The Norway Maple: New York's Ultimate Weed
Peak season for most foliage may be past but now it's time to take notice of this invasive tree, writes environmentalist David Bedell.
November is leaf season in New York state, and we are all understandably busy with the leaves at our feet. With peak foliage long past, this isn't normally time to take stock of the leaves still in the trees. This week in particular, though, is just right for looking up: What you see will illustrate very clearly how much one invasive tree is impacting our community.
The Norway maple is one of New York's ultimate weeds. Imported from Europe, it is a large tree whose leaves are very similar to the native sugar maple. The Norway maple has, unfortunately, a few characteristics which make it invasive -- destroying native ecosystems, causing trouble in yards and gardens, and creating visual blight. The tree's dense canopy shades out virtually all other plants and its roots secrete chemicals that inhibit the growth of competitors. It spreads prolifically to form pure stands that are completely opague. If you have a spot in your lawn where grass will not grow, there is a good chance the Norway maple growing overhead is responsible. The dense canopy blocks views that a native tree's more open canopy would preserve. And most insidious, the diversity and function of our local natural places is replaced with a sterile monotony...
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Maryland investigating invasive Deep Creek Lake aquatic plant
Associated Press
OAKLAND — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday it is taking a closer look at an invasive aquatic plant in Deep Creek Lake that some area residents say could strangle the boating opportunities that make the mountain reservoir a tourist magnet.
Agency officials said at a public meeting that they will assess the distribution of Eurasian water milfoil across the entire lake over the next year and advise property owners on how to limit its effects.
“We realize that there’s been a lot of concern over the last year. People are complaining that it’s exploding over the lake,” said Bruce D. Michael, director of resource assessment.
The weed, called EWM for short, is a green, leafy plant with long, slender stalks. It grows in water up to 20 feet deep and forms dense mats that can entangle swimmers and hinder boats. It first arrived in Wisconsin in the 1960s and has become a nuisance nationwide.
Michael said EWM is found in virtually all Maryland lakes and the Chesapeake Bay but it only becomes a problem when it overruns other types of aquatic vegetation.
When that happens, Michael said, “there is no easy answer. We’re not going to be able to eradicate it.”
Some states have used herbicides to control EWM, and Wisconsin is experimenting with a bug, the milfoil weevil, that eats it...
Michael said a survey of six coves — a relatively small number — showed no expansion of EWM from 2010 to 2011.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Ballast Regulations Pass U.S. House Vote
By Sarah Kellogg
The U.S. House approved legislation today that would establish a national standard for cleaning ship ballast water to kill aquatic invasive species, but environmentalists say the legislation is too weak to prevent new foreign species from invading the Great Lakes.
The ballast water language was included in a measure that would authorize the U.S. Coast Guard through 2014, providing some $26 billion dollars in funding to keep the service afloat over the next three years. The legislation, which was passed on a voice vote, now moves to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
New Ballast Rule Would Override Stricter Regulations
The ballast water provision would override stricter tribal, state and federal regulations, allowing ships on the lakes to comply with a single national standard rather than having to accommodate a patchwork of more than two dozen tribal and state rules as they move through the Great Lakes waters. Enactment of this legislation would preempt efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard to impose tougher national ballast water rules.
Under the bill, the federal government would adopt the International Maritime Organization's proposed standard, which would require vessel operators to install technology to limit the number of live organisms in their ballast water.
Read the full story at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
Showing posts with label Eurasian watermilfoil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurasian watermilfoil. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, December 14, 2009
Week of December 14, 2009
Updated 12/17
--------------------------------------------------------
Moreau, NY tackles threat posed by invasive plant species
By PAUL POST, The Saratogian
MOREAU, NY — A local environmental group is taking steps to control invasive plant species that it says threaten habitat for birds and other wildlife.
The Moreau Conservation Advisory Council hopes to employ strategies ranging from education to eradication.
For example, the town Planning Board could urge developers not to landscape with harmful plants, while the town Highway Department could remove invasive plants found along local roads.
“It’s a huge problem not only locally, but statewide and nationwide,” council Secretary Ramona Bearor said. “It affects everything — birds, insects and animals that depend on native plants in some way.”
Specifically, she cited three types of invasive species that are causing problems.
One is Japanese knotweed, sometimes called “American bamboo.” Found in the wild, it spreads rapidly. One place it’s taking over is along the Betar Bikeway bordering the Hudson River in South Glens Falls.
Japanese barberry, often used by developers in housing development common areas, is another invasive species, along with the popular burning bush. Each plant produces thousands of seeds that birds eat and spread in their droppings. Seeds quickly take root and force out existing vegetation, changing soil composition in the process. [...]
Bearor said Moreau is the first town in Saratoga County to take a proactive approach in controlling the invasive plant species. The nine-member council was first organized last spring and appointed by the Town Board, as called for in the town’s master plan. [...]
Read the full article at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Why the delay on rules halting invasive species?
Sheboyganpress.com
The wheels of government grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small. The wheels of the U.S. Coast Guard apparently just grind slowly.
More than 20 years after the first zebra mussels found their way into the Great Lakes in the belly of ocean-going tankers, the Coast Guard has come up with regulations to deal with such non-native aquatic life.
But it will be nearly six years before the rules take full effect, and some ships may not have to comply with them until 2021.
The timetable set by the Coast Guard calls for feasibility studies to be performed prior to the rules taking effect.
But we've known for some time now how the problem began.
Zebra mussels, and many of the more than 180 other invasive species that found their way into the Great Lakes in the last two decades, arrived here in the ballast water that the tankers take in for stability when traveling on open water and that is later discharged when they arrive. [...]
The frustrating thing for Wisconsin and other states bordering the Great Lakes is that the call went out years ago for treatment or cleansing of ballast water in order to kill non-native plant and animal life before it is discharged.
But the Coast Guard dragged its feet and there was little pressure put on the agency by Congress to take action. This forced Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states to come up with their own rules in the interim when it would have been much more effective to have a national standard that all ships would have to meet.
Congress must put pressure on the Coast Guard to step up the pace on effective rules to guard against further damage to the Great Lakes.
Waiting even another two years is too long. Strict rules against invasive species must be in place no later than 2012.
Read the editorial a link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Update on DEC's wild boar war in Central New York: They're still out there and moving around
By David Figura/The Post-Standard
In his office, Moravia businessman Andy Boos proudly displays the head mount of the 320-pound black Russian boar he shot three years ago on his property in Spafford.
“I was out deer hunting at the time and this animal came running through the bushes,” he said. “It sounded like a Mack truck. It appeared about 80 yards away at a full run. I took one shot with a handgun (a Thompson Contender 308) and he came down in a pile.”
It’s the kind of story that makes some state Department of Environmental Conservation officials and property owners in the Scott/Spafford area grimace.
In the past few years, the area has been deluged with out-of-towners calling and stopping by to see where they can hunt wild boar. Most of the property in the area has been posted by farmers and other property owners, and trespassing has been a real problem, some farmers said.
“Personally, I think it’s highly overrated,” said John Wanish, owner of J. Dubs Gas and Grub convenience store, along Route 41 in the town of Scott. Nevertheless, the store’s bulletin board has several pictures of wild hogs shot by locals in recent years.
“I’ve had them (hunters) come and stop by the store as far away is Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York City,” he said. “Apparently, there must be a Web site on it or something.”
The DEC has been actively involved the past several years in attempts to clear the invasive species off the area landscape. The animals are believed to have escaped from a private pay-to-hunt game farm nearly a decade ago and are spreading.
The state’s position, as reflected in this year’s DEC hunting and trapping guide is that feral swine are a harmful, invasive species and need to be eradicated. For the past two years, local DEC officials have been trapping the animals at undisclosed private and public properties.
While casual or “opportunistic” shooting of individual boars by, for example, deer hunters isn’t discouraged, local DEC officials are standing by previous statements that systematic hunting — or pursuit — of groups of the animals tends to spread them and make their populations more vigorous.
Is the DEC, which is working with other agencies such as the Cortland Soil and Water District and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the issue, winning the wild boar war? Evidently not, said many local residents who were interviewed in recent weeks. Many said it’s time to call off the battle and stop spending state money on the effort. [...]
This year’s DEC hunting guide for the first time (page 20) notes their presence locally and in other parts of the state, and reminds hunters that all they need is a license that’s valid for hunting small game to shoot feral pigs.
They’re considered “unprotected wildlife.” There’s no season, no take limits or time-of-day restrictions. General hunting rules, such as the distance one can discharge a firearm from a building, still apply. (For more, see pages 16-17 of the DEC hunting guide). [...]
What’s the problem with wild pigs?
DEC officials say they are capable of wreaking havoc on plant life, native animal species and water quality in wetlands and streams, in addition to causing extensive crop damage and carrying various diseases transmissable to wildlife. If you’ve seen or shot a wild boar, contact the DEC at mlputnam[at]gw.dec.state.ny.us or call 607-753-3095, ext. 296.
Are they dangerous to humans?
Like domestic pigs, females are very protective of their young. The state Department of Conservation only has one report locally, though, of a man being attacked by a wild boar. Greg Piercey, formerly of Scott (now living in Kentucky), was building a deer hunting treestand in 2006 when he notice that Red, his golden retriever, had “gotten into it” with a wild boar piglet, according to Piercey’s ex-wife, Kathy. Piercey got down from the tree and started beating the sow with a piece of wood. A piglet ran up to Piercey, “shredded his pants” and bit him on the leg. “He had to have rabies shots,” she said.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
The Exotic Menace
Non-native species invade land, water
By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Environment Writer
news-journalonline.com
A growing worldwide trade in exotic plants and animals, fueled by a fascination with the rare and beautiful, often wreaks havoc on Florida's native plants and animals and costs the nation billions each year.
"America has a love affair with exotic species, but unfortunately it has a dark side," said Don Schmitz, a research program manager with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Go down to Miami International Airport. It's amazing what comes in on a daily basis from overseas."
The list includes tropical flowers, colorful fish, scorpions and spitting cobras.
Though the imports can start harmlessly as pretty plants or cool pets, far too many wind up in the wild, becoming a growing exotic menace that some say is the single biggest threat to the nation's protected species.
Many scientists consider Florida ground zero in the invasion with more exotic imports arriving daily and more protected species at risk than anywhere else except Hawaii. Hundreds of nonnative species flourish in the wild.
"In a decade or two, the ecology of the state of Florida is not going to be what we've known all our lives," said Herky Huffman of Enterprise, a former wildlife commissioner. "It's going to be changed by all these exotic species."
FLORIDA THE POSTER CHILD
People have long traded in goods such as seeds, plants and animals. But an explosion in global trade and Internet sales triggered a more rapid and prolific exchange. Overall, more than 50,000 species of plants, animals and microbes have been introduced to the United States.
Tom Jackson, an exotic species specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Florida, calls it "the great experiment."
"We're moving a staggering number of (species) from disparate places to our lands, and sometimes waters, at a speed never before accomplished," Jackson said. And much of it happens with little oversight.
That troubles conservation scientists who fear invasive species are threatening natural ecosystems. A plant or animal becomes "invasive" when it thrives and reproduces in new surroundings and harms native plants and animals, placing them at risk of extinction.
Most species brought to the United States are beneficial rather than invasive, including cattle and crops such as rice.
But when exotics escape or are released into the wild and face no natural predators, they can cause major problems. For example, imported mussels disrupt shipping in the Great Lakes. Yellow star thistle invades thousands of acres of native grasslands in California.
Florida, however, with up to 100,000 pythons roaming in the Everglades, is considered by some the poster child for "really creepy invasives."
Some scientists believe the huge snakes could move into Central Florida. Dozens of other nonnative reptiles and amphibians thrive in the state's temperate and subtropical climates.
The invasives "impact our lifestyles, our economies, our natural areas and our native species," said Doria Gordon, director of conservation science for The Nature Conservancy in Florida. If Floridians want to know how exotic invasive species can affect them, most need go no farther than their own lawn, Gordon said. "We all care about fire ants in a big way."
But the menace reaches far beyond front yards.
Exotic armored catfish imported to eat algae in aquariums invade the Blue Spring run and plague manatees that swim there. Plants such as hydrilla and hyacinth clog tributaries to the St. Johns River and other waterways, closing some to boating traffic. Acres of native plants disappear beneath a creeping forest of aggressive Old World climbing fern.
An Asian beetle brought laurel wilt fungus to red bay trees near Savannah, Ga., in 2002. It decimated red bays around Jacksonville, mowed down trees in Palm Coast and was found this year in Daytona Beach.
Similar problems nationwide leave nearly half the country's 958 protected species at risk from competition by exotics, according to a study by Cornell University professor David Pimentel and colleagues.
Invasives cost the country more than $137 billion a year in damage and containment efforts, the study concluded. That's one dollar for every $8 worth of food grown and nearly double what the nation spends annually on cancer treatment. Florida property owners and agencies spend more than $600 million a year. [...]
FIGHTING BACK
Jenkins and other conservation scientists say legislation and rule changes are needed urgently to limit the flow of invasive, exotic species, build a coordinated nationwide effort to determine the extent of the problem and repair the damage.
They hope to enlist others in the battle to contain and control exotics, including legislators who could funnel more money to combat the problem. They hope to convince backyard gardeners to plant natives and to stop owners of exotic pets from releasing them into the wild. [...]
Efforts to restrict trade and exotic pet ownership meet heavy resistance.
"You have to have some pretty major evidence that something is going to be a problem before you can get it prohibited," said Bill Haller, acting director of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants at the University of Florida.
Progress toward a zealous national effort to control exotics has been slow, but the call for action took on new urgency after July 1. That's when a Sumter County family's pet Burmese python strangled a toddler. Officials say the python was improperly caged and the family didn't have a permit.
The resulting nationwide headlines made threats posed by exotic animals a "very major issue," Haller said.
People who have pushed for more stringent regulations for years hope the child's tragic death may finally bring change to aging laws they say fail to protect the nation. They hope to make it more difficult to import problem-causing species.
A U.S. Senate committee on Thursday approved a bill that would ban import and interstate shipment of nine large constrictor and python species.
Proponents of exotic pet and plant ownership and some scientists fear the rush to new legislation and rule changes might unfairly hinder trade, limit personal freedom, and create an underground black market that could make matters worse.
The industry agrees the issue needs attention, said Marshall Meyers, chief executive officer for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. However, change should come from a scientific assessment of individual species and not on an emotional legislative "quick fix," he said. [...]
Read the article at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Vegetation having deleterious effect on Lake Takanassee in Long Branch, NJ
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
LONG BRANCH — For decades, Pete Bacinski visited Lake Takanassee in pursuit of his hobby — bird-watching — and for his livelihood, as sanctuary director of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Sandy Hook Bird Observatory.
The observatory's senior naturalist Scott Barnes more than two years ago noticed a small amount of what appeared to be an invasive plant species blooming in two small ponds near the railroad tracks at the lake that marks the boundary between West End and Elberon.
"We worried about it, but since it didn't spread anywhere else, we didn't take it into major consideration," Bacinski said.
In March, the situation had not changed much from their first view of it. But the situation would not stay stable for long.
"In October, when I saw this plant growing in all parts of the lake, it really scared me," Bacinski said. "It all happened in a seven-month period."
For Bacinski, the other Audubon members and birding hobbyists, this is really about how the vegetation affects the lake's use by avian life.
"It is a great waterfowl stopover and wintering area," explained Bacinski, of Atlantic Highlands. He suspected the problem vegetation might be parrotweed, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists as an invasive noxious weed.
John A. Tiedemann, a specialist professor of marine and environmental biology within Monmouth University's School of Science, had another idea. In September, he finished co-writing a report for the school's Urban Coast Institute on "The Future of Coastal Lakes in Monmouth County."
Tiedemann said the plant blooming wildly in Takanassee is more likely Eurasian water milfoil, which has invaded many of the region's lakes. It also is an invasive plant that can choke out other plant life, according to the USDA.
Eurasian water milfoil likely would thrive in Lake Takanassee's nutrient-rich, eutrophic surroundings, crowding out native plants and hastening the potential demise of the lake.
"If it gets totally taken over by this water milfoil, it will leave no place for the waterfowl to stay for the winter months and have a home," Bacinski worried.
The impact on waterfowl, however, is just a small part of the deleterious effects on the lake, from water quality to aesthetics, Tiedemann explained. Stormwater discharges, fertilizers and too much imperious surface all help the invasive plant thrive.
"Without management and treatment, the lakes get overgrown," he said.
The UCI report concluded government can implement either chemical or mechanical solutions for weed control, even if those are only stop-gap methods.
"The real solution is to control the nutrients that go into the lake," he said. "Rather than mowing the lawn along the lake, plant a vegetated buffer that functions as a biofilter."
Other responses include adopting an ordinance that controls the timing, limiting the amount and type of fertilizer property owners can use on their lawns, overseeing a Canada geese management program, adopting a zero-silt runoff program and installing stormwater system retrofits. [...]
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Plants Threaten Avalon Dune Health
By Leslie Truluck
Cape May County Herald.com
AVALON, NJ — The borough is seeking to remedy potential threats to the health of the dune system and natural maritime forests here caused by invasive plant species.
“The conditions in the dunes require attention,” Environmental Commission Chairman Dr. Brian Reynolds told council Dec. 9.
Invasive species, like Japanese black pine and bamboo, have caused concern for diminishing animal habitat and food sources, potential fire hazards, as well as spread of insects and disease.
Japanese Black Pine was once thought to be a good stabilizer for the dunes, due to its thick roots. However, they have the genetic potential to grow up to 80 feet and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service categorize it as “mildly invasive.”
The commission is updating the borough’s Dune Vegetation Management Plan in order to monitor and control of what is planted in the dune areas, to ensure they are suitable for that environment. Corrective changes to the ordinance will move the pines to the “not recommended” list. The pines attract insects that attack the trees and carry diseases.
Japanese black pines produce extremely flammable needles and cones that, in the event of a fire, could cause it to spread, resulting in damage to properties and the dunes natural maritime forest, Reynolds said.
He said the pines don’t serve as habitat and are not a source of food for wildlife.
A species of bamboo planted on a property near 40th Street has potential to grow 25 feet high and spread. Since most types of bamboo are invasive, the commission has opted to prohibit all bamboo types in the dunes.
The plan encourages a wider diversity of trees and shrubs in the dunes system through systematic replacement of the invasive species with indigenous plants. A test area at the 74th Street dunes, where Japanese black pines have already begun to die will be replaced, as recommended in the report.
The trees’ crowns will be removed, but roots will remain intact, to hold the dunes together. They need to be removed by hand, without heavy machinery, in order not to damage dunes. The half-block 74th Street pilot area is outside of piping plover nesting areas protected by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Funding for this endeavor may be available through a Smart Growth Planning Grant funded by the NJ Environmental Trust.
The commission will review a final draft of the Dune Vegetation Management Plan, prepared by Lomax Consulting Group of Court House, before it is presented to council.
Lomax investigated the entire borough dune system from Townsend Inlet to 80th Street to understand the pine’s height and density distribution. Trees are nearing 25-feet in the 74th Street pilot area.
Environmental Commission will discuss changes to the plan for the dune area during its regular meeting Dec. 15, at 4 p.m. at Borough Hall.
A copy of the plan will be available on the borough’s Web site, www.avalonboro.org.
Read the story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Researchers reveal that zebra mussels can be controlled
While a lone zebra mussel is relatively harmless, its appearance usually indicates the arrival of thousands of the unwanted visitors. In waterways around the globe, the mussels are outcompeting native animal species for food and clogging industrial water systems.
Scientists and municipalities in affected areas struggle with how to eradicate the mussels quickly without causing wide-scale damage to the surrounding ecosystem by using harmful pesticides or other damaging chemicals to remove the mussels.
A recent zebra mussel eradication program led by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute is now providing a promising example of how zebra mussel populations can be successfully controlled without damaging the natural ecosystem.
“Conventional wisdom on zebra mussels holds that once a population is established, they are impossible to control,” said Darrin Director Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer. “However, we have been able to show that it might be possible to remove enough mussels to reduce the population density to the point where successful reproduction can be impeded.”
The researchers looked at how a relatively low-tech approach, coupled with extensive community outreach and no small amount of volunteer elbow grease, successfully removed what is estimated to be more than 90 percent of a mussel infestation in Lake George within two months. To perform the removal at the freshwater lake, a popular tourist destination in upstate New York at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, the researchers enlisted the assistance of volunteer SCUBA diving teams to hand remove more than 21,000 zebra mussels from the site.
The study took place from 1999, when the mussels were first discovered in Lake George by divers with underwater archaeology firm Bateaux Below, to 2007, although the removal effort continues today. The vast majority of mussels were removed during the first year of the project, from an area covering 3,900 square meters that is divided into nine dive sections. After hundreds of hours of dives, the researchers’ continued investigation and monitoring of the site for larvae suggests that the mussels have not successfully reproduced since the removal began a decade ago.
Because of the nature of the zebra mussels and their link to human activity, particularly their ability to hitch a ride on a contaminated hull or in the bilge water of a boat after a boating trip in an infested waterway, Darrin Fresh Water Institute’s surveillance of the lake has since resulted in the discovery of eight new colonies of zebra mussels. Each is being systematically removed through SCUBA dives in the same way that the initial site was cleaned.
“A critical component of this effort has been a broad-based surveillance program,” Nierzwicki-Bauer said. “This allows us to quickly mount the SCUBA-based approach while the population remains relatively small.” The Darrin Fresh Water Institute and other organizations on Lake George regularly monitor the waterway for new zebra mussel infestations.
“Perhaps ‘mission impossible’ can never be claimed in the fight against zebra mussels, but the prevention of colonization may well be possible with a long-term commitment to monitoring and rapid removal,” she said.
The research team’s findings, based on activities and study from 1999-2007, were published late this summer in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Along with Nierzwicki-Bauer, researchers contributing to the study are John Wimbush of the New York State Department of State; Marc Frischer of Skidaway Institute of Oceanography; and Joseph Zarzynski of Bateaux Below.
Provided by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive algae found in Garrett Co.'s Savage River
DNR biologists discover habitat-attacking didymo in another MD trout stream
By Candus Thomson
The Baltimore Sun
Another premier Maryland trout stream has become tainted by an invasive algae feared worldwide for its ability to coat the bottom of rivers and lakes and smother the habitat and food supply of fish.
Biologists at the Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that didymo, known by anglers as "rock snot," was found in Garrett County's Savage River late last month.
"There's nothing we can do short of closing the area down, and that's draconian," said Don Cosden, inland fisheries director. "We're going to try hard to contain it."
Officials fear the algae could spread to the North Branch of the Potomac below the Jennings Randolph Reservoir, another of the state's best trout waters.[...]
At least three streams in West Virginia have been tainted as has the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
Cosden said biologists doing routine water quality testing just below Savage River Dam were suspicious of initial results and went back to test again. This time, they found a small mass near a foot bridge and on some rocks.
Didymo was first identified in the 1890s in Europe and China. Scientists on the West Coast detected it a decade ago. An outbreak in New Zealand in 2004 prompted a "biosecurity lockdown," complete with checkpoints and penalties of five years in prison and $100,000 fines for anglers and boaters who failed to clean their gear. A year later, reports were down 90 percent, but officials warned the decrease could be part of a natural cycle.
The same thing could happen here, Cosden said. Didymo "doesn't compete well" in rivers where other algae is present, a condition that exists in the Gunpowder and the Savage rivers. But the North Branch, with its ice-cold water and clean bottom, is a perfect host for didymo, he said.
"We just need to pay attention and be careful," Cosden said. "I suspect we'll have to do more targeted sampling and we'll reach out to anglers when they start returning to the rivers later this winter."
Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Read the full article at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Exotic Species Threaten Puerto Rico’s Ecosystem
Latin American Herald Tribune
SAN JUAN – Invading species of green iguana and red lionfish are threatening the ecosystem of Puerto Rico, according to the head of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, or DRNA, of the Caribbean island, Daniel Galan.
Galan said Tuesday in an interview with Efe that neither of the two species is native to Puerto Rico, and so their presence threatens not only the animals but also the plants here.
“The main problem they pose is that neither of the two species has a natural predator in Puerto Rico,” said Galan, after noting that the green – or common – iguana (Iguana iguana) was introduced to the island 20 years ago by people keeping them as pets. [...]
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil control requires coordinated effort
By Larissa Mulkern
Editor of The Carroll County Independent
TAMWORTH — State and local officials from three towns met last week to discuss launching a coordinated effort to combat and control variable milfoil in the Ossipee Lake system, before the choking weed affects tourism and property values on a lake that borders three communities.
Representatives from the Ossipee Lake Alliance, Green Mountain Conservation Group, select board and conservation members from Ossipee, Freedom and Effingham and a state representative from Moultonborough gathered the morning of Dec. 8 at Samantha's Inn in Tamworth. The meeting was arranged by Ossipee Conservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Gillette after the commission and alliance members met with Ossipee selectmen and NH Department of Environmental Services Limnologist Amy Smagula to discuss milfoil treatment options for Pickerel Cove and other areas of infestation.
Ossipee Lake Alliance Board Member Bob Reynolds, who recently attended the N.H. Legislative Exotic Aquatic Weeds and Species Committee's Milfoil Summit meetings in Concord, kicked off the meeting with an update. He said a proposed bill would not generate expected revenues to fund milfoil control until 2011. He added that the fact the bill was proposed indicates that the state understands towns and property owners can't win the milfoil battle alone.
The DES spent nearly its entire $450,000 milfoil budget on prevention alone, he said, leaving just $60,000 for milfoil control to be distributed to dozens of communities already affected by the weed. [...]
Read the full article at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
Moreau, NY tackles threat posed by invasive plant species
By PAUL POST, The Saratogian
MOREAU, NY — A local environmental group is taking steps to control invasive plant species that it says threaten habitat for birds and other wildlife.
The Moreau Conservation Advisory Council hopes to employ strategies ranging from education to eradication.
For example, the town Planning Board could urge developers not to landscape with harmful plants, while the town Highway Department could remove invasive plants found along local roads.
“It’s a huge problem not only locally, but statewide and nationwide,” council Secretary Ramona Bearor said. “It affects everything — birds, insects and animals that depend on native plants in some way.”
Specifically, she cited three types of invasive species that are causing problems.
One is Japanese knotweed, sometimes called “American bamboo.” Found in the wild, it spreads rapidly. One place it’s taking over is along the Betar Bikeway bordering the Hudson River in South Glens Falls.
Japanese barberry, often used by developers in housing development common areas, is another invasive species, along with the popular burning bush. Each plant produces thousands of seeds that birds eat and spread in their droppings. Seeds quickly take root and force out existing vegetation, changing soil composition in the process. [...]
Bearor said Moreau is the first town in Saratoga County to take a proactive approach in controlling the invasive plant species. The nine-member council was first organized last spring and appointed by the Town Board, as called for in the town’s master plan. [...]
Read the full article at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Why the delay on rules halting invasive species?
Sheboyganpress.com
The wheels of government grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small. The wheels of the U.S. Coast Guard apparently just grind slowly.
More than 20 years after the first zebra mussels found their way into the Great Lakes in the belly of ocean-going tankers, the Coast Guard has come up with regulations to deal with such non-native aquatic life.
But it will be nearly six years before the rules take full effect, and some ships may not have to comply with them until 2021.
The timetable set by the Coast Guard calls for feasibility studies to be performed prior to the rules taking effect.
But we've known for some time now how the problem began.
Zebra mussels, and many of the more than 180 other invasive species that found their way into the Great Lakes in the last two decades, arrived here in the ballast water that the tankers take in for stability when traveling on open water and that is later discharged when they arrive. [...]
The frustrating thing for Wisconsin and other states bordering the Great Lakes is that the call went out years ago for treatment or cleansing of ballast water in order to kill non-native plant and animal life before it is discharged.
But the Coast Guard dragged its feet and there was little pressure put on the agency by Congress to take action. This forced Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states to come up with their own rules in the interim when it would have been much more effective to have a national standard that all ships would have to meet.
Congress must put pressure on the Coast Guard to step up the pace on effective rules to guard against further damage to the Great Lakes.
Waiting even another two years is too long. Strict rules against invasive species must be in place no later than 2012.
Read the editorial a link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Update on DEC's wild boar war in Central New York: They're still out there and moving around
By David Figura/The Post-Standard
In his office, Moravia businessman Andy Boos proudly displays the head mount of the 320-pound black Russian boar he shot three years ago on his property in Spafford.
“I was out deer hunting at the time and this animal came running through the bushes,” he said. “It sounded like a Mack truck. It appeared about 80 yards away at a full run. I took one shot with a handgun (a Thompson Contender 308) and he came down in a pile.”
It’s the kind of story that makes some state Department of Environmental Conservation officials and property owners in the Scott/Spafford area grimace.
In the past few years, the area has been deluged with out-of-towners calling and stopping by to see where they can hunt wild boar. Most of the property in the area has been posted by farmers and other property owners, and trespassing has been a real problem, some farmers said.
“Personally, I think it’s highly overrated,” said John Wanish, owner of J. Dubs Gas and Grub convenience store, along Route 41 in the town of Scott. Nevertheless, the store’s bulletin board has several pictures of wild hogs shot by locals in recent years.
“I’ve had them (hunters) come and stop by the store as far away is Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York City,” he said. “Apparently, there must be a Web site on it or something.”
The DEC has been actively involved the past several years in attempts to clear the invasive species off the area landscape. The animals are believed to have escaped from a private pay-to-hunt game farm nearly a decade ago and are spreading.
The state’s position, as reflected in this year’s DEC hunting and trapping guide is that feral swine are a harmful, invasive species and need to be eradicated. For the past two years, local DEC officials have been trapping the animals at undisclosed private and public properties.
While casual or “opportunistic” shooting of individual boars by, for example, deer hunters isn’t discouraged, local DEC officials are standing by previous statements that systematic hunting — or pursuit — of groups of the animals tends to spread them and make their populations more vigorous.
Is the DEC, which is working with other agencies such as the Cortland Soil and Water District and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the issue, winning the wild boar war? Evidently not, said many local residents who were interviewed in recent weeks. Many said it’s time to call off the battle and stop spending state money on the effort. [...]
This year’s DEC hunting guide for the first time (page 20) notes their presence locally and in other parts of the state, and reminds hunters that all they need is a license that’s valid for hunting small game to shoot feral pigs.
They’re considered “unprotected wildlife.” There’s no season, no take limits or time-of-day restrictions. General hunting rules, such as the distance one can discharge a firearm from a building, still apply. (For more, see pages 16-17 of the DEC hunting guide). [...]
What’s the problem with wild pigs?
DEC officials say they are capable of wreaking havoc on plant life, native animal species and water quality in wetlands and streams, in addition to causing extensive crop damage and carrying various diseases transmissable to wildlife. If you’ve seen or shot a wild boar, contact the DEC at mlputnam[at]gw.dec.state.ny.us or call 607-753-3095, ext. 296.
Are they dangerous to humans?
Like domestic pigs, females are very protective of their young. The state Department of Conservation only has one report locally, though, of a man being attacked by a wild boar. Greg Piercey, formerly of Scott (now living in Kentucky), was building a deer hunting treestand in 2006 when he notice that Red, his golden retriever, had “gotten into it” with a wild boar piglet, according to Piercey’s ex-wife, Kathy. Piercey got down from the tree and started beating the sow with a piece of wood. A piglet ran up to Piercey, “shredded his pants” and bit him on the leg. “He had to have rabies shots,” she said.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
The Exotic Menace
Non-native species invade land, water
By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Environment Writer
news-journalonline.com
A growing worldwide trade in exotic plants and animals, fueled by a fascination with the rare and beautiful, often wreaks havoc on Florida's native plants and animals and costs the nation billions each year.
"America has a love affair with exotic species, but unfortunately it has a dark side," said Don Schmitz, a research program manager with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Go down to Miami International Airport. It's amazing what comes in on a daily basis from overseas."
The list includes tropical flowers, colorful fish, scorpions and spitting cobras.
Though the imports can start harmlessly as pretty plants or cool pets, far too many wind up in the wild, becoming a growing exotic menace that some say is the single biggest threat to the nation's protected species.
Many scientists consider Florida ground zero in the invasion with more exotic imports arriving daily and more protected species at risk than anywhere else except Hawaii. Hundreds of nonnative species flourish in the wild.
"In a decade or two, the ecology of the state of Florida is not going to be what we've known all our lives," said Herky Huffman of Enterprise, a former wildlife commissioner. "It's going to be changed by all these exotic species."
FLORIDA THE POSTER CHILD
People have long traded in goods such as seeds, plants and animals. But an explosion in global trade and Internet sales triggered a more rapid and prolific exchange. Overall, more than 50,000 species of plants, animals and microbes have been introduced to the United States.
Tom Jackson, an exotic species specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Florida, calls it "the great experiment."
"We're moving a staggering number of (species) from disparate places to our lands, and sometimes waters, at a speed never before accomplished," Jackson said. And much of it happens with little oversight.
That troubles conservation scientists who fear invasive species are threatening natural ecosystems. A plant or animal becomes "invasive" when it thrives and reproduces in new surroundings and harms native plants and animals, placing them at risk of extinction.
Most species brought to the United States are beneficial rather than invasive, including cattle and crops such as rice.
But when exotics escape or are released into the wild and face no natural predators, they can cause major problems. For example, imported mussels disrupt shipping in the Great Lakes. Yellow star thistle invades thousands of acres of native grasslands in California.
Florida, however, with up to 100,000 pythons roaming in the Everglades, is considered by some the poster child for "really creepy invasives."
Some scientists believe the huge snakes could move into Central Florida. Dozens of other nonnative reptiles and amphibians thrive in the state's temperate and subtropical climates.
The invasives "impact our lifestyles, our economies, our natural areas and our native species," said Doria Gordon, director of conservation science for The Nature Conservancy in Florida. If Floridians want to know how exotic invasive species can affect them, most need go no farther than their own lawn, Gordon said. "We all care about fire ants in a big way."
But the menace reaches far beyond front yards.
Exotic armored catfish imported to eat algae in aquariums invade the Blue Spring run and plague manatees that swim there. Plants such as hydrilla and hyacinth clog tributaries to the St. Johns River and other waterways, closing some to boating traffic. Acres of native plants disappear beneath a creeping forest of aggressive Old World climbing fern.
An Asian beetle brought laurel wilt fungus to red bay trees near Savannah, Ga., in 2002. It decimated red bays around Jacksonville, mowed down trees in Palm Coast and was found this year in Daytona Beach.
Similar problems nationwide leave nearly half the country's 958 protected species at risk from competition by exotics, according to a study by Cornell University professor David Pimentel and colleagues.
Invasives cost the country more than $137 billion a year in damage and containment efforts, the study concluded. That's one dollar for every $8 worth of food grown and nearly double what the nation spends annually on cancer treatment. Florida property owners and agencies spend more than $600 million a year. [...]
FIGHTING BACK
Jenkins and other conservation scientists say legislation and rule changes are needed urgently to limit the flow of invasive, exotic species, build a coordinated nationwide effort to determine the extent of the problem and repair the damage.
They hope to enlist others in the battle to contain and control exotics, including legislators who could funnel more money to combat the problem. They hope to convince backyard gardeners to plant natives and to stop owners of exotic pets from releasing them into the wild. [...]
Efforts to restrict trade and exotic pet ownership meet heavy resistance.
"You have to have some pretty major evidence that something is going to be a problem before you can get it prohibited," said Bill Haller, acting director of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants at the University of Florida.
Progress toward a zealous national effort to control exotics has been slow, but the call for action took on new urgency after July 1. That's when a Sumter County family's pet Burmese python strangled a toddler. Officials say the python was improperly caged and the family didn't have a permit.
The resulting nationwide headlines made threats posed by exotic animals a "very major issue," Haller said.
People who have pushed for more stringent regulations for years hope the child's tragic death may finally bring change to aging laws they say fail to protect the nation. They hope to make it more difficult to import problem-causing species.
A U.S. Senate committee on Thursday approved a bill that would ban import and interstate shipment of nine large constrictor and python species.
Proponents of exotic pet and plant ownership and some scientists fear the rush to new legislation and rule changes might unfairly hinder trade, limit personal freedom, and create an underground black market that could make matters worse.
The industry agrees the issue needs attention, said Marshall Meyers, chief executive officer for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. However, change should come from a scientific assessment of individual species and not on an emotional legislative "quick fix," he said. [...]
Read the article at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Vegetation having deleterious effect on Lake Takanassee in Long Branch, NJ
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
LONG BRANCH — For decades, Pete Bacinski visited Lake Takanassee in pursuit of his hobby — bird-watching — and for his livelihood, as sanctuary director of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Sandy Hook Bird Observatory.
The observatory's senior naturalist Scott Barnes more than two years ago noticed a small amount of what appeared to be an invasive plant species blooming in two small ponds near the railroad tracks at the lake that marks the boundary between West End and Elberon.
"We worried about it, but since it didn't spread anywhere else, we didn't take it into major consideration," Bacinski said.
In March, the situation had not changed much from their first view of it. But the situation would not stay stable for long.
"In October, when I saw this plant growing in all parts of the lake, it really scared me," Bacinski said. "It all happened in a seven-month period."
For Bacinski, the other Audubon members and birding hobbyists, this is really about how the vegetation affects the lake's use by avian life.
"It is a great waterfowl stopover and wintering area," explained Bacinski, of Atlantic Highlands. He suspected the problem vegetation might be parrotweed, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists as an invasive noxious weed.
John A. Tiedemann, a specialist professor of marine and environmental biology within Monmouth University's School of Science, had another idea. In September, he finished co-writing a report for the school's Urban Coast Institute on "The Future of Coastal Lakes in Monmouth County."
Tiedemann said the plant blooming wildly in Takanassee is more likely Eurasian water milfoil, which has invaded many of the region's lakes. It also is an invasive plant that can choke out other plant life, according to the USDA.
Eurasian water milfoil likely would thrive in Lake Takanassee's nutrient-rich, eutrophic surroundings, crowding out native plants and hastening the potential demise of the lake.
"If it gets totally taken over by this water milfoil, it will leave no place for the waterfowl to stay for the winter months and have a home," Bacinski worried.
The impact on waterfowl, however, is just a small part of the deleterious effects on the lake, from water quality to aesthetics, Tiedemann explained. Stormwater discharges, fertilizers and too much imperious surface all help the invasive plant thrive.
"Without management and treatment, the lakes get overgrown," he said.
The UCI report concluded government can implement either chemical or mechanical solutions for weed control, even if those are only stop-gap methods.
"The real solution is to control the nutrients that go into the lake," he said. "Rather than mowing the lawn along the lake, plant a vegetated buffer that functions as a biofilter."
Other responses include adopting an ordinance that controls the timing, limiting the amount and type of fertilizer property owners can use on their lawns, overseeing a Canada geese management program, adopting a zero-silt runoff program and installing stormwater system retrofits. [...]
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive Plants Threaten Avalon Dune Health
By Leslie Truluck
Cape May County Herald.com
AVALON, NJ — The borough is seeking to remedy potential threats to the health of the dune system and natural maritime forests here caused by invasive plant species.
“The conditions in the dunes require attention,” Environmental Commission Chairman Dr. Brian Reynolds told council Dec. 9.
Invasive species, like Japanese black pine and bamboo, have caused concern for diminishing animal habitat and food sources, potential fire hazards, as well as spread of insects and disease.
Japanese Black Pine was once thought to be a good stabilizer for the dunes, due to its thick roots. However, they have the genetic potential to grow up to 80 feet and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service categorize it as “mildly invasive.”
The commission is updating the borough’s Dune Vegetation Management Plan in order to monitor and control of what is planted in the dune areas, to ensure they are suitable for that environment. Corrective changes to the ordinance will move the pines to the “not recommended” list. The pines attract insects that attack the trees and carry diseases.
Japanese black pines produce extremely flammable needles and cones that, in the event of a fire, could cause it to spread, resulting in damage to properties and the dunes natural maritime forest, Reynolds said.
He said the pines don’t serve as habitat and are not a source of food for wildlife.
A species of bamboo planted on a property near 40th Street has potential to grow 25 feet high and spread. Since most types of bamboo are invasive, the commission has opted to prohibit all bamboo types in the dunes.
The plan encourages a wider diversity of trees and shrubs in the dunes system through systematic replacement of the invasive species with indigenous plants. A test area at the 74th Street dunes, where Japanese black pines have already begun to die will be replaced, as recommended in the report.
The trees’ crowns will be removed, but roots will remain intact, to hold the dunes together. They need to be removed by hand, without heavy machinery, in order not to damage dunes. The half-block 74th Street pilot area is outside of piping plover nesting areas protected by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Funding for this endeavor may be available through a Smart Growth Planning Grant funded by the NJ Environmental Trust.
The commission will review a final draft of the Dune Vegetation Management Plan, prepared by Lomax Consulting Group of Court House, before it is presented to council.
Lomax investigated the entire borough dune system from Townsend Inlet to 80th Street to understand the pine’s height and density distribution. Trees are nearing 25-feet in the 74th Street pilot area.
Environmental Commission will discuss changes to the plan for the dune area during its regular meeting Dec. 15, at 4 p.m. at Borough Hall.
A copy of the plan will be available on the borough’s Web site, www.avalonboro.org.
Read the story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Researchers reveal that zebra mussels can be controlled
While a lone zebra mussel is relatively harmless, its appearance usually indicates the arrival of thousands of the unwanted visitors. In waterways around the globe, the mussels are outcompeting native animal species for food and clogging industrial water systems.
Scientists and municipalities in affected areas struggle with how to eradicate the mussels quickly without causing wide-scale damage to the surrounding ecosystem by using harmful pesticides or other damaging chemicals to remove the mussels.
A recent zebra mussel eradication program led by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute is now providing a promising example of how zebra mussel populations can be successfully controlled without damaging the natural ecosystem.
“Conventional wisdom on zebra mussels holds that once a population is established, they are impossible to control,” said Darrin Director Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer. “However, we have been able to show that it might be possible to remove enough mussels to reduce the population density to the point where successful reproduction can be impeded.”
The researchers looked at how a relatively low-tech approach, coupled with extensive community outreach and no small amount of volunteer elbow grease, successfully removed what is estimated to be more than 90 percent of a mussel infestation in Lake George within two months. To perform the removal at the freshwater lake, a popular tourist destination in upstate New York at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, the researchers enlisted the assistance of volunteer SCUBA diving teams to hand remove more than 21,000 zebra mussels from the site.
The study took place from 1999, when the mussels were first discovered in Lake George by divers with underwater archaeology firm Bateaux Below, to 2007, although the removal effort continues today. The vast majority of mussels were removed during the first year of the project, from an area covering 3,900 square meters that is divided into nine dive sections. After hundreds of hours of dives, the researchers’ continued investigation and monitoring of the site for larvae suggests that the mussels have not successfully reproduced since the removal began a decade ago.
Because of the nature of the zebra mussels and their link to human activity, particularly their ability to hitch a ride on a contaminated hull or in the bilge water of a boat after a boating trip in an infested waterway, Darrin Fresh Water Institute’s surveillance of the lake has since resulted in the discovery of eight new colonies of zebra mussels. Each is being systematically removed through SCUBA dives in the same way that the initial site was cleaned.
“A critical component of this effort has been a broad-based surveillance program,” Nierzwicki-Bauer said. “This allows us to quickly mount the SCUBA-based approach while the population remains relatively small.” The Darrin Fresh Water Institute and other organizations on Lake George regularly monitor the waterway for new zebra mussel infestations.
“Perhaps ‘mission impossible’ can never be claimed in the fight against zebra mussels, but the prevention of colonization may well be possible with a long-term commitment to monitoring and rapid removal,” she said.
The research team’s findings, based on activities and study from 1999-2007, were published late this summer in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Along with Nierzwicki-Bauer, researchers contributing to the study are John Wimbush of the New York State Department of State; Marc Frischer of Skidaway Institute of Oceanography; and Joseph Zarzynski of Bateaux Below.
Provided by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
---------------------------------------------------------
Invasive algae found in Garrett Co.'s Savage River
DNR biologists discover habitat-attacking didymo in another MD trout stream
By Candus Thomson
The Baltimore Sun
Another premier Maryland trout stream has become tainted by an invasive algae feared worldwide for its ability to coat the bottom of rivers and lakes and smother the habitat and food supply of fish.
Biologists at the Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that didymo, known by anglers as "rock snot," was found in Garrett County's Savage River late last month.
"There's nothing we can do short of closing the area down, and that's draconian," said Don Cosden, inland fisheries director. "We're going to try hard to contain it."
Officials fear the algae could spread to the North Branch of the Potomac below the Jennings Randolph Reservoir, another of the state's best trout waters.[...]
At least three streams in West Virginia have been tainted as has the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
Cosden said biologists doing routine water quality testing just below Savage River Dam were suspicious of initial results and went back to test again. This time, they found a small mass near a foot bridge and on some rocks.
Didymo was first identified in the 1890s in Europe and China. Scientists on the West Coast detected it a decade ago. An outbreak in New Zealand in 2004 prompted a "biosecurity lockdown," complete with checkpoints and penalties of five years in prison and $100,000 fines for anglers and boaters who failed to clean their gear. A year later, reports were down 90 percent, but officials warned the decrease could be part of a natural cycle.
The same thing could happen here, Cosden said. Didymo "doesn't compete well" in rivers where other algae is present, a condition that exists in the Gunpowder and the Savage rivers. But the North Branch, with its ice-cold water and clean bottom, is a perfect host for didymo, he said.
"We just need to pay attention and be careful," Cosden said. "I suspect we'll have to do more targeted sampling and we'll reach out to anglers when they start returning to the rivers later this winter."
Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Read the full article at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Exotic Species Threaten Puerto Rico’s Ecosystem
Latin American Herald Tribune
SAN JUAN – Invading species of green iguana and red lionfish are threatening the ecosystem of Puerto Rico, according to the head of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, or DRNA, of the Caribbean island, Daniel Galan.
Galan said Tuesday in an interview with Efe that neither of the two species is native to Puerto Rico, and so their presence threatens not only the animals but also the plants here.
“The main problem they pose is that neither of the two species has a natural predator in Puerto Rico,” said Galan, after noting that the green – or common – iguana (Iguana iguana) was introduced to the island 20 years ago by people keeping them as pets. [...]
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil control requires coordinated effort
By Larissa Mulkern
Editor of The Carroll County Independent
TAMWORTH — State and local officials from three towns met last week to discuss launching a coordinated effort to combat and control variable milfoil in the Ossipee Lake system, before the choking weed affects tourism and property values on a lake that borders three communities.
Representatives from the Ossipee Lake Alliance, Green Mountain Conservation Group, select board and conservation members from Ossipee, Freedom and Effingham and a state representative from Moultonborough gathered the morning of Dec. 8 at Samantha's Inn in Tamworth. The meeting was arranged by Ossipee Conservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Gillette after the commission and alliance members met with Ossipee selectmen and NH Department of Environmental Services Limnologist Amy Smagula to discuss milfoil treatment options for Pickerel Cove and other areas of infestation.
Ossipee Lake Alliance Board Member Bob Reynolds, who recently attended the N.H. Legislative Exotic Aquatic Weeds and Species Committee's Milfoil Summit meetings in Concord, kicked off the meeting with an update. He said a proposed bill would not generate expected revenues to fund milfoil control until 2011. He added that the fact the bill was proposed indicates that the state understands towns and property owners can't win the milfoil battle alone.
The DES spent nearly its entire $450,000 milfoil budget on prevention alone, he said, leaving just $60,000 for milfoil control to be distributed to dozens of communities already affected by the weed. [...]
Read the full article at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 3, 2009
Week of August 3, 2009
Updated 8/5/09
--------------------------------------------------------
Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Conference - August 11 & 12
Please note that the Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Conference will be held on August 11 and 12 at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. To find out more, visit the Calendar of Upcoming Invasive Species Events page on NYIS.INFO.
---------------------------------------------------------
NJ fingers mitten crab, fellow invaders
CourierPostOnline.com
Authorities have issued an all-points bulletin for a murky figure, but they're not seeking a criminal.
Instead, be on the lookout for . . . well, let's quote the recent alert: "Public asked to report invasive mitten crabs."
Mitten crabs?
Ouch. That gives new meaning to "one for the thumb."
In fact, Chinese mitten crabs -- although native to Asia -- have surfaced recently in New Jersey waters, including the Delaware and Barnegat bays, state officials announced Friday.
And they're not our only foreign invaders. Authorities raised a similar alarm in June when a flathead catfish -- a "voracious predator"' normally found west of the Appalachians -- turned up in the Delaware River.
And then there's South Jersey's own strange specimen -- the Asian swamp eel, also known as the Gibbsboro gender-bender.
That's right. It's "Gills Gone Wild."
[...] If you catch a mitten crab, they say, don't throw it back alive.
Friday's alert encourages crabbers to take a close-up photo of their catch and to record key details for research scientists. These include the crustacean's sex, which -- if the crab's still alive -- should probably be determined with great care.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Online field guide to aquatic plants
Alabama has an online field guide to aquatic plants, including invasives, at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Munching on Garlic Mustard
A New Weevil in the Works
Garlic and mustard are common ingredients that can be found in American households. But garlic mustard? Well, that’s a different story.
Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, is considered one of the most problematic invaders of temperate forests in North America. According to legend, it was brought here from Europe in the 1860s as a culinary herb, but unfortunately, it doesn’t taste very good. Since then, garlic mustard has spread to 34 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces.
“Garlic mustard is an invasive plant that gets a lot of attention,” says ecologist Adam Davis, who has been studying the weed for years. “It’s very noticeable and hard to eradicate because of its seed bank.” [...]
A Model Solution
To better understand garlic mustard and find a suitable biocontrol, Davis—in collaboration with colleagues at Michigan State University, Cornell University, the University of Illinois, and the Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI) in Switzerland—created a computer model that simulates the weed’s life cycle.
“In part, we wanted to answer ecologists’ criticisms that biocontrol can potentially cause as many problems as it solves because of unintended consequences,” says Davis. “We were looking for a way to choose agents that are most likely to succeed while reducing their potential for harm to native plants and environments. Ideally, we want to try to release only one organism, if possible.”
Through this model, Davis was able to predict the type and severity of damage that would be needed to reduce garlic mustard’s population growth rates. Davis performed an analysis using computer code that enabled him to change one variable at a time while keeping all the others constant, allowing him to probe the life cycle for the plant’s weak point. He found that in order to make an impact, a biocontrol agent has to reduce garlic mustard’s survival in the rosette stage and its ability to reproduce in the adult stage.
Well before Davis created the life-cycle model, CABI scientists began looking for and testing potential biocontrol agents to tackle garlic mustard. They collected data on the amount of damage each insect could inflict on the garlic mustard population. From a list of more than 70 natural enemies found to be feeding on garlic mustard in Europe, four Ceutorhynchus weevils were selected as the most promising control agents.
Combining the feeding information collected by CABI scientists and the demographic information of garlic mustard in North America, Davis used the computerized life-cycle model to assess each weevil’s ability to inflict damage on the weed and inhibit its growth. One weevil, C. scrobicollis, came out on top.
High Hopes for Little Insect
The tiny C. scrobicollis has a life cycle of 1 year and produces one batch of offspring per lifetime. Itlays its eggs on garlic mustard’s leaf stems in the fall. When the eggs hatch in the spring, the larvae feed on the weed’s root crown, the area from which the rosette’s leaves grow and where nutrients are stored.
By feeding on the root crown, C. scrobicollis stops the flow of nutrients and water from the roots to the rest of the plant. It also damages the meristem, the area of the plant where new growth takes place. As a result, garlic mustard produces fewer seeds or, in areas with high weevil populations, dies prematurely in early spring without producing any seeds.
C. scrobicollis also appears to be monophagous, meaning it eats just one thing: garlic mustard. That means scientists won’t have to worry about any unintended consequences when using this insect as a biocontrol agent.
During preliminary testing, CABI scientists believed C. scrobicollis was the best candidate to control garlic mustard. Putting the weevil’s feeding data through Davis’s life-cycle model confirmed their beliefs and created a stronger case for the permit process.
“The model gave teeth to the permit application to release this weevil in the United States,” says Davis. “It provided a peek into the future as to the impact the weevil could have on the garlic mustard population here.”
C. scrobicollis is currently in quarantine at the University of Minnesota. If all goes well, this beneficial weevil may soon be roaming North America to find a nice garlic mustard meal.—By Stephanie Yao, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
Read the full story at link.
Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis photo by H. Hinz and E. Gerber.
-------------------------------------------------------
Maine needs boaters in battle against unwelcome invaders
GAIL RICE/Maine Outdoor Journal
Read the full story at link.
Photo by Stuart Cahill. Alexandra Echandi, a forestry assistant for the Boston Department of Conservation and Recreation, battles an infestation of mile-a-minute weed.
By Connie Mertz
For The Daily Item
There is a silent killer threatening to decimate ash trees across North America. So far, more than 25 million ash trees have succumbed to the deadly impact of a little beetle, known as the emerald ash borer.
"It was brought over from Asia in shipping crates and first discovered in Michigan in 2002," explained Weston Campbell, a summer intern attending Delaware Valley College who is working with Penn State Extension in Montour County.
Naturally spreading on an average of one-half mile a year, it has already reached portions of Pennsylvania.
The explanation of how it arrived in Pennsylvania so soon is a simple explained. "It has spread by satellite colonies. This is when something is moved," he elaborated. "In this case, it is through nursery stock and firewood."
Currently the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has quarantined Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin counties, and most recently Armstrong and Washington counties. The quarantine makes it unlawful to transport ash trees of any size, including their branches and limbs. [...]
To keep tabs on the spread of the invasive insect in Pennsylvania, purple panel sticky traps have been placed in ashes at various locations. These traps contain a blend of oils that are said to mimic chemicals emitted by stressed ash trees.
"The purple panel traps will not bring emerald ash borer into a noninfested site," said Greg Hoover, ornamental extension entomologist at Penn State University. "These traps help us determine if the pest is already there." [...]
Read the full story at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Emerald Ash Borer: Recommendations for Homeowner and Woodland Owner Action
Developed by: Peter Smallidge1, Holly Menninger1, Mark Whitmore1, and Charles O’Neill2. 1Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Department of Natural Resources, Ithaca, NY. 2NY Sea Grant, Cornell University, Rice Hall, Ithaca, NY.
The first occurrence of emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) in New York State was confirmed by USDA APHIS on June 17, 2009 in Randolph, NY (Cattaraugus County). An invasive beetle introduced from eastern Asia, EAB kills all species of ash trees native to North America, and has the potential to cause severe economic and ecological damage. First detected near Detroit in 2002 it has now spread to 13 states and two Canadian provinces. Ash mortality is 100% near Detroit and is widespread in all the affected areas.
http://nyis.info/insects/EmeraldAshBorer.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil, an invasive threat to U.S. waterbodies
Eurasian water milfoil is a fragile looking flora that was once a familiar plant to find in fresh water aquariums.
USDA-APHIS has been tapped to implement the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention section of the 2008 Farm Bill which is authorized at 12 to 50 million dollars per year through fiscal year 2013. APHIS intends to engage stakeholders in designing "a risk-based approach to disburse funds" and implement the bill's provisions.
To date, the APHIS plan identifies six strategies to coordinate and fund:
- Enhance plant pest/disease analysis and survey
- Target domestic inspection activities at vulnerable points in the safeguarding continuum
- Enhance and strengthen pest identification and technology
- Safeguard nursery production
- Conduct outreach and education to increase public understanding, acceptance, and support of plant pest and disease eradication and control efforts
- Enhance mitigation capabilities
More information about the program can be found on the USDA-APHIS Plant Health website. The program's site also enables anyone to sign up to receive notices about related documents and events and also to offer comments.
-------------------------------------------------------
Weed Population Monitoring and Prioritizing for Management
News from the Center for Invasive Plant Management
Three publications that discuss the value of weed population monitoring and using a
decision support framework for prioritizing management are summarized.
Non-indigenous species management using a population prioritization
framework by Lisa J. Rew, Erik A. Lehnhoff, and Bruce D. Maxwell. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. V87: 1029-1036.
Quantifying Invasiveness of Plants: A Test Case with Yellow Toadflax
(Linaria vulgaris) by Erik A. Lehnhoff, Lisa J. Rew, Bruce D. Maxwell, and Mark L. Taper. Invasive Plant Science and Management. V1: 319-325.
The Rationale for Monitoring Invasive Plant Populations as a Crucial Step for
Management by Bruce D. Maxwell, Erik Lehnhoff, and Lisa J. Rew. Invasive Plant Science and Management. V2: 1-9.
Read the summaries at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Northeastern Weed Science Society Sponsors Training
The Northeastern Weed Science Society is sponsoring a Noxious and Invasive Weed Management Short Course for public and private land managers. The four-day course will be held in September in Pennsylvania. View website.
--------------------------------------------------------
Report Compares Relocatable Commercial Vehicle Washing Systems
This report from the USDA Forest Service compares a range of vehicle washing systems with respect to efficacy, economics, waste containment, waste disposal, and the viability of any propagules that were collected in the cleaning process. View report.
--------------------------------------------------------
Of bats and ash trees
by Brian Mann, The In Box, North Country Public Radio
Climate change is a big deal. Behind the micro narratives and the daily turbulence of our busy lives, our world is changing at speeds that boggle the mind.
Humans are clearly the engine driving this planetary evolution. In part it's the carbon we pump into the air.
But it's also the critters we carry with us as we hustle and bustle around the globe.
In the short to mid term, invasive species transported by people will likely have a far more profound impact on our ecosystems than changing temperature.
Chris Knight reported recently in the Adirondack Enterprise on the Emerald ash borer, a type of beetle now in Western New York, Quebec and Ontario.
This invader, carried in bundles of firewood, is likely to kill most of the trees along the shore of Lake Flower in my home town of Saranac Lake.
It's also likely that white nose syndrome, the fungus that's eradicating bats in the Northeast, was introduced from Europe by humans.
(Candace Page, the Burlington Free Press's environmental writer, had a brilliant piece about WNS in Sunday's edition.)
The catalog of invaders seems to grow daily: zebra mussels, lamprey, "creek snot," Eurasian watermilfoil...
As these organisms eclipse or weaken native populations, altering the food chain, we could see dramatic changes in the fabric of our forests and waterways.
This has happened before on a smaller scale. Dutch elm disease was likely introduced to the United States in a shipment of wooden furniture from the Netherlands.
Through the 1900s, the fungus altered the landscape of urban America, destroying many of the trees that decorated avenues and neighborhoods.
The event we experience could be far more dramatic. What happens if 90% of bat species are abruptly extirpated?
What happens if ash trees -- 7% of the forests in New York state -- are decimated?
Add to those stresses the incremental pressure of changing temperatures and weather patterns.
In short, humans are conducting a kind of accidental experiment, heating the planet and mixing its ingredients with a giant spoon.
The twist, of course, is that we live inside the Petri dish.
Tomorrow during our regional broadcast, I'll report on white nose syndrome research continuing in the Champlain town of Willsboro.
Read The In Box blog at link.
Photo of bats with white nose syndrome by Al Hicks, NYSDEC.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spiny water flea threatens lake's food web
By Candace Page, BurlingtonFreePress.com
A leading lake researcher is warning a new invasive species that “is at our doorstep” represents a serious threat to the Lake Champlain ecosystem.
The invader is the spiny water flea, a tiny crustacean that can do outsize damage, said Tim Mihuc, director of the Lake Champlain Research Institute at the State University of New York in Plattsburgh. Mihuc said the flea represents “perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Lake Champlain.”
While other scientists and lake advocates use less-apocalyptic language to describe the threat, there is general agreement that the water flea could disrupt the Champlain food chain and make game fishing more difficult.
“The flea is undesirable food for fish. I’ve seen video of small perch trying to swallow them and spitting them out. It’s like eating toothpicks,” said Doug Jensen of Duluth, Minn., who works in a program to prevent the flea’s further spread in his state.
The flea’s imminent arrival here — it has invaded a nearby New York lake — has lent new urgency to talks about how to stop invasive species from traveling through the Champlain Canal between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. [...]
Anglers fear the water fleas in part because their thorn-like spines attach to fishing line, collecting in large globs that make trolling difficult or impossible.
In Vermont, Mihuc’s cry has been taken up by Lake Champlain International, the angling group, whose leader is urging the state Agency of Natural Resources to help prevent the water flea from reaching the state.
“Scientists have been warning about this threat, but they have a hard time getting traction with anybody but the fishing community,” LCI Executive Director James Ehlers said. “There are 21,000 LCI anglers. We want to know how we can help.”
The threat to Lake Champlain became more immediate last year when the creature was found in Great Sacandaga Lake, just west of Glens Falls.
The lake flows into the Sacandaga River, a tributary of the Hudson. The Champlain Canal connects the Hudson to Lake Champlain, providing the flea with a watery highway from New York to Vermont.
“The introduction of this exotic animal to a freshwater lake may ultimately destroy the natural food web resulting in a potential collapse of the game fishery,” Mihuc wrote last week to Ehlers. Mihuc is an expert on the lake’s plankton communities, the microscopic plants and animals that serve as food for larger creatures. [...]
Spiny water fleas have yet to reach the Champlain Canal, water samples taken this summer have shown. But the threat has mobilized new cooperation between the New York State Canal Corp., the Lake Champlain Basin Program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [...]
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Invasive water plants make inroads on Long Island
By Jennifer Smith, Newsday
Not long after last month's declaration that the Peconic River was free of a pesky invasive plant called water primrose, state biologists made a disheartening discovery about 25 miles west.
A few dozen stems of hydrilla - a voracious Southern weed that has choked bodies of water across the Northeast - were growing in Lake Ronkonkoma.
First spotted upstate last summer, hydrilla has since made inroads on Long Island, turning up at lakes in Sayville and Smithtown.
"It makes dense mats of vegetation; you can't rowboat through it," said Charles Guthrie, regional fisheries manager for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "If it were to come in and get established in other places, it could cause real problems."
Invasive aquatic plants crowd out native flora, hurt fish by robbing water of oxygen as the plants wither and decompose, and render lakes impassable to boaters and fishermen. The discovery last month at Lake Ronkonkoma highlights the challenges that officials and environmental advocates face as they struggle to keep these invaders out of local waters. Each year, invasive aquatic plants have a nationwide economic impact of $500 million, estimated a 2003 report from Cornell University. [...]
Local laws banning the sale of some invasive plants are being phased in by Nassau and Suffolk, and the state is working on its own list of nonnative species with an eye to future regulation.
But with little state or federal money to pay for eradication, the problem continues even as local governments dispatch aquatic mowers and weed-eating fish, and as volunteers labor to pull invaders from some of Long Island's best-loved water bodies. [...]
Read the full story at link.
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp | Volunteers remove invasive Water Chestnut plants from Mill Pond in Oyster Bay. / July 8, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Conference - August 11 & 12
Please note that the Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Conference will be held on August 11 and 12 at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. To find out more, visit the Calendar of Upcoming Invasive Species Events page on NYIS.INFO.
---------------------------------------------------------
NJ fingers mitten crab, fellow invaders
CourierPostOnline.com
Authorities have issued an all-points bulletin for a murky figure, but they're not seeking a criminal.Instead, be on the lookout for . . . well, let's quote the recent alert: "Public asked to report invasive mitten crabs."
Mitten crabs?
Ouch. That gives new meaning to "one for the thumb."
In fact, Chinese mitten crabs -- although native to Asia -- have surfaced recently in New Jersey waters, including the Delaware and Barnegat bays, state officials announced Friday.
And they're not our only foreign invaders. Authorities raised a similar alarm in June when a flathead catfish -- a "voracious predator"' normally found west of the Appalachians -- turned up in the Delaware River.
And then there's South Jersey's own strange specimen -- the Asian swamp eel, also known as the Gibbsboro gender-bender.
That's right. It's "Gills Gone Wild."
[...] If you catch a mitten crab, they say, don't throw it back alive.
Friday's alert encourages crabbers to take a close-up photo of their catch and to record key details for research scientists. These include the crustacean's sex, which -- if the crab's still alive -- should probably be determined with great care.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Online field guide to aquatic plants
Alabama has an online field guide to aquatic plants, including invasives, at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Munching on Garlic Mustard
A New Weevil in the Works
Garlic and mustard are common ingredients that can be found in American households. But garlic mustard? Well, that’s a different story.
Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, is considered one of the most problematic invaders of temperate forests in North America. According to legend, it was brought here from Europe in the 1860s as a culinary herb, but unfortunately, it doesn’t taste very good. Since then, garlic mustard has spread to 34 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces.
“Garlic mustard is an invasive plant that gets a lot of attention,” says ecologist Adam Davis, who has been studying the weed for years. “It’s very noticeable and hard to eradicate because of its seed bank.” [...]
A Model Solution
To better understand garlic mustard and find a suitable biocontrol, Davis—in collaboration with colleagues at Michigan State University, Cornell University, the University of Illinois, and the Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI) in Switzerland—created a computer model that simulates the weed’s life cycle.
“In part, we wanted to answer ecologists’ criticisms that biocontrol can potentially cause as many problems as it solves because of unintended consequences,” says Davis. “We were looking for a way to choose agents that are most likely to succeed while reducing their potential for harm to native plants and environments. Ideally, we want to try to release only one organism, if possible.”
Through this model, Davis was able to predict the type and severity of damage that would be needed to reduce garlic mustard’s population growth rates. Davis performed an analysis using computer code that enabled him to change one variable at a time while keeping all the others constant, allowing him to probe the life cycle for the plant’s weak point. He found that in order to make an impact, a biocontrol agent has to reduce garlic mustard’s survival in the rosette stage and its ability to reproduce in the adult stage.
Well before Davis created the life-cycle model, CABI scientists began looking for and testing potential biocontrol agents to tackle garlic mustard. They collected data on the amount of damage each insect could inflict on the garlic mustard population. From a list of more than 70 natural enemies found to be feeding on garlic mustard in Europe, four Ceutorhynchus weevils were selected as the most promising control agents.
Combining the feeding information collected by CABI scientists and the demographic information of garlic mustard in North America, Davis used the computerized life-cycle model to assess each weevil’s ability to inflict damage on the weed and inhibit its growth. One weevil, C. scrobicollis, came out on top.
High Hopes for Little Insect
The tiny C. scrobicollis has a life cycle of 1 year and produces one batch of offspring per lifetime. Itlays its eggs on garlic mustard’s leaf stems in the fall. When the eggs hatch in the spring, the larvae feed on the weed’s root crown, the area from which the rosette’s leaves grow and where nutrients are stored.By feeding on the root crown, C. scrobicollis stops the flow of nutrients and water from the roots to the rest of the plant. It also damages the meristem, the area of the plant where new growth takes place. As a result, garlic mustard produces fewer seeds or, in areas with high weevil populations, dies prematurely in early spring without producing any seeds.
C. scrobicollis also appears to be monophagous, meaning it eats just one thing: garlic mustard. That means scientists won’t have to worry about any unintended consequences when using this insect as a biocontrol agent.
During preliminary testing, CABI scientists believed C. scrobicollis was the best candidate to control garlic mustard. Putting the weevil’s feeding data through Davis’s life-cycle model confirmed their beliefs and created a stronger case for the permit process.
“The model gave teeth to the permit application to release this weevil in the United States,” says Davis. “It provided a peek into the future as to the impact the weevil could have on the garlic mustard population here.”
C. scrobicollis is currently in quarantine at the University of Minnesota. If all goes well, this beneficial weevil may soon be roaming North America to find a nice garlic mustard meal.—By Stephanie Yao, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
Read the full story at link.
Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis photo by H. Hinz and E. Gerber.
-------------------------------------------------------
Maine needs boaters in battle against unwelcome invaders
GAIL RICE/Maine Outdoor Journal
In August 2008, a visitor to Salmon Lake in Belgrade noticed some suspicious plants near the public boat landing at Kozy Cove. The visitor, a fisheries biologist from Tennessee who understood the threat that invasive aquatic plants pose to Maine's lakes and ponds, wasted no time notifying the proper authorities.
The plant was identified as Eurasian water milfoil, and quick action by state agencies and volunteers to remove it and ensure it would not spread means that the prognosis for Salmon Lake, also known as Ellis Pond, is encouraging.
Eurasian water milfoil is considered to be one of the most aggressive invasive aquatic plants in North America. It is believed to be rare in Maine, having been detected in only two bodies of water so far (the other being Pleasant Hill Pond in Scarborough). [...]
At the end of 2008, invasive aquatic plants had been found in 30 Maine lakes and ponds, out of 374 that had been screened since 2001.
Boaters can – and should – play a key role to prevent further infestations of such plants on Maine's inland waterways. They're among the most likely to spread the infestation to more lakes and ponds by transporting plant fragments on their boats, motors, trailers and other equipment. But an alert boater can help by knowing what plants to look for and what to do if they're found.
"If we can be aware and practice good habits when we launch and haul boats, we can make a real difference and keep invasive plants and organisms from getting into Maine lakes," says Roberta Hill, program director for the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants, part of the Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program.
The fight against invasive aquatic plants in Maine has three major elements: prevention, early detection and rapid response. The case in Belgrade illustrates the importance of the latter two elements.
But where boaters can help the most is with the first line of defense – prevention – which Hill describes as "the best bang for the buck" when it comes to stopping the spread.
The center has been working since the late 1990s to educate the boating public about what these plants look like, how they can harm Maine lakes and ponds, and what boaters can do to stop them from spreading. The battle kicked into high gear in 2002, when the state launched its Courtesy Boat Inspection Program, funded through the sale of lake and river protection stickers. All registered boats operated on inland waters must have a sticker.
The VLMP has trained hundreds of volunteers and state agency personnel on plant identification. These "citizen scientists" have become a familiar sight at boat ramps, where they ask questions and invite boaters to help inspect their watercraft and gear.
The volunteers hope boaters will get into the habit of self-inspecting when they launch or haul their boats.
Specifically, boaters on inland waters should inspect their craft and equipment thoroughly before every launch and after every haul-out. This includes not just the boat, trailer and motor, but also the anchor lines, fishing and dive gear, live wells, and even floating toys and duck decoys. If you find something, remove it, carry it to a location well away from the shoreline, and bury it.
"Anything that goes into one body of water, comes out, then goes into another lake or pond, is a potential vector," says Hill. She adds that the tiniest traces of invasive plant and animal species can be virtually invisible to the naked eye, so washing your boat bottom and letting it dry out for a few days before launching in other waters is an even better idea. [...]
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Mile-a-minute, purple loosestrife among weeds wreaking havoc in Massachusetts
By Jessica Fargen/BostonHerald.com
“It’s affecting our wetlands in a number of ways,” said Carly Rocklen, outreach director and restoration manager for Neponset River Watershed Association, which has a five-year plan to reduce purple loosestrife, a beautiful but damaging flowering weed. “There are some marsh birds that won’t nest in purple loosestrife. It alters soil and water chemistry.”
Last year, the association released 80,000-plus galerucella beetles in the Milton and Canton area to battle the weed.
Georgeann Keer, project manager in the division of ecological restoration at the state Department of Fish and Game, said purple loosestrife is well-established in Massachusetts.
On the Boston Harbor Islands, ecologists are waging a battle with Oriental bittersweet, a climbing vine with pretty red fruit that smothers native vegetation and can grow out of control. The vine has been found across the state and on Harbor Islands including Bumpkin Island.
“It’s one of the worst invaders currently affecting biodiversity,” said Marc Albert, stewardship program manager for the Boston Harbor Islands National Park area. “It’s pretty much everywhere.”
Albert said staff and volunteers are needed to keep the vine in check.
Albert also is keeping an eye on a similar invasive weed called kudzu, which has ravaged forests in the South and has been found on Peddocks Island. Albert said the small patch of kudzu on Peddocks Island has been reduced in recent years with the use of a mild herbicide and monitoring.
“It’s referred to as the scourge of the South because of its capacity to take over whole forest patches,” he said.
Another invasive weed, the mile-a-minute vine, is so established there’s little hope of eradicating it.
Mile-a-minute, which can grow up to 6 inches a day, has taken over 100 acres in Blue Hills Reservation, said Alexandra Echandi, forestry assistant at in the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s southern region. The vine can grow up to 30 feet on trees.
“It pretty much takes over the natural environment, not letting anything grow - that includes birds, butterflies and turtle habitats,” Echandi said.
Fighting the vine takes staff and dedicated volunteers who must yank the weeds out of the ground to keep the plants in check, she said. Echandi recently applied for a permit to unleash weevils, a type of bug that can destroy mile-a-minute. But Echandi said there is little hope that the vine will be permanently eliminated.Read the full story at link.
Photo by Stuart Cahill. Alexandra Echandi, a forestry assistant for the Boston Department of Conservation and Recreation, battles an infestation of mile-a-minute weed.
----------------------------------------------------------
Emerald ash borer plagues tree life in PABy Connie Mertz
For The Daily Item
There is a silent killer threatening to decimate ash trees across North America. So far, more than 25 million ash trees have succumbed to the deadly impact of a little beetle, known as the emerald ash borer.
"It was brought over from Asia in shipping crates and first discovered in Michigan in 2002," explained Weston Campbell, a summer intern attending Delaware Valley College who is working with Penn State Extension in Montour County.
Naturally spreading on an average of one-half mile a year, it has already reached portions of Pennsylvania.
The explanation of how it arrived in Pennsylvania so soon is a simple explained. "It has spread by satellite colonies. This is when something is moved," he elaborated. "In this case, it is through nursery stock and firewood."
Currently the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has quarantined Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin counties, and most recently Armstrong and Washington counties. The quarantine makes it unlawful to transport ash trees of any size, including their branches and limbs. [...]
To keep tabs on the spread of the invasive insect in Pennsylvania, purple panel sticky traps have been placed in ashes at various locations. These traps contain a blend of oils that are said to mimic chemicals emitted by stressed ash trees.
"The purple panel traps will not bring emerald ash borer into a noninfested site," said Greg Hoover, ornamental extension entomologist at Penn State University. "These traps help us determine if the pest is already there." [...]
Read the full story at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Emerald Ash Borer: Recommendations for Homeowner and Woodland Owner Action
Developed by: Peter Smallidge1, Holly Menninger1, Mark Whitmore1, and Charles O’Neill2. 1Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Department of Natural Resources, Ithaca, NY. 2NY Sea Grant, Cornell University, Rice Hall, Ithaca, NY.
The first occurrence of emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) in New York State was confirmed by USDA APHIS on June 17, 2009 in Randolph, NY (Cattaraugus County). An invasive beetle introduced from eastern Asia, EAB kills all species of ash trees native to North America, and has the potential to cause severe economic and ecological damage. First detected near Detroit in 2002 it has now spread to 13 states and two Canadian provinces. Ash mortality is 100% near Detroit and is widespread in all the affected areas.
http://nyis.info/insects/EmeraldAshBorer.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil, an invasive threat to U.S. waterbodies
Eurasian water milfoil is a fragile looking flora that was once a familiar plant to find in fresh water aquariums.
Even so, it did not stay there. Now it is believed to be an invasive species that threatens North American fresh water streams, rivers, pools and lakes.
In its native Eurasian environment it is a relatively harmless plant (but still a bit of a pest) but here, out of its normal waters, it takes over and destroys ecosystems, clogs water intakes and power plants, and makes them unsuitable for recreational purposes.
Read the full story and watch a video at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
USDA-APHIS has been tapped to implement the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention section of the 2008 Farm Bill which is authorized at 12 to 50 million dollars per year through fiscal year 2013. APHIS intends to engage stakeholders in designing "a risk-based approach to disburse funds" and implement the bill's provisions.
To date, the APHIS plan identifies six strategies to coordinate and fund:
- Enhance plant pest/disease analysis and survey
- Target domestic inspection activities at vulnerable points in the safeguarding continuum
- Enhance and strengthen pest identification and technology
- Safeguard nursery production
- Conduct outreach and education to increase public understanding, acceptance, and support of plant pest and disease eradication and control efforts
- Enhance mitigation capabilities
More information about the program can be found on the USDA-APHIS Plant Health website. The program's site also enables anyone to sign up to receive notices about related documents and events and also to offer comments.
-------------------------------------------------------
Weed Population Monitoring and Prioritizing for Management
News from the Center for Invasive Plant Management
Three publications that discuss the value of weed population monitoring and using a
decision support framework for prioritizing management are summarized.
Non-indigenous species management using a population prioritization
framework by Lisa J. Rew, Erik A. Lehnhoff, and Bruce D. Maxwell. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. V87: 1029-1036.
Quantifying Invasiveness of Plants: A Test Case with Yellow Toadflax
(Linaria vulgaris) by Erik A. Lehnhoff, Lisa J. Rew, Bruce D. Maxwell, and Mark L. Taper. Invasive Plant Science and Management. V1: 319-325.
The Rationale for Monitoring Invasive Plant Populations as a Crucial Step for
Management by Bruce D. Maxwell, Erik Lehnhoff, and Lisa J. Rew. Invasive Plant Science and Management. V2: 1-9.
Read the summaries at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Northeastern Weed Science Society Sponsors Training
The Northeastern Weed Science Society is sponsoring a Noxious and Invasive Weed Management Short Course for public and private land managers. The four-day course will be held in September in Pennsylvania. View website.
--------------------------------------------------------
Report Compares Relocatable Commercial Vehicle Washing Systems
This report from the USDA Forest Service compares a range of vehicle washing systems with respect to efficacy, economics, waste containment, waste disposal, and the viability of any propagules that were collected in the cleaning process. View report.
--------------------------------------------------------
Of bats and ash trees
by Brian Mann, The In Box, North Country Public Radio
Climate change is a big deal. Behind the micro narratives and the daily turbulence of our busy lives, our world is changing at speeds that boggle the mind.
Humans are clearly the engine driving this planetary evolution. In part it's the carbon we pump into the air.
But it's also the critters we carry with us as we hustle and bustle around the globe.
In the short to mid term, invasive species transported by people will likely have a far more profound impact on our ecosystems than changing temperature.
Chris Knight reported recently in the Adirondack Enterprise on the Emerald ash borer, a type of beetle now in Western New York, Quebec and Ontario.
This invader, carried in bundles of firewood, is likely to kill most of the trees along the shore of Lake Flower in my home town of Saranac Lake.
It's also likely that white nose syndrome, the fungus that's eradicating bats in the Northeast, was introduced from Europe by humans.(Candace Page, the Burlington Free Press's environmental writer, had a brilliant piece about WNS in Sunday's edition.)
The catalog of invaders seems to grow daily: zebra mussels, lamprey, "creek snot," Eurasian watermilfoil...
As these organisms eclipse or weaken native populations, altering the food chain, we could see dramatic changes in the fabric of our forests and waterways.
This has happened before on a smaller scale. Dutch elm disease was likely introduced to the United States in a shipment of wooden furniture from the Netherlands.
Through the 1900s, the fungus altered the landscape of urban America, destroying many of the trees that decorated avenues and neighborhoods.
The event we experience could be far more dramatic. What happens if 90% of bat species are abruptly extirpated?
What happens if ash trees -- 7% of the forests in New York state -- are decimated?
Add to those stresses the incremental pressure of changing temperatures and weather patterns.
In short, humans are conducting a kind of accidental experiment, heating the planet and mixing its ingredients with a giant spoon.
The twist, of course, is that we live inside the Petri dish.
Tomorrow during our regional broadcast, I'll report on white nose syndrome research continuing in the Champlain town of Willsboro.
Read The In Box blog at link.
Photo of bats with white nose syndrome by Al Hicks, NYSDEC.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spiny water flea threatens lake's food web
By Candace Page, BurlingtonFreePress.com
A leading lake researcher is warning a new invasive species that “is at our doorstep” represents a serious threat to the Lake Champlain ecosystem.The invader is the spiny water flea, a tiny crustacean that can do outsize damage, said Tim Mihuc, director of the Lake Champlain Research Institute at the State University of New York in Plattsburgh. Mihuc said the flea represents “perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Lake Champlain.”
While other scientists and lake advocates use less-apocalyptic language to describe the threat, there is general agreement that the water flea could disrupt the Champlain food chain and make game fishing more difficult.
“The flea is undesirable food for fish. I’ve seen video of small perch trying to swallow them and spitting them out. It’s like eating toothpicks,” said Doug Jensen of Duluth, Minn., who works in a program to prevent the flea’s further spread in his state.
The flea’s imminent arrival here — it has invaded a nearby New York lake — has lent new urgency to talks about how to stop invasive species from traveling through the Champlain Canal between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. [...]
Anglers fear the water fleas in part because their thorn-like spines attach to fishing line, collecting in large globs that make trolling difficult or impossible.
In Vermont, Mihuc’s cry has been taken up by Lake Champlain International, the angling group, whose leader is urging the state Agency of Natural Resources to help prevent the water flea from reaching the state.
“Scientists have been warning about this threat, but they have a hard time getting traction with anybody but the fishing community,” LCI Executive Director James Ehlers said. “There are 21,000 LCI anglers. We want to know how we can help.”
The threat to Lake Champlain became more immediate last year when the creature was found in Great Sacandaga Lake, just west of Glens Falls.
The lake flows into the Sacandaga River, a tributary of the Hudson. The Champlain Canal connects the Hudson to Lake Champlain, providing the flea with a watery highway from New York to Vermont.
“The introduction of this exotic animal to a freshwater lake may ultimately destroy the natural food web resulting in a potential collapse of the game fishery,” Mihuc wrote last week to Ehlers. Mihuc is an expert on the lake’s plankton communities, the microscopic plants and animals that serve as food for larger creatures. [...]
Spiny water fleas have yet to reach the Champlain Canal, water samples taken this summer have shown. But the threat has mobilized new cooperation between the New York State Canal Corp., the Lake Champlain Basin Program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [...]
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Invasive water plants make inroads on Long Island
By Jennifer Smith, Newsday
Not long after last month's declaration that the Peconic River was free of a pesky invasive plant called water primrose, state biologists made a disheartening discovery about 25 miles west.A few dozen stems of hydrilla - a voracious Southern weed that has choked bodies of water across the Northeast - were growing in Lake Ronkonkoma.
First spotted upstate last summer, hydrilla has since made inroads on Long Island, turning up at lakes in Sayville and Smithtown.
"It makes dense mats of vegetation; you can't rowboat through it," said Charles Guthrie, regional fisheries manager for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "If it were to come in and get established in other places, it could cause real problems."
Invasive aquatic plants crowd out native flora, hurt fish by robbing water of oxygen as the plants wither and decompose, and render lakes impassable to boaters and fishermen. The discovery last month at Lake Ronkonkoma highlights the challenges that officials and environmental advocates face as they struggle to keep these invaders out of local waters. Each year, invasive aquatic plants have a nationwide economic impact of $500 million, estimated a 2003 report from Cornell University. [...]
Local laws banning the sale of some invasive plants are being phased in by Nassau and Suffolk, and the state is working on its own list of nonnative species with an eye to future regulation.
But with little state or federal money to pay for eradication, the problem continues even as local governments dispatch aquatic mowers and weed-eating fish, and as volunteers labor to pull invaders from some of Long Island's best-loved water bodies. [...]
Read the full story at link.
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp | Volunteers remove invasive Water Chestnut plants from Mill Pond in Oyster Bay. / July 8, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------
Monday, June 22, 2009
Week of June 22, 2009
Updated June 27
--------------------------------------------------------
Program on alien plants to be held at Five Rivers Center, NY
A program on the natural history of the common reed, or phragmites, will be conducted Tuesday, July 14, 7 PM, at Five Rivers Center, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, NY.
Phragmites is an invasive species that is threatening Five Rivers' wetlands. Join Center naturalists in a "plant posse" as we try to eradicate these plants near our pond by clipping them back. Bring gloves and clippers and dress for the outdoors.
This program is open to the public free of charge. Participants are urged to dress for outdoor activity. Water-friendly footgear is suggested. In the event of inclement weather this program may be canceled. For more information, call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Five Rivers Environmental Education Center at (518) 475-0291.
Laurel Remus
Director of Public Affairs and Education
--------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil discovered in Lake Placid, NY
The Board of Trustees of the Lake Placid Shore Owners' Association (LPSOA) today reported that a strain or strains of milfoil have been discovered at three sites on Lake Placid. Over the past week, two separate samples were removed from Paradox Bay and one from East Lake. Biologists working with the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) have tentatively identified two of the samples as Variable Leaf Milfoil (VLM).
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension describes Variable Leaf Milfoil as "an aggressive aquatic plant that can form dense mats that congest waterways and crowd out native aquatic plants. Thick growth of this plant can impair recreational uses of waterways including boating, swimming and fishing. Dense growth of variable-leaf milfoil degrades the native habitat of fish and other wildlife, and may also provide breeding areas for mosquitoes. The main method of dispersal of this plant appears to be fragmentation. Plant fragments are moved around by people, animals and water currents."
APIPP has not yet listed VLM as an aquatic invasive species, but has placed it on an invasives watch list. Locally, VLM is the dominant milfoil growth on Lake Flower in the Village of Saranac Lake, and is found on Long, and Raquette Lakes among others.
Lake Placid Shore Owners' Association President Mark Wilson released the following statement:
"The discovery of this potentially aggressive plant in our waters marks a significant moment in the natural history of Placid Lake, as well as a turning point for the broader Lake Placid/North Elba community and communities throughout the region. The threat posed by invasive organisms to our environment, and ultimately to the economic livelihood of our region is serious and advancing. The Village of Lake Placid, Town of North Elba, Shore Owner's Association, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and other state and local agencies need to act quickly to contain any existing colonies of VLM and work to prevent any further introduction of aggressive aquatic plants into our lake."
State agencies, local governments and private boat launch owners throughout the northern Adirondacks must take responsibility for preventing the export of invasive or nuisance aquatic organisms by boats and trailers leaving their launch sites."
On Friday, June 26 and Sunday, June 28, APIPP personnel and LPSOA volunteers will be mapping outbreak locations on Paradox Bay and on East Lake in the vicinity of the Lake Placid Marina and the adjacent DEC boat launch site. Boaters operating in these areas are urged to do so with utmost caution and to avoid driving through any aquatic weed patch visible beneath the lake surface.
Posted by Mark Wilson
Adirondack Almanac
Illustration from the
MINNESOTA SHORELAND MANAGEMENT RESOURCE GUIDE
---------------------------------------------------------
2009 Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference
September 22-24, 2009
Edgewater Beach Resort
Panama City Beach, Florida
Registration is now open for the 2009 Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference.
The registration fee, combined with funds contributed by the generous sponsors, provides each attendee the educational program, course materials, a Book of Presentations, morning, mid-day and afternoon refreshments, the Tuesday evening networking social and Wednesday's welcome reception.
Early Reduced Registration Fee (By July 31, 2009) $225.00
Guest Fee (10 years of age and older) $75.00
Click here to view the agenda.
For additional information and updates on the conference, please bookmark and visit our website http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sin5i7cab.0.0.7x7uzlcab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conference.ifas.ufl.edu%2Fsehac&id=preview.
Jhanna Gilbert, Conference Coordinator
University of Florida, IFAS
UF Leadership & Education Foundation, Inc.
Office of Conferences & Institutes
---------------------------------------------------------
WEBINAR Announcement – Emerald Ash Borer in New York: The Insect, The Impact, and Your Options
The emerald ash borer (EAB) was detected in western New York on June 14, 2009. Although the insect was anticipated, its presence will result in significant changes in both rural and urban woodlands throughout the state. In other states, infestation by EAB resulted in significant losses among all ash species and unexpected stress on rural and urban owners, communities and businesses.
An Internet webinar will be offered on Thursday June 25 at 10:00 AM (eastern). Participation in the webinar requires a high-speed Internet connection and speakers to listen. The webinar will address the insect, its potential impact in New York, options for management, and identify sources of information. The webinar will be interactive and presented by Mark Whitmore of the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources. The webinar is free, but participants must register through http://www.forestconnect.info/ to receive the URL to connect. More information about webinars is available at the ForestConnect website. The webinar will be recorded and available for subsequent viewing. Webinar technology is made available through Cornell University Cooperative Extension. More information about the emerald ash borer in New York is available at http://nyis.info/.
If you have previously registered for webinars through ForestConnect, you do not need to re-register.
Peter J. Smallidge
NYS Extension Forester and Director, Arnot Teaching and Research Forest
Cornell University
116 Fernow HallIthaca, NY 14853
http://www.forestconnect.info/
http://www.cornellmaple.info/
http://www.arnotforest.info/
---------------------------------------------------------
EAB Webinar available online
Great effort by Peter Smallidge, Mark Whitmore, Holly Menninger and others to make available the 06-25 EAB webinar. 06-25-09 Emerald Ash Borer presentation by Mark Whitmore-Cornell is available at http://breeze.cce.cornell.edu/p16366720/
One of many archived resource PPTs from http://www.forestconnect.info/
Re: Monitoring or reporting suspected occurrence: EAB Incident Command System contact is Russ Biss, DEC Region 9 Natural Resources Supervisor. He can be reached at the command post at 716-938-6181. He may refer callers to others, depending on the nature of the call.
Paul Fuhrmann
ecology and environment, inc.
http://www.ene.com/
---------------------------------------------------------
Handling eco-squatters in Kentucky
By JOHN FRIEDLEIN, The News-Enterprise (http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/)
As the saying goes, when a butterfly flaps its wings in China, a hurricane is created somewhere else in the world.
Well, what if a gypsy moth flaps its wings in Kentucky?
All sorts of things we’d probably never guess would happen are happening as invasive species overrun this region.
Those purple traps dangling from more than 100 trees in Hardin County, for instance, are part of a larger battle that may help keep the baseball bat industry from striking out.
Also, the proliferation of non-native species may even lead to more crime, said Songlin Fei, a University of Kentucky professor who has spent a lot of time mapping and monitoring invasives.
He called the situation created by their spread “critical.”
This state could play a crucial role keeping them in check. Because of its unique geographical position, it’s one of the key areas for stopping or slowing the assault, according to UK’s Invasive Species Working Group.
Emerald ash borers – whose spread is monitored by the purple traps – are just one of many invasive species wreaking havoc in the state. Fire ants are marching across the Tennessee border. Gypsy moths — which, like the borers, defoliate trees — are tramping into the northeastern part of Kentucky. Kudzu — well, don’t lie down too long outside. [...]
Read the full story at link
John Friedlein can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or jfriedlein@ thenewsenterprise.com. His Stories from the Heartland column appears Mondays in The News-Enterprise.
----------------------------------------------------------
Invasive species impact Pennsylvania's 2009 bass forecast
By Mike Bleech, Pennsylvania Game and Fish
The biggest news in Pennsylvania bass fishing over the past few years has been problems with smallmouth bass recruitment in the Susquehanna River. However, this should not mislead bass anglers into thinking that the outlook for 2009 is anything less than very good. Bad news makes better headlines than good news. There are plenty of good stories to tell.
DISEASE ALERT
However, before the good news there is an important message for Keystone State bass anglers about measures they can take to protect our bass resources. Largemouth bass virus has been documented in Pennsylvania since about 2005, most notably at Francis J. Sayers Lake, a lake in the central part of the commonwealth, which is extremely popular among bass tournament anglers.
More recently another virus, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, was detected in the Great Lakes. Regulations have been adopted in all Great Lakes states to prevent its spread. Guidelines for anglers are about the same as those for preventing the spread of largemouth bass virus, but there are specific regulations governing the movement of fish.
"I think prevention and awareness are important among anglers," said Bob Lorantas, Warmwater Unit leader for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. "It's best not to move bass around because you could potentially be introducing something you really don't want. And certainly if you fish out of state a lot, or fish a lot of different waters, using the sterilization techniques that are effective for zebra mussels would be a good procedure to avoid harming your favorite bass water."
Lorantas said that anglers should check the boat, motor and trailer for hitchhikers including weeds when they remove their boat from the water.
"Wash the boat hull with hot water or a high-pressure spray," he advised. "Drain the livewell, bilge and other compartments, and drain all standing water from the boat. Do not dump leftover bait into the water where you are fishing unless you collected the bait there.
"You may want to refrain from moving fish from Point A to Point B anywhere in the state because you run the risk of transporting harmful creatures that you really don't want to move around: microorganisms, disease organisms in particular, things that may actually do more harm than good," Lorantas said.
Anglers have done great damage to countless fisheries because they introduced nuisance invasive species. Sometimes this has been accidental, but in many cases, it has been intentional.
Often, anglers have introduced fish into waters because they wanted to create new fisheries for their favorite fish. In many cases, the results have been disastrous. A classic case is the carp, which was brought to America centuries ago by colonists. In Europe this species had been, and still is, highly prized, but in America it's still considered a "trash fish" that muddies the water, ruins habitat and devours the eggs of more popular species. [...]
Read the full article at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Microbes may be answer to invasive mussels
Posted By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN, STANDARD STAFF
An eco-friendly bacteria that kills invasive mussels will be tested for the first time in Canada at the Decew Falls hydro plant.
Ontario Power Generation will monitor the specialized microbe's ability to kill zebra and quagga mussels, which threaten power production at the combined 170-megawatt power stations on Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines.
Normally, the power producer uses up to 20,000 litres of chlorine every year to control the tiny mussels at its Niagara generators, said Tony Van Oostrom, a senior environmental adviser for OPG.
"If we don't treat it, our cooling systems get plugged and the plant shuts down," Van Oostrom said of the fast-multiplying mussels, which are notorious for plugging water-intake pipes, ruining underwater machinery and coating the underside of boats.
Chlorine kills mussels, but it can also poison fish, plants and other aquatic life.
Van Oostrom said OPG has managed to cut down its total chlorine use from 100,000 litres a year over the last decade. "But if this works, we could stop using it completely," he said.
It has worked incredibly well in smaller-scale tests so far, said Daniel Molloy, a scientist with the New York State Museum who discovered the potential of Pseudomas fluorescens.
"We tested this bacteria in many small-scale trials," Molloy told a crowd at the announcement at Decew Falls Generating Station Tuesday. "It kills zebra and quagga mussels, but even more importantly, no other aquatic organism died. This is extraordinary."
Molloy has teamed up with a California company, Marrone Bio Innovations, to market the bacteria as a product. "This is not only the first Canadian trial for my little bacterium, but the first worldwide trial ... on this scale," he said.
The mashed-up microbes are introduced into the water as a food source for the bacteria-loving mollusks, which won't clam up to protect themselves as they do with chemical killers.
"They eat the stuff, they're happy and then they're dead," said Van Oostrom, who plans to have a full-scale test of the bacteria running by August.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Maryland: Commissioners consider changes to weed-control ordinance
By HEATHER KEELS, The Herald-Mail
WASHINGTON COUNTY — As they considered potential changes to the county’s weed-control ordinance Tuesday morning, the Washington County Commissioners heard feedback from people with two very different visions for the future of residential subdivisions.
One side values the suburban tradition of neat, weed-free lawns with carpets of 2 1/2-inch grass.
The other, promoted by Washington County Soil Conservation District Manager Elmer Weibley, predicts a future in which tall, native grasses are not only permitted, but could be required in parts of new residential subdivisions as an environmental management strategy. [...]
Read the full story at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
Popular or not, Maryland DNR is doing the right thing
Gail Mackiernan, Silver Spring
I want to respond to June 17 letters relative to the Department of Natural Resources' decision to eliminate exotic mute swans from the Chesapeake Bay. I continue to wonder why the writers express so little concern for the plight of the native species directly and indirectly harmed by mute swans.
These range from threatened water birds to blue crabs and other animals that depend on submerged vegetation for survival. (And make no mistake, mute swans eat a lot of Bay grasses, as has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed studies. These data are easy to find but some choose to ignore it.)
It is unfortunate that many are vocal in seeking protection for this voracious and aggressive bird while showing no concern over its impacts on our many beautiful native creatures or on the Bay environment itself.
Have they ever seen our native tundra swans flying in like white ghosts, to land in the autumn Bay after their long journey south from the Arctic? And, have they then seen the larger mute swan attack, drive off and even injure their smaller cousin, leading to continuing declines in their numbers? Those of us who spend time on the Bay can relate numerous instances.
And what about the summer grass beds eaten out by flocks of mute swans? Or the native birds that have been driven off by aggressive nesting mutes? Are these not also worthy of our concern?
Keep 500 mute swans? It only took a flock of 50 molting mutes to completely wipe out the only black skimmer colony in Maryland. In 1989 there were 500 mutes in the Bay; by 1999 these has exploded to almost 4,000! Mute swans can live 30 years and have high reproductive rate; only complete removal of the adults will halt their damage to the Bay's ecosystem.
Obviously humane methods should be used but the state needs to continue with its well-researched control efforts.
Popular or not, DNR is doing the correct thing — invasive, non-native species are one of the greatest threats to aquatic ecosystems worldwide and they should be eradicated wherever possible. For this reason Bay scientists and environmental groups such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, National Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy as well as the Maryland Ornithological Society, all supported the state's 2003 decision to eliminate mute swans from the Chesapeake. The reasons for their support have not changed. [...]
Read the full letter at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
War on milfoil resumes in New Hampshire's lakes
By Donna Rhodes, NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com
LAKES REGION — A growing problem in N.H. is again drawing attention as crews set out to tackle milfoil problems in the lakes.
Spring is an opportune time to begin the task of eradication of this noxious weed as plants have not yet grown to their full potential. The state Department of Environmental Services has targeted areas like Jay's Marina in Tilton to address through a five-year plan of weed eradication.
2-4d, a chemical component known to not just defoliate but spread to the roots of the plant, was sprayed at the marina's dock area earlier this month. It is the first step in attacking the problem when it grows out of control.
"It's a process," said state limnologist Jody Connor. "They sprayed on Friday and will go back and spray again later when they can move some of the boats out of the way to get underneath them, too."
The chemical disperses in the water column quickly, heading into the root system of the milfoil. Although bass have nested in the area, they leave when disturbed by the spraying and return later. Connor assured that the chemical does not affect them as a part of the food chain.
"This chemical (2-4 d) is an herbicide and we use such a low concentration of it in the spraying," Connor said. "It's taken up through the root system of the plant very quickly and kills it, especially the crowns."
Following the spraying, Connor said a crew would most likely be sent in to hand harvest some of the remaining plants.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Rocky Horror
By Jennifer Forman Orth, Invasive Species Weblog
A guy in New York is celebrating today because his ginormous, so-ugly-its-cute pet snakehead fish, named "Rocky," has been given a reprieve by the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. As long as he applies for a permit (and pays the $500 permit fee), he can keep Rocky in a tank.
--------------------------------------------------------
Georgia panel suggests using fish to clear weeds from river
By Rob Pavey, AugustaChronicle.com
If you can't kill the weeds, maybe you can hire fish to eat them.
That was the consensus Monday of an Augusta Port Authority subcommittee working to find a solution for aquatic weeds that have all but closed off portions of the Savannah River.
"The grass carp is what the committee, apparently, wants to pursue," authority Chairman Frank Carl said. "But before we do anything, we need to get more specifics on how many carp, when and where to put them in, and all the details we need to build a budget."
Aquatic weeds in the river include dense mats of Brazilian elodea -- an invasive exotic -- that are choking shallow areas around homes and docks. The weed beds also trap litter and silt, causing the channel to gradually shrink or fill in.
Though control options include investing in a mechanical harvester or herbicides, the use of sterile grass carp that feed voraciously on the unwanted vegetation is probably the best idea, committee member Bill Bricker said.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
New York State DEC: Tangling with new invasive species
By John Hopkins, Niagara Gazette
Another invasive species has arrived in Western New York, and state officials are taking up arms to eradicate the creatures.
Although it doesn’t pose a threat to humans, the emerald ash borer, a type of beetle native to Asia, has the potential to wipe out the ash tree population — on a grander scale than what Dutch elm disease did to urban landscapes in the 1960s and ’70s.
It would also, state officials say, have an impact on the state and national economies. The eastern U.S. produces $25 million in ash timber a year. When you factor in other businesses that benefit from ash wood, the economic losses nationwide could be more than $20 billion.
Officials say it was only a matter of time before the insect arrived in New York state.
“It is not surprising,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker. “This beetle has been detected on either side of Lake Ontario for several years now and there is little that can be done to stop the natural spread of this devastating pest.”
Since its 2002 detection in the U.S., the beetle has migrated from where it was first found — the Detroit area — to 13 states and at least two Canadian provinces.
[...]
The adult beetle leaves behind a D-shaped hole that is difficult to notice at first.
Signs that a tree is infected by the beetle include the canopy dying off; a yellowing, extensive sprouting from the roots and trunk; and browning of leaves. Infested trees may also exhibit woodpecker damage.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Lake Zoar, CT to be treated for Eurasian watermilfoil
VoicesNEWS.com
MONROE-NEWTOWN-OXFORD-SOUTHBURY, CT. - Selected areas of Lake Zoar will be chemically treated Wednesday, July 1, with the USEPA/CT registered aquatic herbicide Reward.
This chemical treatment targets control of invasive and non-invasive Eurasian watermilfoil weed.
Approximately 41 acres of this 900 acre lake will be treated. Only specific treatment areas will be closed to all water uses, including swimming, fishing and boating, on the day of treatment only.
A map showing the specific treatment areas will be posted at the State Boat Ramp, at other public access sites to the lake and at the town offices in each of the four communities of Monroe, Newtown, Oxford and Southbury.
Prior to treatment, the lake shoreline in the treatment areas and at public access sites will be posted with printed signs, warning of the temporary water use restrictions.
In addition to the aforementioned restricted water uses, additional restrictions include no use of the lake water for watering livestock for five days (i.e. cattle, horses, etc., which does not apply to pets and wildlife that may drink the lake water); no use for irrigation for five days (watering lawns, shrubs, gardens or plants of any kind); and no use of the treated lake water for drinking for five days.
The Authority has engaged an independent, professional lake consultant who will monitor the effectiveness and results of this treatment. The chemical treatment will be performed by Aquatic Control Technology, Inc., of Sutton, Mass.
Aquatic Control is a leading lake management company that performs chemical treatments on more than 150 ponds/lakes each year in Connecticut alone. It has used this same herbicide previously at Bantam Lake and Lake Lillinonah with good success.
Those seeking additional information about this treatment may call Bernie Litzner at 203-736-6894.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
St. Lawrence Seaway's 50th anniversary soiled by invaders
By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel
Fifty years ago Friday, President Dwight Eisenhower and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walked down a red carpet, climbed aboard a "floating palace" of a yacht named Britannia, and ceremoniously sailed through the St. Lambert lock near Montreal to hail the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The $470 million system of channels, locks and dams was built to open the Great Lakes to the rest of the world.
And it did, for better and for worse.
The Seaway has turned out to be something of a boutique regional transportation route for two primary commodities, inbound foreign steel and outbound domestic grain.
Yet, opening the once-isolated freshwater lakes to the rest of the world brought more than dollars. The invasive species that arrived with the foreign cargo have wrought ecological and economic chaos.
Zebra and quagga mussels are only two of about 60 foreign species that have arrived as hitchhikers aboard oceangoing vessels since the Seaway opened. And these little mollusks alone have cost us billions of dollars by plugging industrial water intakes, starving fish populations and triggering algae outbreaks that have trashed treasured shorelines.
"The damage invasive species have caused to the Great Lakes is astounding," said Dennis Schornack, former U.S. chair of the International Joint Commission. "But, what's most frustrating is that we still haven't closed this door."
A coalition of 50 organizations is marking Friday's anniversary with a renewed demand for changes in the shipping industry to protect the world's largest freshwater system. It has outlined seven principles it wants the industry to embrace in the coming years.
The principles call on the industry to stop dumping its biological pollution in harbors, drop any designs to expand the Seaway, minimize its ice-breaking activities in sensitive areas, and reduce air emissions, among other things.
Conservationists point to President Barack Obama's plan to pump new dollars into Great Lakes restoration efforts as reason to lean on the shipping industry to do more to protect the lakes.
"If the Obama administration is going to be investing nearly a half-billion dollars into restoration in the next year, then we have to ensure that shipping doesn't undo all that," said Jennifer Nalbone of the conservation group Great Lakes United.
[...]
The lakes are now home to more than 185 non-native species. In the past nine years, a new species has been discovered, on average, about every eight months - among the latest being a tiny red shrimp found in Lake Michigan in late 2006.
Conservationists want federal legislation requiring ship owners to install ballast tank treatment systems to kill freshwater invaders, though Congress has been working unsuccessfully on the issue for years.
Frustrated by the inaction, Great Lakes states have begun taking matters into their own hands. Michigan and New York have passed their own ballast regulations, which have successfully withstood legal action from the shipping industry. [...]
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
Program on alien plants to be held at Five Rivers Center, NY
A program on the natural history of the common reed, or phragmites, will be conducted Tuesday, July 14, 7 PM, at Five Rivers Center, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, NY.Phragmites is an invasive species that is threatening Five Rivers' wetlands. Join Center naturalists in a "plant posse" as we try to eradicate these plants near our pond by clipping them back. Bring gloves and clippers and dress for the outdoors.
This program is open to the public free of charge. Participants are urged to dress for outdoor activity. Water-friendly footgear is suggested. In the event of inclement weather this program may be canceled. For more information, call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Five Rivers Environmental Education Center at (518) 475-0291.
Laurel Remus
Director of Public Affairs and Education
--------------------------------------------------------
Milfoil discovered in Lake Placid, NY
The Board of Trustees of the Lake Placid Shore Owners' Association (LPSOA) today reported that a strain or strains of milfoil have been discovered at three sites on Lake Placid. Over the past week, two separate samples were removed from Paradox Bay and one from East Lake. Biologists working with the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) have tentatively identified two of the samples as Variable Leaf Milfoil (VLM).The University of Maine Cooperative Extension describes Variable Leaf Milfoil as "an aggressive aquatic plant that can form dense mats that congest waterways and crowd out native aquatic plants. Thick growth of this plant can impair recreational uses of waterways including boating, swimming and fishing. Dense growth of variable-leaf milfoil degrades the native habitat of fish and other wildlife, and may also provide breeding areas for mosquitoes. The main method of dispersal of this plant appears to be fragmentation. Plant fragments are moved around by people, animals and water currents."
APIPP has not yet listed VLM as an aquatic invasive species, but has placed it on an invasives watch list. Locally, VLM is the dominant milfoil growth on Lake Flower in the Village of Saranac Lake, and is found on Long, and Raquette Lakes among others.
Lake Placid Shore Owners' Association President Mark Wilson released the following statement:
"The discovery of this potentially aggressive plant in our waters marks a significant moment in the natural history of Placid Lake, as well as a turning point for the broader Lake Placid/North Elba community and communities throughout the region. The threat posed by invasive organisms to our environment, and ultimately to the economic livelihood of our region is serious and advancing. The Village of Lake Placid, Town of North Elba, Shore Owner's Association, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and other state and local agencies need to act quickly to contain any existing colonies of VLM and work to prevent any further introduction of aggressive aquatic plants into our lake."
State agencies, local governments and private boat launch owners throughout the northern Adirondacks must take responsibility for preventing the export of invasive or nuisance aquatic organisms by boats and trailers leaving their launch sites."
On Friday, June 26 and Sunday, June 28, APIPP personnel and LPSOA volunteers will be mapping outbreak locations on Paradox Bay and on East Lake in the vicinity of the Lake Placid Marina and the adjacent DEC boat launch site. Boaters operating in these areas are urged to do so with utmost caution and to avoid driving through any aquatic weed patch visible beneath the lake surface.
Posted by Mark Wilson
Adirondack Almanac
Illustration from the
MINNESOTA SHORELAND MANAGEMENT RESOURCE GUIDE
---------------------------------------------------------
2009 Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference
September 22-24, 2009
Edgewater Beach Resort
Panama City Beach, Florida
Registration is now open for the 2009 Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference.
The registration fee, combined with funds contributed by the generous sponsors, provides each attendee the educational program, course materials, a Book of Presentations, morning, mid-day and afternoon refreshments, the Tuesday evening networking social and Wednesday's welcome reception.
Early Reduced Registration Fee (By July 31, 2009) $225.00
Guest Fee (10 years of age and older) $75.00
Click here to view the agenda.
For additional information and updates on the conference, please bookmark and visit our website http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sin5i7cab.0.0.7x7uzlcab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conference.ifas.ufl.edu%2Fsehac&id=preview.
Jhanna Gilbert, Conference Coordinator
University of Florida, IFAS
UF Leadership & Education Foundation, Inc.
Office of Conferences & Institutes
---------------------------------------------------------
WEBINAR Announcement – Emerald Ash Borer in New York: The Insect, The Impact, and Your Options
The emerald ash borer (EAB) was detected in western New York on June 14, 2009. Although the insect was anticipated, its presence will result in significant changes in both rural and urban woodlands throughout the state. In other states, infestation by EAB resulted in significant losses among all ash species and unexpected stress on rural and urban owners, communities and businesses.
An Internet webinar will be offered on Thursday June 25 at 10:00 AM (eastern). Participation in the webinar requires a high-speed Internet connection and speakers to listen. The webinar will address the insect, its potential impact in New York, options for management, and identify sources of information. The webinar will be interactive and presented by Mark Whitmore of the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources. The webinar is free, but participants must register through http://www.forestconnect.info/ to receive the URL to connect. More information about webinars is available at the ForestConnect website. The webinar will be recorded and available for subsequent viewing. Webinar technology is made available through Cornell University Cooperative Extension. More information about the emerald ash borer in New York is available at http://nyis.info/.
If you have previously registered for webinars through ForestConnect, you do not need to re-register.
Peter J. Smallidge
NYS Extension Forester and Director, Arnot Teaching and Research Forest
Cornell University
116 Fernow HallIthaca, NY 14853
http://www.forestconnect.info/
http://www.cornellmaple.info/
http://www.arnotforest.info/
---------------------------------------------------------
EAB Webinar available online
Great effort by Peter Smallidge, Mark Whitmore, Holly Menninger and others to make available the 06-25 EAB webinar. 06-25-09 Emerald Ash Borer presentation by Mark Whitmore-Cornell is available at http://breeze.cce.cornell.edu/p16366720/
One of many archived resource PPTs from http://www.forestconnect.info/
Re: Monitoring or reporting suspected occurrence: EAB Incident Command System contact is Russ Biss, DEC Region 9 Natural Resources Supervisor. He can be reached at the command post at 716-938-6181. He may refer callers to others, depending on the nature of the call.
Paul Fuhrmann
ecology and environment, inc.
http://www.ene.com/
---------------------------------------------------------
Handling eco-squatters in Kentucky
By JOHN FRIEDLEIN, The News-Enterprise (http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/)
As the saying goes, when a butterfly flaps its wings in China, a hurricane is created somewhere else in the world.
Well, what if a gypsy moth flaps its wings in Kentucky?
All sorts of things we’d probably never guess would happen are happening as invasive species overrun this region.
Those purple traps dangling from more than 100 trees in Hardin County, for instance, are part of a larger battle that may help keep the baseball bat industry from striking out.
Also, the proliferation of non-native species may even lead to more crime, said Songlin Fei, a University of Kentucky professor who has spent a lot of time mapping and monitoring invasives.
He called the situation created by their spread “critical.”
This state could play a crucial role keeping them in check. Because of its unique geographical position, it’s one of the key areas for stopping or slowing the assault, according to UK’s Invasive Species Working Group.
Emerald ash borers – whose spread is monitored by the purple traps – are just one of many invasive species wreaking havoc in the state. Fire ants are marching across the Tennessee border. Gypsy moths — which, like the borers, defoliate trees — are tramping into the northeastern part of Kentucky. Kudzu — well, don’t lie down too long outside. [...]
Read the full story at link
John Friedlein can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or jfriedlein@ thenewsenterprise.com. His Stories from the Heartland column appears Mondays in The News-Enterprise.
----------------------------------------------------------
Invasive species impact Pennsylvania's 2009 bass forecast
By Mike Bleech, Pennsylvania Game and Fish
The biggest news in Pennsylvania bass fishing over the past few years has been problems with smallmouth bass recruitment in the Susquehanna River. However, this should not mislead bass anglers into thinking that the outlook for 2009 is anything less than very good. Bad news makes better headlines than good news. There are plenty of good stories to tell.
DISEASE ALERT
However, before the good news there is an important message for Keystone State bass anglers about measures they can take to protect our bass resources. Largemouth bass virus has been documented in Pennsylvania since about 2005, most notably at Francis J. Sayers Lake, a lake in the central part of the commonwealth, which is extremely popular among bass tournament anglers.
More recently another virus, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, was detected in the Great Lakes. Regulations have been adopted in all Great Lakes states to prevent its spread. Guidelines for anglers are about the same as those for preventing the spread of largemouth bass virus, but there are specific regulations governing the movement of fish.
"I think prevention and awareness are important among anglers," said Bob Lorantas, Warmwater Unit leader for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. "It's best not to move bass around because you could potentially be introducing something you really don't want. And certainly if you fish out of state a lot, or fish a lot of different waters, using the sterilization techniques that are effective for zebra mussels would be a good procedure to avoid harming your favorite bass water."
Lorantas said that anglers should check the boat, motor and trailer for hitchhikers including weeds when they remove their boat from the water.
"Wash the boat hull with hot water or a high-pressure spray," he advised. "Drain the livewell, bilge and other compartments, and drain all standing water from the boat. Do not dump leftover bait into the water where you are fishing unless you collected the bait there.
"You may want to refrain from moving fish from Point A to Point B anywhere in the state because you run the risk of transporting harmful creatures that you really don't want to move around: microorganisms, disease organisms in particular, things that may actually do more harm than good," Lorantas said.
Anglers have done great damage to countless fisheries because they introduced nuisance invasive species. Sometimes this has been accidental, but in many cases, it has been intentional.
Often, anglers have introduced fish into waters because they wanted to create new fisheries for their favorite fish. In many cases, the results have been disastrous. A classic case is the carp, which was brought to America centuries ago by colonists. In Europe this species had been, and still is, highly prized, but in America it's still considered a "trash fish" that muddies the water, ruins habitat and devours the eggs of more popular species. [...]
Read the full article at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
Microbes may be answer to invasive mussels
Posted By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN, STANDARD STAFF
An eco-friendly bacteria that kills invasive mussels will be tested for the first time in Canada at the Decew Falls hydro plant.
Ontario Power Generation will monitor the specialized microbe's ability to kill zebra and quagga mussels, which threaten power production at the combined 170-megawatt power stations on Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines.
Normally, the power producer uses up to 20,000 litres of chlorine every year to control the tiny mussels at its Niagara generators, said Tony Van Oostrom, a senior environmental adviser for OPG.
"If we don't treat it, our cooling systems get plugged and the plant shuts down," Van Oostrom said of the fast-multiplying mussels, which are notorious for plugging water-intake pipes, ruining underwater machinery and coating the underside of boats.
Chlorine kills mussels, but it can also poison fish, plants and other aquatic life.
Van Oostrom said OPG has managed to cut down its total chlorine use from 100,000 litres a year over the last decade. "But if this works, we could stop using it completely," he said.
It has worked incredibly well in smaller-scale tests so far, said Daniel Molloy, a scientist with the New York State Museum who discovered the potential of Pseudomas fluorescens.
"We tested this bacteria in many small-scale trials," Molloy told a crowd at the announcement at Decew Falls Generating Station Tuesday. "It kills zebra and quagga mussels, but even more importantly, no other aquatic organism died. This is extraordinary."
Molloy has teamed up with a California company, Marrone Bio Innovations, to market the bacteria as a product. "This is not only the first Canadian trial for my little bacterium, but the first worldwide trial ... on this scale," he said.
The mashed-up microbes are introduced into the water as a food source for the bacteria-loving mollusks, which won't clam up to protect themselves as they do with chemical killers.
"They eat the stuff, they're happy and then they're dead," said Van Oostrom, who plans to have a full-scale test of the bacteria running by August.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Maryland: Commissioners consider changes to weed-control ordinance
By HEATHER KEELS, The Herald-Mail
WASHINGTON COUNTY — As they considered potential changes to the county’s weed-control ordinance Tuesday morning, the Washington County Commissioners heard feedback from people with two very different visions for the future of residential subdivisions.
One side values the suburban tradition of neat, weed-free lawns with carpets of 2 1/2-inch grass.
The other, promoted by Washington County Soil Conservation District Manager Elmer Weibley, predicts a future in which tall, native grasses are not only permitted, but could be required in parts of new residential subdivisions as an environmental management strategy. [...]
Read the full story at link.
----------------------------------------------------------
Popular or not, Maryland DNR is doing the right thing
Gail Mackiernan, Silver Spring
I want to respond to June 17 letters relative to the Department of Natural Resources' decision to eliminate exotic mute swans from the Chesapeake Bay. I continue to wonder why the writers express so little concern for the plight of the native species directly and indirectly harmed by mute swans.
These range from threatened water birds to blue crabs and other animals that depend on submerged vegetation for survival. (And make no mistake, mute swans eat a lot of Bay grasses, as has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed studies. These data are easy to find but some choose to ignore it.)
It is unfortunate that many are vocal in seeking protection for this voracious and aggressive bird while showing no concern over its impacts on our many beautiful native creatures or on the Bay environment itself.
Have they ever seen our native tundra swans flying in like white ghosts, to land in the autumn Bay after their long journey south from the Arctic? And, have they then seen the larger mute swan attack, drive off and even injure their smaller cousin, leading to continuing declines in their numbers? Those of us who spend time on the Bay can relate numerous instances.
And what about the summer grass beds eaten out by flocks of mute swans? Or the native birds that have been driven off by aggressive nesting mutes? Are these not also worthy of our concern?
Keep 500 mute swans? It only took a flock of 50 molting mutes to completely wipe out the only black skimmer colony in Maryland. In 1989 there were 500 mutes in the Bay; by 1999 these has exploded to almost 4,000! Mute swans can live 30 years and have high reproductive rate; only complete removal of the adults will halt their damage to the Bay's ecosystem.
Obviously humane methods should be used but the state needs to continue with its well-researched control efforts.
Popular or not, DNR is doing the correct thing — invasive, non-native species are one of the greatest threats to aquatic ecosystems worldwide and they should be eradicated wherever possible. For this reason Bay scientists and environmental groups such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, National Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy as well as the Maryland Ornithological Society, all supported the state's 2003 decision to eliminate mute swans from the Chesapeake. The reasons for their support have not changed. [...]
Read the full letter at link.
-------------------------------------------------------
War on milfoil resumes in New Hampshire's lakes
By Donna Rhodes, NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com
LAKES REGION — A growing problem in N.H. is again drawing attention as crews set out to tackle milfoil problems in the lakes.
Spring is an opportune time to begin the task of eradication of this noxious weed as plants have not yet grown to their full potential. The state Department of Environmental Services has targeted areas like Jay's Marina in Tilton to address through a five-year plan of weed eradication.
2-4d, a chemical component known to not just defoliate but spread to the roots of the plant, was sprayed at the marina's dock area earlier this month. It is the first step in attacking the problem when it grows out of control.
"It's a process," said state limnologist Jody Connor. "They sprayed on Friday and will go back and spray again later when they can move some of the boats out of the way to get underneath them, too."
The chemical disperses in the water column quickly, heading into the root system of the milfoil. Although bass have nested in the area, they leave when disturbed by the spraying and return later. Connor assured that the chemical does not affect them as a part of the food chain.
"This chemical (2-4 d) is an herbicide and we use such a low concentration of it in the spraying," Connor said. "It's taken up through the root system of the plant very quickly and kills it, especially the crowns."
Following the spraying, Connor said a crew would most likely be sent in to hand harvest some of the remaining plants.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Rocky Horror
By Jennifer Forman Orth, Invasive Species Weblog
A guy in New York is celebrating today because his ginormous, so-ugly-its-cute pet snakehead fish, named "Rocky," has been given a reprieve by the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. As long as he applies for a permit (and pays the $500 permit fee), he can keep Rocky in a tank.
--------------------------------------------------------
Georgia panel suggests using fish to clear weeds from river
By Rob Pavey, AugustaChronicle.com
If you can't kill the weeds, maybe you can hire fish to eat them.
That was the consensus Monday of an Augusta Port Authority subcommittee working to find a solution for aquatic weeds that have all but closed off portions of the Savannah River.
"The grass carp is what the committee, apparently, wants to pursue," authority Chairman Frank Carl said. "But before we do anything, we need to get more specifics on how many carp, when and where to put them in, and all the details we need to build a budget."
Aquatic weeds in the river include dense mats of Brazilian elodea -- an invasive exotic -- that are choking shallow areas around homes and docks. The weed beds also trap litter and silt, causing the channel to gradually shrink or fill in.
Though control options include investing in a mechanical harvester or herbicides, the use of sterile grass carp that feed voraciously on the unwanted vegetation is probably the best idea, committee member Bill Bricker said.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
New York State DEC: Tangling with new invasive species
By John Hopkins, Niagara GazetteAnother invasive species has arrived in Western New York, and state officials are taking up arms to eradicate the creatures.
Although it doesn’t pose a threat to humans, the emerald ash borer, a type of beetle native to Asia, has the potential to wipe out the ash tree population — on a grander scale than what Dutch elm disease did to urban landscapes in the 1960s and ’70s.
It would also, state officials say, have an impact on the state and national economies. The eastern U.S. produces $25 million in ash timber a year. When you factor in other businesses that benefit from ash wood, the economic losses nationwide could be more than $20 billion.
Officials say it was only a matter of time before the insect arrived in New York state.
“It is not surprising,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker. “This beetle has been detected on either side of Lake Ontario for several years now and there is little that can be done to stop the natural spread of this devastating pest.”
Since its 2002 detection in the U.S., the beetle has migrated from where it was first found — the Detroit area — to 13 states and at least two Canadian provinces.
[...]
The adult beetle leaves behind a D-shaped hole that is difficult to notice at first.
Signs that a tree is infected by the beetle include the canopy dying off; a yellowing, extensive sprouting from the roots and trunk; and browning of leaves. Infested trees may also exhibit woodpecker damage.
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Lake Zoar, CT to be treated for Eurasian watermilfoil
VoicesNEWS.com
MONROE-NEWTOWN-OXFORD-SOUTHBURY, CT. - Selected areas of Lake Zoar will be chemically treated Wednesday, July 1, with the USEPA/CT registered aquatic herbicide Reward.
This chemical treatment targets control of invasive and non-invasive Eurasian watermilfoil weed.
Approximately 41 acres of this 900 acre lake will be treated. Only specific treatment areas will be closed to all water uses, including swimming, fishing and boating, on the day of treatment only.
A map showing the specific treatment areas will be posted at the State Boat Ramp, at other public access sites to the lake and at the town offices in each of the four communities of Monroe, Newtown, Oxford and Southbury.
Prior to treatment, the lake shoreline in the treatment areas and at public access sites will be posted with printed signs, warning of the temporary water use restrictions.
In addition to the aforementioned restricted water uses, additional restrictions include no use of the lake water for watering livestock for five days (i.e. cattle, horses, etc., which does not apply to pets and wildlife that may drink the lake water); no use for irrigation for five days (watering lawns, shrubs, gardens or plants of any kind); and no use of the treated lake water for drinking for five days.
The Authority has engaged an independent, professional lake consultant who will monitor the effectiveness and results of this treatment. The chemical treatment will be performed by Aquatic Control Technology, Inc., of Sutton, Mass.
Aquatic Control is a leading lake management company that performs chemical treatments on more than 150 ponds/lakes each year in Connecticut alone. It has used this same herbicide previously at Bantam Lake and Lake Lillinonah with good success.
Those seeking additional information about this treatment may call Bernie Litzner at 203-736-6894.
Read the full story at link.
---------------------------------------------------------
St. Lawrence Seaway's 50th anniversary soiled by invaders
By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel
Fifty years ago Friday, President Dwight Eisenhower and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walked down a red carpet, climbed aboard a "floating palace" of a yacht named Britannia, and ceremoniously sailed through the St. Lambert lock near Montreal to hail the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The $470 million system of channels, locks and dams was built to open the Great Lakes to the rest of the world.
And it did, for better and for worse.
The Seaway has turned out to be something of a boutique regional transportation route for two primary commodities, inbound foreign steel and outbound domestic grain.
Yet, opening the once-isolated freshwater lakes to the rest of the world brought more than dollars. The invasive species that arrived with the foreign cargo have wrought ecological and economic chaos.
Zebra and quagga mussels are only two of about 60 foreign species that have arrived as hitchhikers aboard oceangoing vessels since the Seaway opened. And these little mollusks alone have cost us billions of dollars by plugging industrial water intakes, starving fish populations and triggering algae outbreaks that have trashed treasured shorelines.
"The damage invasive species have caused to the Great Lakes is astounding," said Dennis Schornack, former U.S. chair of the International Joint Commission. "But, what's most frustrating is that we still haven't closed this door."
A coalition of 50 organizations is marking Friday's anniversary with a renewed demand for changes in the shipping industry to protect the world's largest freshwater system. It has outlined seven principles it wants the industry to embrace in the coming years.
The principles call on the industry to stop dumping its biological pollution in harbors, drop any designs to expand the Seaway, minimize its ice-breaking activities in sensitive areas, and reduce air emissions, among other things.
Conservationists point to President Barack Obama's plan to pump new dollars into Great Lakes restoration efforts as reason to lean on the shipping industry to do more to protect the lakes.
"If the Obama administration is going to be investing nearly a half-billion dollars into restoration in the next year, then we have to ensure that shipping doesn't undo all that," said Jennifer Nalbone of the conservation group Great Lakes United.
[...]
The lakes are now home to more than 185 non-native species. In the past nine years, a new species has been discovered, on average, about every eight months - among the latest being a tiny red shrimp found in Lake Michigan in late 2006.
Conservationists want federal legislation requiring ship owners to install ballast tank treatment systems to kill freshwater invaders, though Congress has been working unsuccessfully on the issue for years.
Frustrated by the inaction, Great Lakes states have begun taking matters into their own hands. Michigan and New York have passed their own ballast regulations, which have successfully withstood legal action from the shipping industry. [...]
Read the full story at link.
--------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
