I Have What? Where? Now What?

I got a few questions offline about my last post, generally asking how and why I know about invasive plant species in New Hampshire.  Simple answer.  Last year, I wanted to know more about plants and growing conditions around TOPH -- a whole new climate zone for me.  So, I applied to the NH Master Gardener program and attended a bunch of classes through the UNH Cooperative Extension.  And now, brimming with this new knowledge, I am doing my bit (and tallying required volunteer hours) to spread the good word to you people.

Slight Tangent

Every state in the USA has a "land grant" university (UNH, U-Mass, etc.)  And each one of these universities, as a part of their original "resources and economies" mission, has an extension service.  Extensions services exist to share with the public what the brainiacs at the universities are figuring out about our natural resources and our economy as it relates to what we produce (agriculture, marine fisheries, forestry, etc.)   Generally, county extension staffers are hired/assigned to work with commercial growers and fisherman and companies (as examples) to ensure that resources are preserved, overhead is minimized and profits/jobs are maximized (roughly, in a nutshell.)

And then there's John Q. Public.  Some dude from NJ-Exit 5, who brings his own firewood to his cabin in New Hampshire, could easily introduce (any one of several) invasive insect species with no native predator into the north woods that would be it.  Really.  A large percentage of New England's forest (and all associated natural resources and industries, including logging, paper and maple syrup) would be wiped out within a year or five.  Really.


So, in an effort to educate the general public about best practices and threats to our lives and livelihoods, the extensions services also have "outreach" programs that educate advocates and educators in communities throughout their respective states.  New Hampshire, for example, has Master Gardeners, Natural Resource Stewards and Marine Docents.

And, in addition to the advocates and educators you may find in your community, most extension services include an office where questions from the public may be answered in-person, on the phone (NH: 1-877-EXT-GROW) or by e-mail (answers@unh.edu).  Finally, cooperative extension web sites (http://extension.unh.edu) are treasure troves of useful information.


Why Should I Care About Invasive Plants?
Non-native invasive plant species have been introduced into your local landscape by any number of means (human "it's pretty" transplants, bird poop, nubby tire cast-offs, etc.) and they are now a cause for concern because they have don't have sufficient and present natural enemies here, presumably because the things that eat, kill or otherwise control them stayed wherever they were native.  Thus, they can grow unchecked, stealing space, water, nutrients and light from native species that are integral to your local ecosystem.

Imagine how much damage three-year-old triplets could do in a Crate & Barrel if their stroller happened to deliver them without parental supervision.  And now imagine they can clone themselves and move on to other Mall stores and all adults present were somehow powerless to discipline them, no matter how they tried.  It's the stuff funny-at-first, scary-cliff-hanger-ending movies are made of.

Just as an example,  here at TOPH we have four acres of mostly woods and weeds, but very few birds.  The Norway Maples that took over the former pastures here grew very quickly, creating a thick canopy, shading and killing a bunch of native cedars that weren't as tall and couldn't grow to adapt fast enough.  In addition, the Norway Maples are allelopathic, meaning their roots produce a kind of toxin that makes it hard or impossible for anything else to take root nearby, except for invasive species, of course.  So, we have very little understory in our little forest, so no dapple-shade-loving, dense, evergreen and berry-producing bushes for the birds to nest in and eat.  Just like that, habitat lost.

Weed Wrench pic from invasives.org

So, how do you recognize vexing vegetation? Try this Guide if you are in NH: extension.unh.edu/forestry/Docs/invasive.pdf.  (If you live elsewhere, look for a guide put out by your local extension service.) There's also information in there about recommended control methods if you find some of these on your property.  

There may also be some great money-saving resources available. We have a bunch of Buckthorn (along with a gazillion of the aforementioned Norway Maple saplings.)  The Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve happens to be at the bottom of our road.  And they maintain a kind of lending library of tools, like Weed Wrenches, which would be very expensive to buy, but are almost invaluable in the process of prying these buggers out of our land of good! 

Trust me.  I learned to recognize two of these too late last year and they went to seed.  We now have a much larger and more expensive mess to clean up.  And we now have less time and less money to spend on our dream landscape.