begun looking at a special service district on Lake George as an example of what could be done on Bomoseen, he said.
A commission on the lake levies a $25 fee on docks for example, Barbara Woodard, an LBA director, said. The district also imposes fees for stickers on boats using the lake, she said. "You'd pick one up if you were going out for the day," Woodard said. The funds are used to pay for marine patrols, she said.
Read the full storyh at link.
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Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers
The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers of all ages for a tree girdling event to help native plants on Sat. June 17 from 9:00 - 12:00. For more information, go to http://www.albanypinebush.org/getting_involved/volunteer_opportunities.htm and click on volunteer opportunities in the right hand column -or - sign up with bbemis@nycap.rr.com
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Online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass
To all land stewards and those concerned about invasive species,
Just wanted to let you know that an online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass locations is now up and operating on DNR's WLBG website:
http://www.dnr.
Georgia, for the WeedsUS mapping effort. Over the course of this summer, we will be adding already reported sites to a master map, which will be posted both at WeedsUS and the DNR site.
Please make use of this method of reporting WLBG sites! And let me know of any difficulties you have with the form, or suggestions you may have for improving it.
Thank you,
Kerrie L. Kyde
Habitat Ecologist/ Invasive Plant Specialist
Wildlife and Heritage Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
11960 Clopper Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
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