Invasion of the Plant Snatchers: Strike Team aimed at thwarting invasive plants

RELEASE: June 12, 2009 – Volume XLI, No. 24

Next to loss of habitat, the combined impacts of invasive plants and overabundant deer pose one of the greatest threats to New Jersey’s diversity of native plants and animals.

Invasive plants are generally introduced from other continents and grow so densely and aggressively that they crowd out native species over large areas. Many common invasive plants started out as imported landscaping stock, brought in to add an interesting touch to yards and gardens. But the more aggressive ones spread rapidly, choking out the natives. The danger from invasive plants has grown widely for a variety of reasons, including a steady flow of new species and drastic habitat modification – like fragmentation of forests from sprawl development.

In addition, the explosion of New Jersey’s deer population has dramatically modified habitat across New Jersey. Deer prefer to eat the native plants and, in many places, they have eaten away the forest understory, including new generations of seedling trees and shrubs. And since nature abhors a vacuum, aggressive invasive plants are all too quick to take their place.

One innovative response comes in the form of the Central Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, a kind of “SWAT” team for rescuing native plants from aggressive invaders. It’s the first public-private partnership in the state aimed at combating invasive plants.

The Upper Raritan Watershed Association (URWA) and Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS) created the Strike Team, whose solution is a system of early detection and rapid eradication. By pooling their expertise and resources and working with dozens of partner organizations and landowners, they are identifying and destroying invasive plants on public and private lands in New Jersey’s Highlands and Piedmont regions.

You might be surprised to learn that New Jersey’s State Botanist has documented 1,000 non-native plants in this state we’re in! The Strike Team assigned threat rankings to each invasive plant based on its current distribution (e.g. is it uncommon or widespread?) and the danger it represents to native plant communities (from high to non-threatening). After completing the analysis, the Strike Team determined that 100 of these non-natives are invasive or potentially invasive plant species in New Jersey. Thirty of these are already considered widespread, so the remaining 70 species will be the focus of the Strike Team's efforts.

The Strike Team first chooses a site, and then recruits a search team including staff, members of partner organizations (like land trusts, watershed associations, parks departments and environmental commissions) and volunteers from master gardeners to concerned citizens. The search team fans out over the site and surveys for emerging invasive populations. The collected information is entered into a database and used to generate maps for future follow up.

The Strike Team then develops a plan to eradicate the plants. The Strike Team has already eradicated 50 new populations of invasive species and over 200 eradications are planned for this summer. The end result of the Strike Team's efforts will be complete eradication or containment of new invasive plants.

In habitats where invasive plants have yet to arrive, or where significant eradication efforts are underway, it is essential that deer be fenced out or reduced to very low levels immediately. Without controlling deer and their hearty appetite for native plants, the invasives will pop right back up.

This new and innovative approach to controlling and eradicating invasive plants can add much to our knowledge and understanding of this global issue.

You can support the Strike Team’s work in several ways. As a private landowner, you can invite search teams to assess your property, remove invasive plantings or host landowner outreach events. And you can volunteer to be a Strike Team member.

For more information, visit the Strike Team website at http://www.urwa.org/stewardship/CJISST/CJISST.asp, or call Team leaders Melissa Almendinger, Invasive Species Coordinator at Upper Raritan Watershed Association, at 908-234-1852 or Michael Van Clef, Ph.D, Stewardship Director at Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space at 609-730-1560.

And I hope you’ll consult New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org, if you would like more information about conserving New Jersey’s precious land and natural resources.

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