Three invasive species gain local attention in MI

If you are wondering why it is important to avoid non-native plants, here is an example.

Posted: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 · Updated: Wednesday, August 18, 2010, 4:09 pm. By Rachel Brougham News-Review Staff Writer

Invasive species in the Great Lakes region cost $5 billion a year to control and that cost is rising.

Invasive species pose threats to not only the economy, but to native wildlife as well.

The News-Review spoke with Jennifer McKay, policy specialist at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, about three species that are of great concern in our area and what is currently being done and what should be done to prevent their spread.

Quagga mussels
Quagga mussels were introduced in the 1980s and have since, spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and several inland waterways throughout the United States.

The quagga mussel is a cousin of the zebra mussel and the two act similar in nature. Both have black stripes on tan bodies, but the quagga mussel has a more rounded or oval-shaped shell.

Zebra mussels live primarily in warm, shallow water while the quagga mussel lives mostly in deep, cold water.

While zebra mussels can only colonize on hard surfaces such as boat propellers, quagga mussels have the ability to colonize and thrive on both hard and soft surfaces, including sand and pebbles.

Additionally, the quagga mussel has a rapid reproduction rate, with a single mature female producing more than a million eggs in a spawning season.

“These factors mean that the negative impacts from the quagga mussel will be substantially greater to our waters than those of the zebra mussel,” McKay said. “While the adverse impacts are still unknown, there is already fear that these little creatures will be much more threatening to the health of our waters.”

McKay said zebra and quagga mussels were most likely introduced into the Great Lakes region from ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships.

“Education and outreach to inform the public of their role in the spread of quagga mussels is crucial,” McKay said. “Additionally, monitoring and detection programs are under way to check waterways and likely infestation points. And research is being conducted in hopes of developing a control of quagga mussels.”

To help control the spread, McKay stresses that boat owners should inspect every inch of their boat when taking it out of the water. Also, remove any aquatic plants, animals and mud and drain all the water from the boat and any equipment on land before leaving the area.

Eurasian watermilfoil

Eurasian watermilfoil is an aggressive, submersed plant that forms thick underwater beds of tangled stems, then a thick canopy mat of vegetation at the water’s surface.

These beds cause the loss of native plants, degrade water quality and may reduce habitat for fish and other wildlife.

They also hinder boating, swimming and fishing.

Since its introduction from Europe and Asia in the mid 1940s, the weed has spread to 40 states.

“During the 1960s, this aquatic invasive species found its way into Michigan’s waters and unfortunately, Eurasian watermilfoil has invaded many Northern Michigan lakes including Burt Lake, the Elk River Chain of Lakes, Lake Charlevoix, Long Lake, Mullet Lake, Paradise Lake, Thumb Lake and Walloon Lake,” McKay said.

According to McKay, while there are several techniques used to control nuisance aquatic plants, most are not effective or practical for Eurasian milfoil.

“Ultimately, prevention is the most effective and least expensive strategy for controlling Eurasian watermilfoil,” McKay said.

The weed is often moved between bodies of water by small fragments transported on recreational equipment such as boats, trailers and fishing equipment.

Like quagga mussels, McKay urged boat owners to thoroughly check their boats and trailers after use and to carefully inspect any fishing and recreational equipment.

Phragmites

Phragmites is an aggressive wetland weed that grows along the shorelines of large bodies of water or water that is several feet deep.

Phragmites grow and spread very quickly and can crowd out native plants, alter wildlife habitat and increase fire potential.

It is spread both by seed dispersal and by vegetative spread from fragments that break off and are transported elsewhere.

“Phragmites is thought to have arrived in North America accidentally from Europe, most likely in ballast material around 1870,” McKay said. “It established itself along the Atlantic coast and then spread across the continent.”

In recent years, several organizations including Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, have documented phragmites throughout Northern Michigan and worked to educate property owners about the plant.

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council recently teamed up with Emmet County to send letters to property owners along Lake Michigan who have phragmites along their shoreline.

If you received a letter, you are asked to sign and return the permission slip so the phragmites on your property can be treated in September with no cost to you.

Funds for treatment are available through a grant and are only good for 2010, and treatment must happen while the plants are mature, but before the first frost. They will be treated with herbicides, which have been shown to be safe on people and animals.

For more information about any of these invasive species and how to help prevent their spread, visit www.watershedcouncil.org.


How about Virginia Area?

Extension, cooperators host invasive plant control conference BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 12, 2010

The Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment and Virginia Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Forestry for the Bay, the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and other cooperators, will host a conference entitled Good Green, Bad Green: Invasive Plant Control for Habitat Restoration, in Front Royal, Va., Sept. 16-17.


(Media-Newswire.com) - BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 12, 2010 – Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment and Virginia Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Forestry for the Bay, the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and other cooperators, will host a conference entitled Good Green, Bad Green: Invasive Plant Control for Habitat Restoration, in Front Royal, Va., Sept. 16-17.

Targeted to landowners, natural resource professionals, green industry workers, and volunteers, the conference will increase awareness of the destructive potential of non-native invasive plant species, both from an economic and biodiversity standpoint. The conference sessions and daily field tours, led by experts from a range of disciplines, will explore habitat restoration techniques in light of controlling invasive plants.

Lewis H. Ziska, a renowned plant physiologist currently with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, will give the evening keynote address, “Climate Change, CO2, and Invasive Plants.” He has published numerous papers on carbon dioxide and climate change impacts on agriculture, weed biology, and public heath. His research has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and CNN Headline News. Ziska has appeared on ABC World News and with Charles Gibson and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and was featured in the HBO documentary, “Too Hot Not to Handle.”

The conference will take place on Sept. 16 and 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, with the keynote address on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m., at the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center, 600 4-H Center Drive, Front Royal, Va. Limited lodging is available onsite. Registration for the full two-day conference is $65, which includes dinner and evening lecture on Sept. 16, breakfast on Sept. 17, lunches, refreshments, materials, and transportation to the field sites. Registration options include the first day only ( $40 ), the second day only ( $35 ), or the evening lecture on Sept. 16 ( $20 ). A limited number of partial scholarships are available to those who volunteer in natural resources management.

Individuals may register online, e-mail conference organizers, or call ( 540 ) 564-3080 for more information.
The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and instill in students a sense of stewardship, land-use ethics, and large-scale problem solving. As a land-grant university, Virginia Tech serves the Commonwealth of Virginia in teaching, research, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.


Highly Invasive Plants for VA - Please Avoid Them !

1. Ailanthus altissima / Tree-of-heaven
2. Alliaria petiolata / Garlic mustard
3. Alternanthera philoxeroides / Alligator weed
4. Ampelopsis brevipedunculata / Porcelain-berry
5. Carex kobomugi / Asiatic sand sedge
6. Celastrus orbiculata / Oriental bittersweet
7. Centaurea dubia / Short-fringed knapweed
8. Centaurea biebersteinii / Spotted knapweed
9. Cirsium arvense / Canada thistle
10. Dioscorea oppositifolia / Chinese yam
11. Elaeagnus umbellata / Autumn olive
12. Euonymus alata / Winged burning bush
13. Hydrilla verticillata / Hydrilla
14. Imperata cylindrica Cogon grass
15. Lespedeza cuneata / Chinese lespedeza
16. Ligustrum sinense / Chinese privet
17. Lonicera japonica / Japanese honeysuckle
18. Lonicera morrowii / / Morrow's honeysuckle
19. Lonicera standishii / Standish's honeysuckle
20. Lythrum salicaria / Purple loosestrife
21. Microstegium vimineum / Japanese stilt grass