CIPWG Symposium Takeaways

Notes from CIPWG written up by Karen Schnitzer

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Criteria for Listing a Plant as Invasive:

1.       Non-indigenous

2.       Naturalized

3.       Rapid and widespread dispersion

4.       Excessive Dispersion

5.       Potential for high numbers outside of habitats that are intensely managed

6.       Occurs widely

7.       Many individuals w/in many populations

8.       Out-competes other species

9.       Rapid growth, high seed production and dissemination

1st five plus one equals potential, all nine equals invasive species. Anyone can suggest a plant for inclusion on the list.

There are now 101 plants on the invasive species list.

Ornamental escapes, easy to propagate, vigorous with high fecundity.

Native alternatives, but not all or nothing.

Do they provide food for wildlife? Are they adapted to local conditions? Do they provide ecosystem services? (Wineberry, for example?)

Added to invasive species/do not sell list:

Japanese Angelica

Japanese Wisteria

Chinese Wisteria

Porcelainberry

Mugwort

Callery/Bradford Pear

Quackgrass

 Keynote Speaker: Peter Picone

“It is easy to make a difference.”

That we have so much forest is by accident: Farms were abandoned and returned to forest.

Now there are many people making decisions about land “on purpose”.

Biggest threats are

1.       Habitat loss and fragmentation

2.       Invasive non-native species

Check out CLEAR.Uconn.edu Landcover viewer

There are 2800 plant species in CT.

1800 are native. 1000 are non-native and of those 102 are classified invasive.

Don’t be an “Armchair Biologist”. Go do something.

Observe Nature. Learn to predict seasonal plant use of wildlife.

Prioritize which invasive species you will manage. Make notes of locations of invasive species.

Increase native plants. Do not plant invasive species.

Diversify plantings. Do not plant monocultures.

AVOID PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS!

Also avoid EXTINCTION BY INSTINCT! (buying shiny new plants that are not worthy/beneficial)

Invasives that you can easily get rid of (do-able):

Tree of Heaven – hack and spray

Autumn Olive – mechanically remove, foliar spray, or cut and treat

Bittersweet

Black Locust

Moderate success:

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Barberry

Bush Honeysuckle

Multiflora Rose

Glossy Buckthorn

Phragmites

Tough to have success:

Mugwort

Spotted Knotweed

Canada Thistle

Reed Canary Grass

Garlon 3 OTC 2%

Leveraging Community Engagement:

Bill Marshall, South Windsor, South Windsor Invasive Plant Working Group

Greg Foran, Glastonbury, Successes and Challenges

Sarah Hutchison, Weston, Pulling Together

South Windsor works together with Public Works, Parks, and Environmental Planner.

They give residents knowledge, and residents will identify and control invasive species.

They recruit volunteers, acquire project funding, and plan for the future.

They have an invasive plant identification trail to inform volunteers and include QR codes that point back to a database for additional information. They involved a high school group to generate a database for this purpose. Giveaways don’t hurt either.

To recruit volunteers they had signs, did outreach to farmers, community events, community organizations, and word-of-mouth. Ad hoc group of volunteers included Boy Scouts, Garden Club members, High School organizations, etc.

Check out the USDA Woody Plant Seed Manual.

Robbins Swamp, Perennials, Monarchs and Bees

Kelsey Fisher and Tracy Zarillo

All about Monarchs and Milkweed.

Prune the milkweed before Monarchs arrive so the butterflies have new milkweed to lay eggs on and caterpillars have young leaves when they hatch.