clair084

Updated 4/8/11. Recent additions are at the bottom of each week's post. Register Your Invasive Plant Volunteer Group! (Mid-Atlantic Region) Do you have a volunteer-based invasive plant management program in the mid-Atlantic region? If so, please register it! If you oversee a group of volunteers who conduct invasive plant removals in DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, or WV, please take a minute to add your group to the Invasive Plant Volunteers Directory. To register, click here to complete a short survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/InvasivePlantVolunteers Why bother? Because understanding the number and distribution of volunteer groups in our area will help to: Recognize the significance of volunteer efforts in restoring invaded lands, Identify areas in need of volunteer assistance, Help connect interested volunteers with a suitable group, Build a stronger network of invasive plant workers in the region, Build support for potential funding of volunteer-based programs. The directory will ...

Updated 1/22. Latest news is at the bottom of this week's blog. --------------------------------------------------------- PA looking for more ways to pay for wildlife services Saying hunters, anglers pay their share, state agencies seek new money to manage wildlife Sunday, January 17, 2010 By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Some people look out the window and see a natural world that could take care of itself if we would just leave it alone. But those more experienced in the outdoors and employees of the two agencies that manage the state's wildlife see something else: A man-made landscape of unnatural second growth teeming with thousands of species of plants and animals living in a constantly changing artificial environment. In short, they see the need for constant and costly stewardship of Pennsylvania's wildlife resources. But it's become increasingly hard to pay for it. Officials at the state's separate Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission said they...

Updated 10/17. Newest articles are at the bottom of the post. -------------------------------------------------------- Goats help planned rec center take a bite toward progress Animals clear the weeds for planned recreation, environmental center in city's Druid Hill Park By Meredith Cohn, BaltimoreSun.com The decrepit mansion once served as home to the president of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, but two decades of brush has grown and, along with vandals, has made it uninhabitable. Cue the goats. In what's the first step to a $10 million project to transform this piece of Druid Hill Park into an environmental and recreational center for the city, the four-legged weed whackers have cleared a half-acre ring of ivy and other invasive species. The herd of 40 will be brought back to clear the rest of the 9-acre parcel that few have used, legally anyway, for years. "It's been an eyesore and has all sorts of unsavory activity going on," said Jean DuBose, director of deve...

The following article refers to a lake in Indiana, but I thought it was informative for us folks in the east. Invasive plant battle appears won at one lake The invasive Brazilian elodea, a plant commonly used in home aquariums, appears to have been eradicated from Griffy Lake, a 109-acre impoundment near Bloomington, Indiana after a multi-year battle waged by the Department of Natural Resources, pointing to chance for success elsewhere in the state. "The last Brazilian elodea observed at the lake was at the beginning of the 2007 treatment season," said Doug Keller, aquatic invasive species coordinator with DNR's Division of Fish and Wildlife. "We've performed extensive searches on numerous occasions each year since the plant was last seen, and we have not been able to locate any sign of it again. "With all the work and money put into this project to eradicate an invasive plant species new to Indiana, it is exciting to be able to claim a victory." The su...