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Updated 12/17 -------------------------------------------------------- Moreau, NY tackles threat posed by invasive plant species By PAUL POST, The Saratogian MOREAU, NY — A local environmental group is taking steps to control invasive plant species that it says threaten habitat for birds and other wildlife. The Moreau Conservation Advisory Council hopes to employ strategies ranging from education to eradication. For example, the town Planning Board could urge developers not to landscape with harmful plants, while the town Highway Department could remove invasive plants found along local roads. “It’s a huge problem not only locally, but statewide and nationwide,” council Secretary Ramona Bearor said. “It affects everything — birds, insects and animals that depend on native plants in some way.” Specifically, she cited three types of invasive species that are causing problems. One is Japanese knotweed, sometimes called “American bamboo.” Found in the wild, it spreads rapidly. One place it...

Updated July 17 -------------------------------------------------------- Nassau County teams with environmentalists to thwart invasive species By Phil Spadanuta, Long Island Press Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and Nassau County Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) worked with volunteers from the Nature Conservancy to remove the invasive plant species, the water chestnut, from Mill Pond Park in Wantagh on Tuesday. [...] “The best time of the year to remove this harmful plant is in late spring or early summer before it sets seed,” said Kathy Schwager, Invasive Species Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy. “The seeds are viable for up to 10 years so control efforts must be conducted for many years, but luckily this plant has only been found in two locations on Long Island.” The water chestnut is invading Oyster Bay too. But through early detection and rapid response, the water chestnut plants invasion can be curtailed before more damage to the environment occurs. [...] As Suozzi waded ...

Renewed concerns over invasive beetle in Vermont and New Hampshire Summer brings renewed concerns about the Asian longhorned beetle. The invasive pest has an appetite for maple trees, and has devastated entire forests in Massachusetts. So far, Vermont and New Hampshire have escaped the invasion. But the concern is that the bugs will be transported here in firewood carried by campers. As a precaution, New Hampshire next month will ban out-of-state firewood at federal and state-owned campgrounds. From WCAX News. Link -------------------------------------------------------- Madison High School students control invasives at Wildlife Refuge MADISON, NJ -- It was almost lunchtime on the Madison High School Day of Service and Mark DeBiasse, History Department Chairperson and Service Learning Coordinator, said that his cell phone had not rung once yet to report a problem from any of the more than 40 work sites he was supervising. Sawing, drilling, measuring, mulching, planting, drawing, painti...

Updated 3/20 -------------------------------------------------------- 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 accomplishment...