Here within the Allegheny Mountains, invasive plant species are inescapable. The vine-cover known as kudzu is creeping in from the south. Some forest floors are covered with tangles of multiflora rose.
Tree of heaven, purple loosestrife, mile-a-minute and autumn olive; bush honeysuckle, Canadian thistle and garlic mustard – all are spreading throughout our ecosystem, crowding out the native plants that once grew here.
The worst – and most invasive of them all, though – is Japanese knotweed. This broad-leafed, long-stemmed plant grows in dense colonies along our streams and sunlit hillsides and is becoming dominant in too-many areas.
A decade ago, I worked as a communications consultant for a group called “Natural Biodiversity.” Over several years we collaborated on a website, annual reports, a learning guide and a variety of other materials designed to educate the public about invasive plants and the important of restoring native habitat.
Despite what seemed like insurmountable challenges,energetic young professionals like Natural Biodiversity’s founder, Kristen Sewak, and her successor, Kristina Strosnider. willingly tackled problems that had been growing exponentially for many years.
While working with Kristen in those early years, I met other young professionals, who were connected in direct or indirect ways to Natural Biodiversity.
Douglas Beri, Jr., was a fresh-faced AmeriCorps worker eager to get his hands dirty both literally and figuratively to remove knotweed and other invasives. Melinda Hughes-Wert was a staff person with the National Wildlife Federation, which was collaborating with Natural Biodiversity on some projects.
The years passed. I went on to other work and Natural Biodiversity struggled through leadership transitions and funding problems, eventually finding shelter under the corporate roof of the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy.
Very recently, a news item in the CVC newsletter caught my eye. Natural Biodiversity is moving again – this time to a nonprofit corporation, “Nature Abounds,” (NatureAbounds.org) which is based in Dubois.
Nature Abounds was founded in 2008 by Melinda Hughes-Wert. The new director of Natural Biodiversity will be Doug Beri.Under Nature Abounds, Natural Biodiversity will be going national and but continuing to use its public engagement techniques honed here in the Alleghenies.
Doug said he’s “excited, rejuvenated and motivated” to “jump back into a program that [he] personally invested a lot of time and effort into building.” He expects to expand Natural Biodiversity’s focus to include all aspects of biodiversity.
Other invasive species control programs are becoming rooted or growing as well. At a Youghiogheny River Symposium last June, Heather Fowler, of the Fayette County Conservation District, talked about the headway that is being made in the fight against knotweed in Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties.
Heather told symposium participants that a two-spray method has been developed that actually can knock back knotweed significantly within a year’s time. With “maintenance spraying,” treated areas can be kept clear while native plants return. (FayetteCD.org)
The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program is sponsoring “iMapInvasives” – a GIS-based system for recording and tracking the spread of invasive plants across Pennsylvania. This tool can be used by natural resource managers, educators, citizen scientists and the general public to develop strategies for containing and counter-attacking invasive plants.(NaturalHeritage.state.pa.us)
Still, the challenge is a daunting one. Invasive plant species are so widespread – especially knotweed. And no one likes the cost or the thought of spraying strong herbicides all over the place.
So permit this layman to express an observation and an idea:
Japanese knotweed doesn’t grow in heavily shaded areas, presumably because it needs at least some direct sunlight.What if we started planting fast-growing shade-treesaplings, which already are tall enough to stand above the knotweed canopy, amid accessible knotweed patches? Grouped appropriately, the trees would begin to create shade canopies within a couple of years.
Over time, perhaps nature would restore at least some of the natural biodiversity that we havedisrupted by putting plants where they don’t belong.