Week of Jun 8, 2009

Updated June 14
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N.Y. setting traps for invasive beetles

Dave Henderson, Ithaca Journal

New York is targeting another potential invasive species, a tree-eating beetle named the Emerald Ash Borer.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will be deploying the purple prism traps in treelines throughout the state in an attempt to trap the beetles. There will also be a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species.

The main route that enables this insect, as well as other invasive species, to spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That is why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source (http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/28722.html).

New York has more than 900 million ash trees. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many urban trees.

DEC's approach to monitoring for the insect is twofold: First, traps to attract and catch the EAB are being hung in ash trees within a 100-mile radius from previously documented EAB locations in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, and central Pennsylvania.

This month traps will be placed in Western New York areas including Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Erie, Wyoming, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Livingston and Monroe counties, and in Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Clinton counties along our northern border.

The DEC will also be monitoring "high-risk sites" such as campgrounds, major highway corridors, wood industries and locations with large ash populations. Nearly 6,000 traps will be deployed.

The bright purple, prism-shaped EAB traps are made of sticky-coated corrugated plastic and contain scented lures. After 45 days, the traps will be inspected and samples collected. After 90 days, the traps will be collected and removed from the trees.

Read the full article at link.

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NYSDEC to track emerald ash borer

Adirondack Almanac

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is setting baited traps in ash trees across upstate New York in an effort to search for possible infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a tree-killing beetle. You will soon be seeing the purple prism traps deployed in treelines throughout New York, with a concentration in areas adjacent to neighboring states and Canadian provinces that have already detected this potentially devastating invasive species, including several Adirondack counties.

Research has shown that a main way EAB, as well as other invasive species, spread is from moving firewood from one place to another. That's why in 2008, New York adopted regulations that ban untreated firewood from entering the state and restricts intrastate movement of untreated firewood to no more than a 50-mile radius from its source.

According to the DEC, New York has more than 900 million ash trees, representing about 7 percent of all trees in the state, and all are at risk should EAB become established. Many communities are at particular risk because ash was widely planted as a street tree after Dutch elm disease killed many local elms.

Read the full story at link

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Invasive red algae causes snarls for South Carolina shrimpers

The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette

Biologists are monitoring red algae that has popped up around the Lowcountry, including in Beaufort County, and will be checking its possible spread to other parts of the South Carolina coast.

The seaweed, known as gracilaria, is growing quickly in the Charleston Harbor, said David Whitaker, a biologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Fishermen traveling the coast have heard that shrimping nets have been tangled in and destroyed by the invasive plant.

"It's pretty bad from Charleston to Rockville," said Donald Jordan of Georgetown County, who owns the shrimp boat, Kelly Ann. "From Charleston on south is where it seems to be worse. I heard it was tearing some nets up."

Read the full story at link.

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Brazilian peppers devour carbon dioxide, study finds

DOUG SWORD, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

SARASOTA - No one is suggesting that "Save the Brazilian Pepper" societies should start cropping up, but it turns out there is more to the noxious, invasive plant than its good looks.

Long decried as a weedy kin to poison ivy and a threatener of endangered species, the fast-growing pepper literally sucks carbon out of the atmosphere, according to a study.

Because of concerns over climate change, reducing the carbon footprint for a person or a community has become a cause celebre in environmental circles, perhaps positioning the pepper tree for a kinder public image.

But probably not.

The pepper has taken over an estimated 1 million acres, mainly in Florida's southern half. It endangers wildlife by replacing habitat that supports hundreds of species of birds while supporting only a handful itself. It costs governments and businesses millions to remove it from shorelines, highway medians and utility lines. And it is one of the factors stalling Everglades restoration.

Whatever benefit the plant may provide when it comes to carbon, the "negatives far outweigh the positives," said Kenneth Langeland, a professor at the University of Florida's Center for Aquatic and Invasive Species.

The new research was conducted by New College professor Meg Lowman in conjunction with Colorado State University.

Lowman acknowledges that the findings run counter to the generally murderous view toward the pepper.

"I'm not recommending any policy as a scientist. I'm just presenting the facts," she said. And it appears the fact is that the pepper is "an amazing storer of carbon."

Read the full article at link.

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Japanese knotweed replacing purple loosestrife in New Hampshire

By CHELSEA CONABOY, Concord Monitor

JAPANESE KNOTWEED is replacing purple loosestrife as one of the most pervasive invasive species in the state. Knotweed came to the United States from Japan in the 1800s to be used mostly as a landscaping plant. It grows in thick clusters, similar to bamboo, and has no known predators here.

Unlike loosestrife, a pretty but insidious plant that can choke wetlands if left unchecked, there is no known biological means of controlling knotweed. For more than 10 years, the state has been battling loosestrife by shipping in a kind of beetle that eats the plant, weakening it and controlling its spread.

Doug Cygan, invasive species coordinator with the Department of Agriculture, said that plant is now under control, but the calls to his office regarding knotweed are increasing.

So far, Cygan said, there's no good biological means of controlling knotweed. He recommends using herbicide.

"Do not mow it," he said.

Mowing along highways has largely contributed to the spread of the plant. Each plant has several hundred nodes, or joints. When the plant is chopped up by a lawnmower, each node can sprout into a new plant. Cygan said the state has stopped mowing areas of knotweed and is removing populations of the plant that occur in areas of road construction.

For more information about controlling knotweed, call Cygan at 271-3488.

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Position Announcement

Position: Invasive Plants Coordinator

Location: University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia USA

Appointment: Grant-funded full-time position (salary $28,716 - $33,023 with benefits). The position is currently funded for one year with renewal contingent upon availability of continuing grant funds and satisfactory progress of employee

Available: Closing date for receipt of applications is June 26, 2009. Position could be available as early as July 15, 2009.

Position Description: This position will be the Invasive Plants Coordinator for the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (http://www.bugwood.org/) at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus.

Interested persons must complete official online University application at:
https://www.ugajobsearch.com/; Select Search Postings, Enter Position Number:
20090604.

Printable version of this e-mail at: http://www.bugwood.org/position.pdf

Please direct any and all questions to:
Dr. G. Keith Douce, Dr. David J. Moorhead or Chuck Bargeron
Phone: 229-386-3298
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
Fax: 229-386-3352
The University of Georgia, Tifton GA
Email: cbargero@uga.edu

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Connecticut's Moosup Pond being treated for slimy, invasive weed

By EMILY GROVES, Norwich Bulletin

Plainfield, Conn. — For more than six years, a slimy, green invasive species has been growing in Moosup Pond, sticking to swimmers, boats and fishing lines.

“It will take over the entire pond if it’s not dealt with,” Jeff Megin, president of the Moosup Pond Association, said of the weed known as Variable-Leaf Watermilfoil.

But Monday will mark the beginning of the end of the weeds’ growth. The pond will be treated with a herbicide to kill the weeds.

Funded by a mix of town and grant funds, the treatment, which will be conducted by Aquatic Control Technology Inc. of Sutton, Mass., will cost $15,000.

First Selectman Paul Sweet said the town had budgeted $5,000 for the procedure in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and the additional costs will be paid for by a $5,000 state Department of Environmental Protection grant and $5,000 from the town’s contingency fund. The town had planned to use another state DEP grant for the treatment, but the money was rescinded last month.

Megin said the treatment needs to be done in early June, and without the additional town funds, they would have had to wait until next year.

The pond will be closed Monday during treatment, but will reopen for fishing, swimming and boating Tuesday, Megin said. He said the herbicide, which is granulated pellets designed to kill the weeds at the root, will not harm the pond’s fish.

Megin said the only lasting effect of the treatment is that the water cannot be used for irrigation until further notice.

Megin said the treatment is 70 to 90 percent effective, but the town will likely need to do another smaller scale treatment in two years, to mop up any remaining weeds.

Read the full story at link.

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Mass. students tackle invading pepperweed

Mish Michaels, TV38

Ever heard of Pepperweed? If so, you have trouble. This foreign invader or invasive species came in over the years with other seeds from Europe and Asia. Now these weeds are taking up residence in the Northeast, locally choking out native plants in salt marshes on the North Shore.

"This is one of the northern most points where Pepperweed is being found," said Liz Duff, Mass Audubon's Education Coordinator. I met up with Liz and several students from the Sparhawk School in Salisbury to tackle thick patches of Pepperweed, one root at a time.

"Pepperweed is pretty easy to recognize. It grows on the upper edge of a salt marsh and is visible from the road. The tall, skinny plant grows 1 to 3 feet tall and has alternating leaves. The roots smell like horseradish. The seeds travel in the tides and can spread rapidly that way," Liz explained to me and the students. "Our job is to pull the plants and our aim is to get as much of the root out as possible."

This weeding can be done from May to July before the plants flower. The students went to work -- yes, me too -- pulling and bagging the invaders. Last year, volunteers removed 3,000 pounds of Pepperweed. All of it incinerated to prevent any further spread.

Pepperweed is a threat to biodiversity and wetland habitats.

"The invasive plants are also a threat to agricultural lands which is another economic factor," stated Liz. "It's only been the past decade that we have been seeing it here in the Great Marsh region stretching from Salisbury down to Gloucester."

The students were enthusiastic and eager to change the landscape. "You're out in the field pulling the weeds and feeling like you are actually doing something great," said Sparhawk student Allison Lord. "It just shows that the average person can really make a difference," added Patrick O'Connell.

"Invasives like Pepperweed are threatening biodiversity of our native ecosystems. We need to fight back," concluded Liz. If you would like to volunteer, there are plenty of opportunities to tackle invasive species including Pepperweed.

Great Marsh Pepperweed Eradication Project

Read the story and watch the video at link.

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Update of Noxious Weed Regulations

June 9, 2009

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing to make several changes to the regulations governing the importation and interstate movement of noxious weeds. We would add definitions of terms used in the regulations, add details regarding the process of applying for the permits used to import or move noxious weeds, add a requirement for the treatment of niger seed and add provisions for petitioning to add a taxon to or remove a taxon from the noxious weed lists. These changes would update the regulations to reflect current statutory authority and program operations and improve the effectiveness of the regulations.

Read the full story at link.

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Emerald Ash Borer Found in Westmoreland County, PA; Quarantine Imposed

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been found in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, bringing to seven the number of counties where the ash tree-destroying pest has been identified, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced today.

The invasive beetle was first detected in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007 in Butler County, and subsequently was found in Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin counties. To help slow the spread of the beetle, the state-imposed quarantine for those six counties is being expanded to include Westmoreland County.

State and federal Emerald Ash Borer quarantines restrict the movement from the quarantine area of ash nursery stock, green lumber and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, and all wood chips.

This summer, 20 crews -- 15 in Western Pennsylvania, one in Mifflin County, and four in the eastern part of the state -- and two regional coordinators have been deployed to assess the spread of the beetle. The Westmoreland County crew detected the new infestation.

"Our survey crews are assessing the extent of the infestation in Westmoreland County and surrounding areas," said Wolff. "We remind consumers to heed the quarantine when traveling and camping this spring and summer -- not just in the quarantined areas but throughout Pennsylvania -- to prevent any further spread of the beetle."

Due to the difficulty in distinguishing between species of hardwood firewood, all hardwood firewood -- including ash, oak, maple and hickory -- are considered quarantined.

Read the full story at link.

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Vermont lake group considers fees to fund treatment

By Tom Mitchell, RutlandHerald.com

CASTLETON — A private group is looking into the possible creation of a special services district on Lake Bomoseen that could impose fees on docks and boats to help pay for a herbicide to kill Eurasian water milfoil."

There is … a proposal by the water-quality committee of the LBA to seek to establish the lake as a separate specials service district," Michael Rosen, president of the Lake Bomoseen Association, said recently.

The plan or model now being presented by the water-quality committee to LBA directors involves in part the use of herbicides to kill Eurasian water milfoil, Rosen said. Creation of the services district would allow the body to charge fees that could support a treatment, Rosen said. Creation of a district would require approval by the Legislature, he added.

Funds raised by formation of such a district could also be used to pay for other long-term methods of managing the weed problem in the lake and other nuisances like zebra mussels that already invade the lake, Rosen said.

Bonding, grants and donations could help finance management projects, officials said. "Unfortunately, it appears the (Eurasian water) milfoil is fairly extensive, depending on the season and summer, year and weather," Rosen said.

LBA has begun looking at a special service district on Lake George as an example of what could be done on Bomoseen, he said.

A commission on the lake levies a $25 fee on docks for example, Barbara Woodard, an LBA director, said. The district also imposes fees for stickers on boats using the lake, she said. "You'd pick one up if you were going out for the day," Woodard said. The funds are used to pay for marine patrols, she said.

Read the full storyh at link.

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Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve is looking for volunteers of all ages for a tree girdling event to help native plants on Sat. June 17 from 9:00 - 12:00. For more information, go to http://www.albanypinebush.org/getting_involved/volunteer_opportunities.htm and click on volunteer opportunities in the right hand column -or - sign up with bbemis@nycap.rr.com

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Online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass

To all land stewards and those concerned about invasive species,

Just wanted to let you know that an online reporting form for wavyleaf basketgrass locations is now up and operating on DNR's WLBG website:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/WLBG/index.asp, on the Get Involved page. Information that comes in via this form (plus phone calls, FAX and email) will be ground-truthed and shared with the folks at the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of
Georgia, for the WeedsUS mapping effort. Over the course of this summer, we will be adding already reported sites to a master map, which will be posted both at WeedsUS and the DNR site.

Please make use of this method of reporting WLBG sites! And let me know of any difficulties you have with the form, or suggestions you may have for improving it.

Thank you,

Kerrie L. Kyde
Habitat Ecologist/ Invasive Plant Specialist
Wildlife and Heritage Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
11960 Clopper Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20878

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Week of March 16, 2009

Updated 3/20
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Vitex eradication effort gains traction

Group tallies past year's accomplishments

By Gareth McGrath, StarNewsOnline.com

Fort Fisher, North Carolina - The invasive plant has been discovered in Virginia and in places in North Carolina thought to be vitex-free.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing, since it shows that the educational and outreach efforts of the Carolinas Beach Vitex Task Force about the menace posed by the foreign invader are working.

It also shows, however, that there's a lot of work to do to eradicate the shrub. It is native to the Pacific Rim and was once viewed as the savior of the coast, but it's turned out to be a huge biological menace.

On Friday members of the task force gathered at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher to celebrate the past year's successes and discuss the remaining challenges facing the multi-state effort to eradicate beach vitex.

Among the 2008 accomplishments included getting North Carolina to declare beach vitex a noxious weed, making it illegal to be sold or possessed by nurseries or individuals, and securing a $128,000 grant for coastal eradication and educational efforts.

But Melanie Doyle, the state's beach vitex task force coordinator and horticulturist at the aquarium, said there's been an even bigger success over the past year.

"What I'm most proud about is nothing's been mandated by anyone," she said, ticking off the local and voluntary support up and down the coast that the task force has received in promoting eradication efforts. "This has all come about because of people who care."

But with greater awareness of the threat posed by vitex has come the reality of how big the problem is in North Carolina.

"We've got vitex in the northern part of the state," said Dale Suiter, a Raleigh-based biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Just a year ago, we didn't know that."

So far there are more than 400 known locations, including worrisome outbreaks along inland waterways that dramatically increases the amount of shoreline to survey. Link

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Fire service's newest toy burns invading grasses on Mullica River, NJ

By LEE PROCIDA, PressofAtlanticCity.com

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ - The thumping sound of helicopter blades preceded the state Forest Fire Service’s Bell 206 JetRanger as it flew south over the Mullica River and turned to survey Hog Island, where it burned 132 acres of reeds Friday morning.

Hanging out the side was Rob Gill, an aerial ignition specialist, who would be operating the service’s new fire-starting device mounted to the helicopter, “The Red Dragon.”

Generically referred to as a plastic-sphere dispenser, the dragon is filled with paintball-like orbs containing potassium permanganate. When turned on, the machine injects the balls with antifreeze and drops them to the ground, where the mixture of chemicals bursts into flames about a minute later.

The group recently cooperated with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to spray herbicide over an infestation of phragmites, and is now paying the fire service a few thousand dollars to burn the invasive plants away to make room for native flora and fauna.

“Global warming aside, phragmites is the No. 1 threat to the health of our estuaries,” said Emile DeVito, manager of science for the NJ Conservation Foundation, who was familiar with Friday’s project. “It basically consumes all the habitat and virtually wipes out all the species.”

On the Atlantic County bank of the river, a crowd of trucks and people assembled to watch the blaze. A red fire service truck was parked near an Egg Harbor City police SUV in case the fire jumped the water, and a couple other pickup trucks were around from the locals fishing.

Continued at Link

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Weed removal money sought in Massachusetts

By JOHN APPLETON, The Republican

BRIMFIELD, MA - The Lake Sherman Association is asking the town for financial help while also seeking grants to cover the $10,300 cost of removing invasive weeds which have been dramatically spreading the past few years.

Association president Robert Chevalier said the $10,300 figure is based on a price quote from Lycott Environmental, Inc., of Southbridge, MA for a chemical treatment this spring to wipe out what has been identified as aquatic variegated milfoil.

The 55-member lake association is basing its case for financial assistance from the town in part on the fact that the town has a boat launch at the pond and that people go in swimming from the launch area.

"It's a landmark for the town and for anyone who is close to this town," said David W. McVeigh, a member of the association.

"We are trying to preserve it in any way we can," McVeigh said.

The association has applied to the Norcross Foundation for a grant for the weed eradication work and is considering other grant possibilities.

"We have been working on trying to get funding for three or four years," said Janet L. Hastings, the association vice president. Association members told the selectmen last week that the weeds already interfere with swimming and boating and, if left unchecked, they can spread to the point of choking the lake, which is only 12 feet deep at its deepest point. Link

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Waging war on invasive plants in Connecticut

By Keila Torres, ConnPost.com

Invasive plants are taking over the state's parklands and killing off native species, throwing fragile eco-systems into turmoil as wildlife is starved of its natural food source.

Invasive species -- including Oriental bittersweet and Japanese barberry -- have become a widespread problem around the state, said Todd Mervosh, a weed scientist for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven.

This year, the state Department of Environmental Protection is offering cities and towns grants to get rid of the annoying, non-native plants that have cropped up and taken root here.

The invasive species "are displacing the native vegetation, the plants that have always been here as part of our ecological system," Mervosh said. "There are a lot of animal species that co-exist with these native species, that depend on them."

Oriental bittersweet, an Asian vine with yellow fruit that entwines itself around other plants, is considered by many the "worst invasive plant in the state," he said.

Richard Tiani, executive director of Groundwork Bridgeport, said a group of Harding High School students working with his agency has also found a lot of Japanese barberry -- a vine that wraps around trees -- during their cleanup efforts in Bridgeport's parks and in surrounding towns.

"Over time it becomes so strong and heavy that it kills trees and pulls them down," Tiani said of the invasive plant.

The Harding "Green Team," working with Groundwork Bridgeport as paid summer interns, is partnering this year with the city of Bridgeport in a project to remove a multiflora rose and garlic mustard infestation in Veterans Memorial Park.

The city is seeking a $49,236 grant from the DEP to clean up a section of the 107-acre park. Another section of the park and wetlands, near the proposed Discovery Magnet School, will be cleaned up as part of the $31 million inter-district school project.

Getting rid of invasive plants is essential to preserving the city's parklands and wildlife, officials say.

Continued at Link

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Congress Approves Funds For Invasive Species Prevention

By KBJR News 1

Congress has granted nearly 1–million dollars to help slow the spread of invasive species into the Great Lakes Chain.

President Obama signed the bill into law this week, which will help researchers test various ways to treat ballast water before it's discharged into the lakes.

For more than 20 years invasive species have hitch hiked their way into the Great Lakes causing a wide range of economic and environmental problems.

From clogging water pipes to interfering with the lake's natural ecology, many environmental agencies have worked hard to slow the spread of these exotic pests.

The new funding will go towards the Great Ships Initiative which aims to do just that.

"The goal of the great ships initiative is to try to find ballast water treatment methods so that the water can be cleaned or sterilized before it is transported between one place to another."

Continued at Link

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Henry Hudson's majestic view altered by invasives

By Michael Risinit, LoHud.com

PHILIPSTOWN, NY - The slice of the Hudson River visible from a bluff on Little Stony Point in Philipstown probably appears much as it did to Henry Hudson and his crew aboard the Half Moon 400 years ago...

...The river was full of fish to levels that are just about unimaginable today," said Fran Dunwell, director of the state's Hudson River Estuary Program. "It was a very rich natural environment."

Dunwell recently wrote "The Hudson America's River." Waterfowl and other birds, she said, darkened the sky where they flew. Oak trees grew 70 feet tall without knots, perfect for shipbuilding. The banks, according to Juet, contained a "great store of goodly Oakes and Wal-nut trees and Chest-nut trees. Ewe trees and trees of sweet wood in great abundance, and great store of slate for houses, and other good stones."

Marshes lined most of the river, not just at Piermont, Iona Island and a few other places as they do today. Chairmaker's rush, horned pondweeds and umbrella sedge are gone, replaced by cattails and phragmites (aka common reed).

But seeds from the original plants are found in sediment cores pulled from the existing marshes, said Dorothy Peteet, a NASA senior researcher and an adjunct scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades.

"We can see back in time," Peteet said. "I think it was vastly different. You had this diversity which would have gone up the food chain."

Read the full article at Link

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American chestnut ready to reign again

BY MORGAN SIMMONS SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

After decades of selective breeding and countless hours of fieldwork, researchers believe they have developed an American chestnut tree that is ready to reclaim the Appalachian forests.

The first batch of these blight-resistant chestnut seedlings arrived recently at a greenhouse on the agricultural campus of the University of Tennessee, where workers trimmed the roots and identified each tree with a numbered tag.

The trees -- 1,200 in all -- were planted in three Southern national forests as a groundbreaking experiment to determine if decades of crossbreeding have produced a chestnut tree that is blight-resistant yet retains the superior timber qualities of the American chestnut tree.

"This is the very first planting of the final generation and the culmination of a lot of hard work," said Scott Schlarbaum, forest geneticist with the UT Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries.

The trees were grown in a Georgia nursery in cooperation with the American Chestnut Foundation, an organization dedicated to restoring the American chestnut.

The American chestnut accounted for 25 percent of all the trees in the Appalachian mountains until a blight virtually eliminated them between 1904 and 1950.

Today, the airborne bark fungus still survives and kills virtually all American chestnuts by the time they've reached 20 feet in height.

For more than 30 years, the American Chestnut Foundation has been crossing Chinese chestnuts, which are naturally resistant to the blight, with American chestnuts to produce a super hybrid that can be reintroduced in the wild. Only American chestnuts that demonstrate natural blight resistance qualify for the breeding program, and scientists have been careful to breed trees from local environments.

Of the 1,200-year-old chestnut seedlings brought to the UT greenhouse, 500 were the blight-resistant hybrids. The remaining trees were either pure American chestnut, pure Chinese chestnut or hybrid trees from an intermediate back-cross generation.

Earlier this year, the 4-foot-tall seedlings were planted on national forest lands throughout the Southern Appalachian region. In the coming years, researchers will regularly monitor the trees for blight resistance, mortality and growth characteristics.

Stacy Clark, research forester for the Forest Service's Southern Research Station, said American chestnuts were renowned for their straight-grained wood and rapid growth rate.

"We want these trees to be blight-resistant, but also competitive," Clark said. "They're going out into the forest where they'll have to grow quickly to get above the deer browse, and compete with species like yellow poplar and red maple."

The goal of the American Chestnut Foundation was to breed a blight-resistant tree that is genetically 94 percent American chestnut. The foundation chose the Southern Appalachians as the proving ground for the final generation of seedlings because the region was once a stronghold for the American chestnut.

Clark, who leads the study for the U.S. Forest Service, said she is especially excited about two milestones in the trees' development: the fourth year of growth, which will reveal if the trees have held their own against competing species; and years 10 through 20, when American chestnuts normally succumb to the blight.

"If the trees are blight-resistant, we'll definitely know by that time," Clark said.

The chestnut blight robbed the Eastern forest of its undisputed champion. American chestnuts routinely grew 4 feet across and 120 feet high, and lived for centuries. The nuts were an important food source for a wide range of wildlife, and the rot-resistant wood was a prized building material.

Clark said that if the final generation of crossbred chestnuts survives in the national forests, this will raise great hopes about other species, like hemlocks and ash trees, that are being destroyed by nonnative pests.

"If we can restore this tree to its natural habitat, it will be the greatest success story in natural resource conservation," Clark said. Link

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Local anglers weigh in on aquatic weed control in Tennessee

Daimon Duggar, MarionCountyNews.net

Though many in Marion County are disappointed with last year’s decision by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s to discontinue aquatic weed control in the Nickajack reservoir, there is another segment of the community that couldn’t be happier: Fishermen.

According to a number of local fishermen and those in the fishing industry, TVA’s aquatic weed control program presents a danger to one of the area’s most popular sports and pastimes.

Last Saturday, March 7, dozens of fishermen and fishing enthusiasts gathered at Sullivan’s Landing on Highway 41 for the annual Grassmasters fishing tournament. The name of the competition says it all and reflects the opinion of many regarding the indispensable nature of aquatic growth as it relates to fishing.

“(Aquatic weed control) is really hard on the fish,” said fisherman Darren “Dobie” Kilgore. “It kills grass on humps. If they only did it in channels it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

A common complaint among fishermen is that the weed control program is non-selective. In addition to killing invasive exotic species, many feel, the long standing program also killed native aquatic grasses that allow the reservoirs variety of fish, including large mouth bass, to thrive.

“Grass helps the whole ecosystem. We used to have a good bank but not any more. It has been bad for 10 years,” said Marion County resident and fisherman Roger Kendrick...

...Avid fisherman and stakeholder Jim Henry worries that TVA’s discontinuance of their weed control problem will be more of a detriment to fishing than would unfettered growth however.

“It’s a mess and its going to be a lot worse,” said Henry. “There’s a lot of spots that you won’t be able to get to now. Mullin’s cove, for example. It was already hard to navigate it. This year I think its going to be impossible. This year will absolutely be worse.”

Only time will tell the wisdom of TVA’s new policy. But for fishermen and stakeholders alike, aquatic weed control in the Nickajack Reservoir will continue to be a growing problem.

Read the full article at Link

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South East Exotic Pest Plant Council 11th Annual Symposium

Creating Sustainable Landscapes for the Future

May 13-15, 2009
Quality Inn and Suites
Georgetown, SC

Agenda and Registration available online. Go to http://www.se-eppc.org/2009/ for all conference information.

Deadline to Register and Reserve hotel room: April 13, 2009.

Plenary speaker topics to include:

- Raising funds for your invasive species project
- Innovative approaches to effective invasive programs through partnerships
- Invasive plants from the perspective of the nursery/landscape industry

Other topics addressed through platform presentations and field trips include:
- Current research in invasive plant control and land restoration
- Building communication and consensus among key players
- Building cooperative weed and invasive species management areas
- Early Detection and Rapid Response efforts
- Control of tidal marsh invasives (ie. Chinese tallow, phragmites)
- And more!

Wonderful fieldtrips, workshops, and social events planned!

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'Red Baron' Nabbed In Baltimore

WBAL Radio as reported by Scott Wykoff

A Customs and Border Protection plant seed interception was confirmed on Monday (3/9/09) as the Baltimore area’s first reported discovery of cogon grass weed seed, aka Red Baron grass seed, and just as the legendary Red Baron was a menace to allied fighters during World War I, Red Baron grass has become a despised invasive weed throughout parts of the United States.

During a routine inspection on Friday at the Baltimore seaport, CBP agriculture specialists discovered weed seeds littered among non-compliant wood packing in a container of travertine tile that arrived from Turkey. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture pest identifier database determined the seeds to be Imperata cylindrica, or cogon grass, a Federal Noxious Weed, and confirmed that this is Baltimore’s first Red Baron seed report.

According to the USDA, cogon grass is an invasive weed from Asia that spreads quickly and disrupts ecosystems, reduces wildlife habitat and can decrease tree seedling growth and establishment. Cogon grass is considered one of the 10 worst invasive plant species in the world and is listed as a federal noxious weed. Cogon grass is believed to have invaded more than one million acres in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas.

“This interception is a significant find for our agriculture specialists, and it further illustrates our continued commitment to protect America’s agriculture industry and our economy from invasive insect pests and plants,” said James Swanson, CBP Port Director for the Port of Baltimore. “Invasive species pose dire consequences on our nation’s economy, potentially more so than even a single terrorist act could have.”

CBP issued an Emergency Action Notification to the importer to immediately re-export the container. Link

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Call for volunteers in Virginia for first Invasive Plant Removal Day on May 2

(Media-Newswire.com) - Volunteers are needed across the Commonwealth to help remove invasive plants that are wreaking havoc on Virginia’s landscape. The Virginia Master Naturalists and the Virginia Native Plant Society are seeking help Saturday, May 2nd at locations throughout Virginia in the first ever Invasive Plant Removal Day.

“From kudzu to English Ivy to tree of heaven, there are dozens of invasive species that are causing both ecological and economical harm,” said Michelle Prysby, Virginia Master Naturalist coordinator. “These invasive plants out-compete native species for the same resources, eventually harming trees, wildlife and water quality.”

The Virginia Native Plant Society and the Virginia Master Naturalists are sponsoring this event. Activities are being coordinated locally, and interested people can learn more about how and where they can help by going to www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/invasives/index.html .

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Feds release invaders to save native plants

BY JIM WAYMER • FLORIDA TODAY

They're using new invaders to devour old ones. And while these weevils gobble, they won't wolf down the plants that belong in Florida.

To give native plants a fighting chance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this year announced a $16.6 million plan to send at least 14 invasive bug species on seek-and-destroy missions.

Biologists would set the insects free -- some just a few miles from Brevard County -- along 18,000 square miles from south of Orlando to the Florida Reef Tract in an effort to preserve the character of the Everglades.

They say the bugs will spread to the Space Coast and beyond. And they assure their introduction won't trigger further ecological harm.

"You don't let these things go and . . . forget about them," said Donald Strong, an ecologist and "biocontrol" expert at the University of California, Berkeley. "In the large majority of cases, the insects are chosen and put through rigorous tests based on the fact that they don't attack other things."

The invasive insects in coming years would control Florida's massive problem with melaleuca, Brazilian pepper, Old World climbing fern and Australian pine...

...The insects won't completely wipe out the targeted trees, just keep them in check. That could take two decades or longer.

The melaleuca weevil, for example, can eat away about 98 percent of the tree's seed production, said Ted Center, research leader in Davie.

"What we're basically doing is biologically sterilizing the tree. We're not eliminating the plant. We're neutering it," Center said...

...In addition to melaleuca, the Corps proposes to fight three other notorious invasive plants with insects.

Brazilian pepper: Unlike melaleuca, no one's quite sure how it got here. Most credit a doctor in Port Charlotte. Fond of how the tree looked, he raised hundreds of them in the 1920s, passing them to friends. The Corps hopes a sawfly, a thrips and a weevil can undo the doctor's good work.

Old World climbing fern: Two moths, a gall mite and a stem borer will tackle this much more recent invasion. A Delray Beach nursery introduced the fern -- a native of Africa, Asia and Australia -- in the late 1950s.

Australian pine: A seed wasp planned for release in the next few years holds the most promise to battle back the Australian pine, introduced to Florida in the late 1800s.

Although some past "biocontrols" grew into problems themselves, government biologists assure their extreme caution and long, careful study make these insects the best way to restore a more natural state.

Read the full article at Link

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U.S. Birds Struggling to Survive

WASHINGTON, DC, March 19, 2009 (ENS) - Nearly one-third of the more than 800 bird species in the United States are endangered, threatened or in decline due to climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species, finds the first comprehensive report ever produced on U.S. bird populations.

At a news conference in Washington today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar released the report, which was developed by a partnership among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, state government wildlife agencies and nongovernmental organizations...

"Just as they were when Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring" nearly 50 years ago, birds today are a bellwether of the health of land, water and ecosystems," Salazar said. "From shorebirds in New England to warblers in Michigan to songbirds in Hawaii, we are seeing disturbing downward population trends that should set off environmental alarm bells. We must work together now to ensure we never hear the deafening silence in our forests, fields and backyards that Rachel Carson warned us about."

...Invasive plants and animals are major threats. Domestic and feral cats kill hundreds of millions of birds each year. Island nesting birds, particularly seabirds, are vulnerable since they nest on the ground or in burrows and are preyed upon by rats, foxes, cats, dogs, and mongooses.

Read the full article at Link

Week of December 1, 2008

Invasive Species DVD Targets Hunters and Anglers

America's hunters and anglers are essential stakeholders in managing invasive species that threaten native fish and wildlife populations and their habitats. "Defending Favorite Places," a high-definition DVD featuring invasive species information and testimonies of sportsmen and women across the nation, will be released in December. The DVD will be available for free or may be downloaded from the USDA Forest Service.

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Two wild boars taken in Central New York

By David Figura, The Post-Standard

Two wild boars were taken in the Town of Scott in Cortland County on Nov. 22. Marcus Eriksson, of Onondaga Hill, took his hog, weighing around 300 pounds on the hoof, while hunting from his treestand in the morning. Peter Gianferrara, of Camillus, took his boar mid- afternoon. It weighed about 260 pounds.

This past winter, the DEC, in conjunction with several state, federal and county agencies, resolved to do its best -- by trapping and other means -- to take wild boars off the landscape in Central New York. Officials consider the animal an invasive species capable of substantial crop damage, along with wreaking havoc on other plant life, native animal species and water quality in wetlands and streams.

Wild boards can be hunted and taken year-round by any person who has a small-game license, though doing so tends to scatter them. The DEC asks that hunters and others avoid harassing groups of hogs because it will hinder their eradication efforts. Seen or killed a wild boar lately? Call the DEC at 607-753-3095, extension 296. Link

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Northern Woodland Invasives: Doing Battle with Non-Native Plants

by Tovar Cerulli, Northern Woodlands

A huge mound of vines, 8 feet wide by a dozen yards long, lay baking in the August sun. The effort required to cut all those vines by hand, drag them out of the woods, and pile them up to dry suggested someone with a mission.

Walking past the mound, I left the clearing and turned down a woods trail in search of that someone. A few minutes later, I found David Paganelli at work with a chainsaw. Strewn along the slope were the felled stems and silver-bottomed leaves of another targeted plant, autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellate). Working alongside him – wielding clippers and a yellow mustard squeeze-bottle – was his son Ryan, dragged out here during a visit home from Tufts Medical School. Father and son had spent most of that day cutting olives and applying Roundup to the stumps.

David greeted me with an easy smile and was eager to jump right into the subject at hand – invasive plants. “We’ve got quite a bouquet here,” he began. He estimates that 12 to 15 percent of his 200 woodland acres in Strafford, Vermont, had been dominated by autumn olives. After hundreds of hours of labor, there are still several acres left to clear. Shade-tolerant buckthorns – both common (Rhamnus cathartica) and glossy (Frangula alnus) – are scattered over the entire property, forming a patient and ubiquitous understory. There are also a few barberries on ledge outcrops among the larger trees and 20 to 30 Morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) shrubs to deal with... Link

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Beach redbay trees in jeopardy

By Bo Petersen, The Post and Courier

Among the live oak and palmetto, redbay trees usually don't get much notice. Until now.

"They're dying all up and down here," said Roy Baylor, pointing both ways along Arctic Avenue on Folly Beach (South Carolina).

"These trees saved our house during (Hurricane) Hugo," Kelly King said sadly as she looks up at the browned leaves of the big tree in her front yard a few streets back.

Laurel wilt disease has begun killing the redbays in the Lowcountry, biologists strongly suspect. Actually a laurel plant, the tree is one of the ubiquitous evergreens of the coast, the swaths of winter green beneath the live oaks along the barrier islands and inland. It can live more than 100 years and grow to a tree's girth. It looks like a skinny-leafed magnolia.

The redbay is a vital piece of the coastal ecosystem, providing late-fall fruit for threatened species of migrating birds and butterflies, cover for nesting, scenery, erosion control and seclusion for beach homes. Link

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New York wants tougher invasive species rules

By KAITLYN DMYTERKO, Legislative Gazette Staff Writer

Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis and Gov. David A. Paterson are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce stricter regulations on ballast water discharges from shipping vessels to stem an invasion of harmful invasive species in New York’s waterways.

Ballast water refers to water held in ships’ cargo holds to keep lighter vessels stable in rough seas, according to the report, Ballast Water Management to Combat Invasive Species, released by Congressional Research Services.

A loophole in the federal 1977 Clean Water Act allows transoceanic ships to dump ballast water in American waterways, often transporting nonindigenous species, such as zebra mussels, with them, according to Grannis. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act gives state water pollution agencies, such as the DEC, jurisdiction to develop stricter regulations for water quality in their individual states.

In 1980, the invasive species, the zebra mussel, was transported with cargo into the Great Lakes. Since then they have plagued the Hudson River ecosystem causing detrimental effects on waterway infrastructures and environments.

Zebra mussels attach themselves to docks, boats and water pipelines and can cause serious damages to infrastructure, including the clogging of pipelines. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, economic damages from zebra mussels is estimated at almost $5 billion a year in the United States.

The DEC is pushing the EPA to enforce ballast water regulations requiring shipping vessels to carry out ballast water exchanges 50 nautical miles away from the shore in water more than 200 meters deep. This water exchange would require vessels to release mucky, sediment-filled water and replace it with fresh ocean water before the ship drifts into state waterways.

The DEC is also calling for the installation of water treatment systems on all cargo vessels. The agency wants the water to meet DEC-recommended guidelines that would require vessels to maintain a salinity level in its ballast water of at least 30 parts per 1,000 before entering New York waters. This mandate would reduce the level of contaminated species the boats are carrying.

According to the DEC, armed forces vessels would be excluded from these standards.

Manna Jo Greene, environmental director for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, said “The ounce of prevention embodied in the DEC’s recommended standards for regulating ballast, bilge and greywater will prevent many pounds of damage, which can be very difficult, if not impossible, to remediate after the fact.” Link

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Week of June 22

Officials Unsure What Is Causing Absence Of Weeds

By Patrick Fanelli pfanelli@post-journal.com

Nobody knows why, but there is something conspicuously absent from the waters of Chautauqua Lake, New York.

Drive past places like Burtis Bay, and the red tint and still water that is normally a symptom of the lake’s Eurasian milfoil epidemic are gone. So, too, are the weed clippings that clog up the shoreline.

For the past few years, the invasive weeds were in full bloom by this time of the year. While one can’t say for sure what is hindering weed growth all over Chautauqua Lake, county lake officials only hope it stays this way into the busy summer season.

‘‘The weeds, I’m guessing, are probably two weeks behind, and that’s a good thing,’’ said Bill Evans, Chautauqua Lake Management Commission chairman. ‘‘So something is going on. As a matter of fact, we’ve been having quite a bit of discussions about it.’’

While Evans jokes about how tempting it is to credit the efforts of the variety of lake organizations that comprise the CLMC, he believes Mother Nature deserves the credit.‘‘Mother Nature has certainly been good to us so far,’’ said Evans, who owns a lakeside home on Summit Street in Lakewood. ‘‘It’s not hard to see. (The weeds) are not nearly as high as they should be as we approach the end of June.’’

In recent years, relatively warm winters resulted in an ice cover that was unusually thin and broke an abnormally high number of times, allowing a greater amount of sunshine into the water — and this was sometimes blamed for the explosive growth in 2006 and 2007. While no one can say for sure whether this really was one of the causes, an inadequate ice cover wasn’t a factor this past winter.

‘‘That deterred the weeds somewhat, but then when it got warm in April, I got nervous,’’ said Karen Rine, who heads the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, a group that advocates for the spraying of herbicides in certain parts of the lake to hinder weed growth.

For the most part, though, the weeds still haven’t grown to the surface of the water. ‘‘I really don’t know why, because the conditions were optimum in the spring — but there was an awful lot of wave action on the lake. That’s my take,’’ said Mrs. Rine, who lives along the shore of Burtis Bay in Celoron.

While the region may have enjoyed some pleasant days this past spring, temperatures across the board were lower than normal, says Evans — a factor that may also have contributed to the slow weed growth.In addition, Robert Johnson — who manages Cornell University’s Research Ponds Facility and studies Chautauqua Lake’s weed infestation — is exploring the possibility that weed-eating insects are slowing down the weed growth, according to CLMC officials. Article

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Invasion of alien snails: what to do about them

MyrtleBeachOnline.com

The gummy-looking, droplet- like clusters of pink eggs that clung to the bank of the pond appeared harmless enough, but S.C. nature officials are worried the snails that hatch from those eggs could pose a health risk and cause widespread ecologi cal damage.

The island apple snail has been found for the first time in South Carolina in about a dozen ponds in the Laurel Woods subdivision and the Heron Point Golf Club off S.C. 707.

Now, offi cials are trying to eradicate them before they spread to the Waccamaw River, which would make containment efforts much harder.

"Ideally, they would be exterminated," said David Knott, a marine biologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. "If it's feasible, and we can do it without causing environmental damage, that's what we'd like to do.''

The snail could eat just about all the plants in a pond, and displace and even feed on native snail populations, Knott said.

The snail also carries a parasite that could cause fatal menin gitis and can transfer to people if it is handled without gloves, although Knott said he was unaware of a case in the U.S.

The island apple snail, indi genous to South America, is one of several apple snail species. Of greater concern to biologists is the channeled apple snail, which can devour rice and taro crops and is the 73rd worst invasive species in the world, according to the Global Invasive Species Database.

The channeled apple snail has been found in Arizona, California, Hawaii and maybe Alabama, according to a DNR press release.

The island apple snail as been introduced in Texas, Florida and Georgia, the press release said.
The island apple snail cannot survive for long in water below 50 degrees, but it can burrow into the ground if the temperatures drop. Overall, South Carolina appears to be just warm enough for the snails, Knott said.

To get rid of the snail, the DNR is spraying copper sulfate, a federally approved pesticide, in the infested ponds. The blue, granular substance will also kill algae but should not have any other detrimental effects.

Michael Hook, a field supervisor with the DNR's aquatic nuisance species program, said he sprays about 10 feet from the edge of the pond, where most of the snails live. The DNR plans to treat the infested ponds once a month throughout the summer, he said.

SC Dept. of Natural Resources. (803) 734-9100 Article

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Week of June 8

Foxes are latest threat to sea turtle population, nesting shorebirds

By Gareth McGrath Staff Writer, StarNewsOnline.com

Fort Fisher, North Carolina - Kneeling next to a wire-mesh box turned upside down, Jeff Owen pushed back the sand to show the box's sides extending into the beach and the flaps protruding several feet.

Installed over the top of a buried sea turtle nest, the exclusion device looked like a pretty good deterrent.

But Owen, superintendent for the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, just shook his head when asked how effective the cages are in keeping the local red foxes out of the nests.

"They pick up things real fast," Owen said. "It didn't take them long to figure this stuff out."

Officials up and down the coast are struggling with what to do about foxes that have developed a hankering for sea turtle eggs.

Adding to their concern is the precipitous decline in the nesting population of the northern loggerhead, the predominant sea turtle found in North Carolina waters.

Last year North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida all saw loggerhead nesting numbers more than 30 percent lower than those in 2006. Smaller declines also had been observed in previous years.

That's prompted several environmental groups to petition the federal government to declare the northern population of the loggerhead a separate species and give it "endangered" status under the Endangered Species Act.

But sea turtles aren't the only creatures feeling the fox's bite.

Last year, not a single shorebird nested successfully on Masonboro Island, where half the turtle nests were raided. "We're assuming most of that impact came from foxes," said Hope Sutton, southern sites manager for the N.C. Division of Coastal Management.

The drop in turtle and nesting shorebird numbers comes just as the coast's fox population is increasing, apparently fueled by its ability to feel perfectly at home among humans.

Because the red fox is a non-native species, brought to coastal North Carolina by British settlers centuries ago as a game animal, eradication of nuisance animals is supported by some officials and environmentalists as a reasonable solution.

But that support hasn't carried over into the general public - yet. A proposal by Caswell Beach to use lethal means, probably sharpshooters, to control its fox problem prompted a strong reaction from residents. Full Article

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Beach in New Hampshire stays open during milfoil treatment

By Terry Date, staff writer, Eagle-Tribune

WINDHAM — Residents can swim at the town beach next week while Cobbetts Pond undergoes milfoil treatment.

The town's recreation director announced at the selectmen's meeting Monday there would be no swimming in the entire 2-mile-long pond for seven days.

But yesterday, Recreation Director Cheryl Haas announced swimming would be allowed at the town beach, which is a good distance from the treatment area.

The confusion stemmed from incomplete information she received about a state law that restricts swimming for seven days in ponds and lakes that have been treated for milfoil with the herbicide Navigate.

Upon further research, the town learned the seven-day prohibition against swimming applies only to treatment areas. At Cobbetts, that is a 49-acre section at the north end of the pond and a 2.7-acre area in the middle of the pond — as well as 200-foot areas extended from those sections, said Amy Smagula, exotic species program coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

Smagula said the town beach is well outside the treatment area and the state has no problem with the beach being open for swimming during treatment. Full Article

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Restoring nature’s oasis in Norwalk, Connecticut

By Marcia Powell, NorwalkPlus.com

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Norwalk Seaport Association partner to restore natural biological habitat in the Norwalk islands

Due to heavy recreational use, habitat degradation by nonnative invasive plant species and unchecked animal populations, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has identified the Norwalk Islands and their habitats as one of the 13 most imperiled natural communities in Connecticut.

Now, thanks to a long-term partnership between the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Norwalk Seaport Association, efforts to restore the natural habitat in the Norwalk Islands are underway. The Seaport Association, which owns and maintains Sheffield Island Lighthouse, is a recognized Friends organization of the National Wildlife Refuge System, in particular, the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in the Norwalk Islands.

The ongoing Habitat Restoration and Conservation Project will encompass the 51-acre refuge on Sheffield Island and the 68-acre refuge on Chimon Island. In October of 2007, a Fish & Wildlife Service team visited Sheffield Island to begin identifying and mapping the location of specific invasive plants and determine a strategy for habitat restoration and conservation.

Among the invasive species that have been targeted on Sheffield Island are mile-a-minute, perennial pepperweed, garlic mustard, Japanese barberry, Asiatic bittersweet and phragmites. Full Article

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Invasive Water Lettuce Harms Bay Grasses And May Impede Boating in Maryland

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds water gardeners and aquarium owners to properly dispose of aquatic plants to prevent spread of invasive species like water lettuce that harm bay grasses and may impede boating. DNR biologists first identified invasive water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) in Maryland last summer during a routine survey of Mattawoman Creek, a large Potomac River tributary in Charles County.

A native of South America, water lettuce is an aquatic weed that floats on the surface of slow-moving rivers, lakes and ponds. Unmistakable in appearance with light green leaves grouped in rosette like an open head of lettuce, the commonly used household aquatic plant floats on the surface of the water alone or in dense mats. Water lettuce produces seeds and spreads rapidly; growing into thick mats of vegetation that block sunlight from reaching underwater grasses and using dissolved oxygen in the water that fish need to survive. Once established, water lettuce becomes impenetrable to boats, swimmers and waterfowl. Full Article

Week of April 20, 2008

Updated April 25

U.S. House passes ballast water treatment standards

By Jeff Alexander, Muskegon Chronicle

The battle to keep ocean freighters from dumping more foreign species into the Great Lakes made an historic advance Wednesday, when one branch of Congress passed the nation's first ballast water treatment standards.

On a vote of 395-7, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Coast Guard funding bill (H.R. 2830) that contained language requiring some freighters to disinfect ballast water tanks beginning next year. By 2015, all ships operating in the Great Lakes must have treatment systems on-board that kill all living organisms in ballast tanks, including pathogens.

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate, which has been debating similar legislation (S. 1892). If approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush, the legislation would enact the world's most stringent ballast water treatment standards. Full Article

The full text of the bill can be found at
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2830

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Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) releases 2007 annual report and 2008 workplan

APIPP is pleased to announce that our 2007 Annual Report and 2008 Workplan are now available online at http://adkinvasives.com/publications.html .

In addition, the Adirondack Aquatic Nuisance Species Committee produced its 2007 summary report and 2008 Workplan, also available on APIPP's website under the heading: Adirondack Park Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plan, http://adkinvasives.com/Aquatic/Resources/Resources.html .

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Conservationists, biologists, battle unwelcome species to save Delaware plants

The daffodils are blooming along the banks of Hickory Run, a small tributary of Red Clay Creek.

The only trouble is, they don't belong here.

Daffodils -- like the multiflora rose, the seedlings of Japanese stilt grass and the low-growing garlic mustard -- are invaders in this sylvan setting.

"We'll never get rid of 'em," said James G. Subach, natural lands supervisor for the Mount Cuba Center in Greenville.

Besides habitat loss, many private and public land managers in Delaware believe the spread of invasive species -- especially invasive plants -- is one of the state's biggest environmental
challenges.

They often out-compete native varieties.

Barry Rice, an invasive-species scientist for The Nature Conservancy, said they typically share characteristics such as a short period from germination to reproduction, produce many seeds and can reproduce both by seeds or vegetatively. In addition, they typically take root in disturbed habitats such as roadsides. Once established at the edge of a road or forest, they easily spread, either on passing vehicles or in the wind drafts from passing cars and trucks, he said.

The impact from invasive plants spreads throughout an ecosystem, according to Douglas W. Tallamy, professor and chairman of the University of Delaware Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, affecting biodiversity on every level from plant composition to insects to birds that rely on insects to feed their young.

While it is a challenge, Tallamy said, it is also an area where individual Delawareans can make a difference.

Big environmental issues like global warming often leave people thinking "whatever we personally do isn't going to make a measurable difference," he said. But with invasive plants, people can make a difference one plant at a time and one backyard at a time.

In a state like Delaware, with less and less undeveloped habitat and with fragments of forest, Tallamy believes there is an alternative: "What we need to do is redesign suburbia."

Because non-native plants often are sold in garden centers, homeowners may plant them without realizing the impact.

In his new book, "Bringing Nature Home," Tallamy wrote that habitat loss and fragmentation from farming and development have taken a toll on native plant and animal communities. Ultimately, he said, there will be no habitat left except for the landscapes and gardens we create.

By getting rid of non-natives in yards throughout suburbia, replacing them with native plants and getting neighbor after neighbor to do the same, you end up with a connected area for wildlife and better biodiversity.

Tallamy knows firsthand what a difference native plants can make. In 2000, he and his wife bought 10 acres in southeastern Pennsylvania. Over time, they removed non-natives and replaced them with native species.

Every year, he said, they can see a difference in the native insects and birds they attract.

Susan Barton, a cooperative extension agent at the Univesity of Delaware and co-author of two booklets on plants for a Livable Delaware, said a transportation department that can remove all the invasive plants along highway rights of way may seem impossible.

"But removing multiflora rose from each person's property isn't incomprehensible," she said. Then, "we'd have habitat in suburbia."

Controlling invasives can be complicated. Subach said it often is most important to understand the life cycle of individual plant species to best time control efforts.

Along Delaware's coastal marshes, where an invasive, giant reed species called Phragmites australis is a concern, control efforts can take years. First, specialized weed killers that can be used near environmentally sensitive waterways are sprayed on the vast stands of weeds. Spray is typically applied over two seasons. The spray is followed by a controlled burn of the reeds.

On Wednesday, firefighters in Lewes did a controlled burn on invasive phragmites at Lewes Beach. Besides being a fire hazard, the invasive species of the reed provides little habitat value in North America.

In 2002, a team of researchers found that Phragmites australis supported 170 species in its native habitat. It is found in Europe, Asia and Africa and researchers here believe there are two varieties in our salt marshes -- one that was introduced more than 300 years ago and is especially invasive and a second variety that is native to North America. The introduced variety provides habitat for five species.

In 2002, state environmental officials estimated the total cost of a state-landowner cost-share program to control phragmites at $168,700. A total of 2,410 acres were sprayed -- a small part of the affected area throughout the state. Nationally, federal officials estimate the cost of controlling all invasive species at $138 billion a year. Full Article

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Bullhog vs. Honeysuckle

By Steve Bennish, Dayton Daily News

Montgomery County, Ohio — Honeysuckle, meet thy doom.

Your killer is a 6-ton Bullhog forestry mulching machine its friends at Five Rivers MetroParks fondly call a "Bobcat on steroids."

The last thing you will see, honeysuckle, on your way to being ground into mulch, are six rows of steel teeth whirling around at 2,400 rpm on the front of a machine that travels on steel tracks.
This well-deserved fate has been long in coming for honeysuckle, the green Godzilla of the southwestern Ohio woods.

It's a nonnative invasive plant that overwhelms and destroys native plant life, from valuable oak trees to expensive exported herbs such as ginseng. Conservationists, for good reason, despise honeysuckle, which has taken over park lands and private woodlots. Some would like to ban its sale in Ohio.

Honeysuckle has been difficult to destroy — until now.

At Possum Creek MetroParks this week, conservation biologist apprentice Bryan Dorsey made quick work of several acres along Frytown Road, easily grinding plants up to 20 inches in diameter. This stuff has been growing since the 1960s and it is well established.

The new machine, purchased for $93,000 by MetroParks from FECON Inc. in Lebanon, arrived for service March 28.

It is the only one in possession of a parks organization in these parts.

The Bullhog takes out an acre of honeysuckle in six hours — three times faster than a human crew using chain saws. It's cost-effective and sparing of other plant life, MetroParks officials said.
The Bullhog also works on buckthorn, autumn olive and ailanthus. MetroParks plans to use the machine on honeysuckle from November through April, stopping for bird nesting season.

Between honeysuckle session, the machine will be used for other purposes.

After the honeysuckle is shredded, stumps are sprayed with a herbicide, Dorsey said, in a routine that will have to be repeated because honeysuckle requires regular suppression and FiveRivers has hundreds of acres that need attention.

FECON sells many of its locally assembled machines for maintenance along highways and land clearing, product manager Anthony Nikodym said.

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Pesticide ban has parks department eyeing options

By Meredith Blake

Greenwich, Connecticut - The Department of Parks and Recreation is scrambling to come up with a plan to properly treat the town's athletic fields following a ban on pesticides instituted last week.

The department had anticipated the ban, but did not expect it until June 2009, when a state law banning the use of pesticides on all elementary and middle school grounds was set to go into effect. Not only did the town mandate go into effect a year earlier, but it also included all town, school and park athletic fields.

The department did not allocate funds to treat the fields organically, nor does it have the equipment and personnel for the job, according to Tim Coughlin, turf operation manager for the parks department. "This is a major logistical change," he said.

In the past, the department has applied one application of pesticide to prevent crabgrass, an invasive weed that, if not controlled, can smother regular grass and destroy the fields.

Now it needs to use equipment to overseed, fertilize, irrigate the fields, and get people out to attack the weeds. And it must be done now, Coughlin said, before the grass really starts to grow in May and the fields are used daily for baseball and other sports games.

"We can't wait too long. Things need to be done in April," said Bruce Spaman, town tree warden.
Spaman, a member of the Environmental Action Task Force, the newly formed group that proposed the ban, said they pushed for its quick implementation, seeing it as an opportunity

"Basically, the program was heading in that direction, but this was the push we needed to go with the organic program," Spaman said. Additional money will be needed, but it is an investment, he said.

If residents look to the successful field at North Street School, which is a model for the rest of the town, they will see what the fields will become. They won't look like Yankee Stadium just yet, he said.

Right now they are going to have to work harder to monitor and treat the fields and that will cost money, he added.

"We know how to do it, but the question is where does the money come from," Coughlin said. Coughlin will be meeting next week with Joseph Siciliano, director of parks and recreation, to come up with a plan. Full Article

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Spread of cogon grass heightens risk of major fire in South Carolina

By KATRINA A. GOGGINS, The Associated Press

COLUMBIA - An invasive weed that already has infested more than 1 million acres nationwide continues to spread across the parched Southeast, and experts say the regions drought makes the highly flammable intruder more threatening than ever.

Cogon grass, known for its fluffy, silvery white seed heads, has coaxed its way into gardens, forests and highway medians across the region, where control and eradication programs have kicked into high gear.

Dont buy it, dont dig it up, dont plant it and just let somebody know if you see it, said Laurie Reid, forest health specialist for the South Carolina Forestry Commission. We are definitely on the lookout for it because if it happens to come into a forested situation, then thats when the danger really comes for either wildfire or a prescribed burn.

Now in its flowering stage, cogon grass can burn all year and when it catches fire, experts say it burns higher and hotter than regular grass during wildfires. Its most flammable in colder months when it appears as a tall, thick mass of brown-colored grass. But drought conditions in the Southeast have kept the weed dry and increased its risk as a fire hazard this spring, experts say.

They are unusually hot-burning fires that consume at higher heights -- up to 10 to 15feet, said Jim Miller, a regional invasive plant scientist with federal Agriculture Department. "I dont think theres anything more flammable in our environments landscape. I dont know anything that burns as hot in our ecosystem as cogon grass."

Once used as packing material that arrived in Mobile, Ala. on ships in 1912, cogon grass can seem harmless even beautiful but forestry experts in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama warn its a killer.

A native of southeastern Asia, cogon grass chokes all competing vegetation it kills off pine seedlings in forests and overtakes grazing land where most animals wont give it a second look because of its saw-toothed leaves. Experts believe the aggressive weed could turn the region into a grassy savannah devoid of all native species if given enough time. Ironically, forestry experts said, the grass has spread in part because its hitched rides on equipment used to fight forest fires.

Its actually got to epidemic proportions, said Ed Brown, a spokesman for the Mississippi Forestry Commission. I call it a super weed. I have seen it grow on some of the driest sites that wouldnt hardly grow anything and Ive seen it growing down the edge of water. Ive actually seen it taking over a patch of kudzu.

Cogon grass, sometimes spelled cogongrass, is on every continent except Antarctica and inhabits around 1.2 billion acres worldwide. Asia has lost about 500 million acres to the weed, and it continues to spread to an additional 370,000 acres each year, experts say.

Its definitely a worldwide problem and now we are a part of that worldwide problem in the Southeast because we have failed to confront it, Miller said. Florida now has over 1 million acres and Miller said hes heard reports of cogon grass causing intense home fires there. Alabama has 60,000 acres of it; South Carolina only 10, so far, according to estimates done by the USDA and Clemson University.

States, with the help of a federal grant awarded last year, are starting to coordinate efforts to study, survey and control the spread of cogon grass. Clemson University scientists plan to survey more than half of South Carolina next month. Full Article

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Invasive plant in creek hinders manatees

Zac Anderson, HeraldTribune.com

NORTH PORT, Florida — A popular winter home for West Indian Manatees in Sarasota County has become so choked with debris that the endangered animals are struggling to access the creek.

The problem should be remedied soon though, thanks to a $32,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.

Sarasota County plans to use the money to remove invasive Brazilian pepper trees, which shed their limbs so rapidly that they dam up the Salt Creek in North Port.

The creek, a tributary of the Myakka River, annually hosts up to 70 manatees, which move from the Gulf of Mexico to warm inland waters during the winter.

"This is a critical habitat for the Manatees and the vegetative dams limit their ability to move," said Michael Elswick, an environmental specialist with the county.

Brazilian Pepper trees grow much faster, and shed their leaves and branches more quickly, than native mangroves and pine trees, Elswick said.

"The trees generate a lot of biomass that has heavily impaired the area," Elswick said.

The county plans to replace invasive trees with native plants along a section of the creek popular with manatees. Work with begin on May 31 and last throughout the summer. Article

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Week of October 28, 2007

Updated November 2, 2007

Emerald Ash Borer: Found in West Virginia

Emerald ash borer (EAB), a highly destructive, non-native beetle that attacks ash trees, has been found in Fayette County, WV, according to Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass. “We were surprised to find the beetle this far south, because the closest known areas of infestation are in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” said WVDA Plant Industries Division Director Gary W. Gibson. http://www.wvagriculture.org/news_releases/2007/10-19-07.html

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Draft South Carolina Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan (Oct 2007; PDF 4.37 MB) South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Aquatic Nuisance Species Program.

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Home Values on Invasive Plant Infested Lakes Carol Ann Doucette is a Realtor and the president of a lake association in Maine. Carol is doing a survey of homes which are located on invasive plant infested lakes. Currently there are 29 lakes infested with Milfoil with an approximate total of all lakes in Maine at 6000. Carol (and the rest of us) would love to know any information from Realtors and property owners how this has or is effecting sales and values on their lakes throughout the U.S. No statistics are available in Maine to track this.

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Zebra mussels: From Warnings to Citations in Washington State

SPOKANE, Washington -- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) enforcement officers have shifted from warnings to issuing citations in an effort to keep Washington's waters free of an invasive species that threatens native fish and wildlife.

The state’s first citations for illegally transporting zebra mussels were issued earlier this month to two out-of-state trucking companies hauling large boats to the Pacific coast. Live zebra mussels were found attached to boats being transported by a hauler from Ontario, Canada, and another from Iowa. The zebra mussels were spotted during Washington State Patrol commercial vehicle inspections at a Washington-Idaho port-of-entry weigh station east of Spokane.

“We hope these citations, which can result in fines up to $5,000, will raise awareness that this state looks at invasive species very seriously,” said Mike Cenci, WDFW deputy chief of enforcement.

“When I talked with the truck driver and trucking company manager from Ontario, both said they fully understand because they’ve seen what zebra mussels have done to the Great Lakes area,” said Capt. Mike Whorton, who heads WDFW’s enforcement operations in eastern Washington. “One trucking company manager said he would no longer haul vessels that have not passed an aquatic-invasive-species inspection.”

Full news release at http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/newreal/release.php?id=oct2907a

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Ballast Water Legislation

WASHINGTON (Gannett News Service 1/1/07) — Seven Great Lakes lawmakers are urging Senate leader Harry Reid to aid the region's fight against invasive aquatic species by finding a compromise between competing bills to regulate the discharge of ships' ballast water into the freshwater lakes. In a letter, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold and six colleagues said discharge from ships is a key way aquatic organisms enter the Great Lakes and must be controlled. Ships use ballast water for stability and frequently release the water when in port. The five Democrats and two Republicans back legislation by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., but the bill headed to the floor is the Ballast Water Management Act by Sen. Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Commerce Committee. Levin is one of the letter signers. Environmental groups, lawmakers and Wisconsin's attorney general oppose provisions in Inouye's bill they say would exempt the discharges from the Clean Water Act and pre-empt states’ ability to enforce their own anti-pollution laws. The letter writers said those are "concerns about the legislation that need to be addressed prior to the Senate's consideration of the bill. Because of the seriousness of invasive species, it is important to double efforts to resolve those concerns, and we urge you to help find a compromise."

http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/FON0101/71101090

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Hemlock Woolly Adelgid:
Young Harris College (YHC) Hemlock Project, Young Harris College (Georgia).

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North American Lake Management Society (NALMS)

Excelsior, Minn., Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- At its International symposium in Orlando Florida today, the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS), passed the gavel to Dick Osgood, a member of the society since 1980. Mr. Osgood will begin a year-long term as President of the international organization overseeing the agenda for the board as well as all policies and programs, committees and planning for the organization. Osgood's agenda for 2008 identifies several critical lake management challenges in North America, including: Aquatic invasive species, which may "change the game" for lakes by causing serious, wide-spread and irreversible damage; toxic algae, which are becoming more prevalent; and adapting to climate change, which intensifies and accelerates the impacts of aquatic invasive species and toxic algae.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,212341.shtml

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E-Learning—Engaging Volunteers and the Public in Invasive Plant Issues and Management

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Invasive Plant Management announce a new e-learning website aimed at engaging volunteers and the public in invasive plant issues and management. Designed for National Wildlife Refuge volunteers and Friends groups, the website provides science-based, introductory information that is suitable for anyone interested in learning about invasive plants. The five self-study modules address the purpose and history of the Refuge System, how volunteers help in invasive plant management, how refuges manage invasive plants, and tips for community outreach. Each module contains a quiz and web-based resources that enable learners to explore topics more thoroughly.

The website is part of a larger program carried out by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in conjunction with partners, such as the National Wildlife Refuge Association, to engage volunteers in managing invasive species on National Wildlife Refuges. This program includes competitive grants and training in how to map invasive plant infestations using hand-held computers and GPS devices.

Volunteers and Invasive Plants: Learning and Lending a Hand website:
http://www.fws.gov/invasives/volunteersTrainingModule/index.html

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Meeting: Weed Science Society of America

Registration for the WSSA annual meeting at the Chicago Hilton, February 4-7, 2008 is now open on the WSSA web site: http://www.wssa.net/. Brochures will be mailing soon but in the meantime, a PDF of the brochure is also available on the site.

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Hemlock Woolly Adelgid: Biocontrol in Maine

KITTERY, Maine — Agents from the state Forest Service in Maine were scheduled to release beetles in Kittery and York on October 30, 2007 to combat another invasive species of bug, the hemlock woolly adelgid. Attacking hemlocks, the invasive pest has infested some 6,000 acres in York County, primarily in Kittery and York, according to information released by the agency Monday. Maine Forest Service Entomologist Charlene Donahue said the bugs will be released in three spots around the area including the Kittery Landtrust and the York Water District. No time has been set for their release because the beetles are still en route via Fed Ex, said Donahue. Once released, the bugs will help control the woolly adelgid population, but are not designed to eradicate the adelgid, just slow it's spread.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/FOSTERS01/710300056

Additionall information about the whooly adelgid can be found at the US Forest Service site at http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/hwa/

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VHS: Penn State Ban on Moving Fish

BY DAVID BRUCE, GoErie.com

Pennsylvania has banned removing fish from Lake Erie and its tributaries, and releasing them or using them as bait in other waterways. A Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture quarantine order took effect Monday for areas of Erie and Crawford counties that are part of the Lake Erie watershed. Those areas include most of northern and western Erie County, and the northwestern corner of Crawford County. The order was issued to control the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia. The virus poses no risk to humans, but causes internal bleeding in fish and has been linked to numerous fish kills in the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/LIFESTYLES07/710300392/-1/LIFESTYLES21

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Lamprey in Vermont
By Tom Mitchell Herald Staff

Vermont Fish and Wildlife officials are seeking to increase the level of pesticide that could be applied in the Poultney and Hubbardton rivers this fall, to bring about a more complete kill of baby lamprey living in the streams.

Wayne A. LaRoche, commissioner of Vermont Fish and Wildlife, has sent a memorandum to officials in the Department of Environmental Conservation to increase concentrations of TFM, the lampricide from 1.1 times minimum lethal concentration to 1.3 times mlc in a permit issued earlier this month.

The proposed change would be a "major modification" to the existing permit and will require a standard review in order to be considered, Susan Brittin, an environmental scientist that coordinates DEC's Aquatic Nuisance Control program, said this week.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071027/NEWS01/710270371/1002/NEWS01

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Codium fragile: Botany Photo of the Day

See a beautiful photo of Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides at http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2007/10/codium_fragile_subsp_tomentosoides_1.php
The photo, by Courtnay Hermann, is also at AlgaeBASE, together with some good information, at http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2007/10/codium_fragile_subsp_tomentosoides_1.php

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Faucet Snail: Finding the Exotic Faucet Snail (Bithynia tentaculata): Investigation of Waterbird Die-Offs on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (2007)

By Jennifer S. Sauer, Rebecca A. Cole, and James M. Nissen

Beginning in 2002, there have been major waterbird die-offs every spring and fall in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (UMR Refuge). UMR lies within the Mississippi Flyway, through which an estimated 40 percent of the continent’s waterfowl migrate. Through the 2006 spring migration, an estimated 22,000–26,000 birds died on the UMR Refuge.

Wildlife pathologists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), Madison, Wisconsin, found that infection by two trematode parasites was the cause of death. An exotic snail known as the faucet snail is the first and second intermediate host for the trematodes. The faucet snail, with a shell length that can reach 15 mm, is typically found in freshwater ponds and shallow lakes. Waterbirds are at risk of consuming the trematodes inadvertently as they eat snails, which are important in their diets.

Faucet snails are native to and well distributed throughout Europe. The snail was introduced into the Great Lakes in the early 1870s. In Wisconsin, faucet snails were only found in Lake Michigan and the Wolf River drainage until 2002 when they were found in Lake Onalaska.

See the full report at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1065/pdf/ofr_20071065.pdf

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Giant Hogweed: "Monstrous Toxic Weed on the Attack on Long Island"

RICHARD WEIR, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, October 29th 2007, 4:00 AM

It's called giant hogweed, and this Godzilla of weeds produces a hefty stalk that can reach 15 feet high and sprout leaves as wide as 5 feet.

But it is the hogweed's watery, toxic sap that has earned it the dubious distinction of being declared a public health hazard. The plant's juices can cause burning and blistering to human flesh, and leave blackish scars that can last several years.

And it's here on Long Island. The plant, which sprouts massive clusters of white flowers, was included in a list of 63 invasive plant species that Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi aims to ban from local shops by 2009.

"It's like Audrey from 'Little Shop of Horrors.' It's a huge, huge plant," said Allan Lindberg, a wildlife biologist with the Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums. Lindberg said staff at the Muttontown Preserve in East Norwich, on Long Island's North Shore, has been battling the plant for 10 years. The only other known patch of giant hogweed on Long Island is on the grounds of a horse stable off Northern Blvd., near the preserve.

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/2007/10/29/2007-10-29_monsterous_toxic_weed_on_the_attack_on_l-1.html

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Invasive Plant Species Threaten Upper Delaware
By SARAH THOMAS, The Wayne Independent

Japanese Knotweed, Purple Loosestrife, and Rock Snot may not sound like the names of a dangerous band of invaders. But for property owners and National Park Service officials on the Upper Delaware River, they're no laughing matter. They are just three of the 61 species of invasive plants threatening one of the country's premier natural waterways.

Continued at http://www.wayneindependent.com/articles/2007/10/30/news1/news3.txt

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Cornell Cooperative Extension: Apple, biofuel and invasive species programs are some newly funded research and extension projects

By Lauren Chambliss, Cornell Chronical Online

Research projects on biofuels, apples and teaching youths to cook to promote healthy eating are just a few of the 94 new research and extension programs that will be funded this year with more than $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.

The money will be disbursed to new research and extension projects in such diverse areas as human health, food safety, communicating in the Internet age, global climate change, renewable energy and agriculture. They include projects on:

Biofuels -- finding the right mix of field grasses specifically for New York that will provide the best, most sustainable, economically efficient fuel source for the "green" energy revolution;

West Nile virus -- investigating new methods of mosquito population control to reduce the threat of diseases transmitted to humans;

Youth and health -- using cooking skills to promote healthy eating among youth;

Invasive species -- keeping New York's lakes and rivers healthy and flowing by researching the ecosystem impact of invasive aquatic plants; and

Apples -- promoting one of the state's largest agricultural products by creating new strategies to benefit processed apple products.

Appropriated by Congress under authority of the federal Hatch, Smith-Lever, McIntire-Stennis and Animal Health acts, these "federal formula funds" go to the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (CUAES), New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva (NYSAES) and Cornell Cooperative Extension. The annual project awards primarily go to faculty at the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology and Veterinary Medicine.

Complete article at http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct07/CCE.research.lc.html

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Asian Carp

The Asian carp, a non-native species imported from China and Siberia, is eating its way up the Mississippi River toward the Great Lakes, conquering water ecosystems in its path.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=67265