Best of 2012 8) Controlling invasive species

We're bringing in the new year with a look back at our milestones for 2012. Check back each day for featured events and activities from across the Northeast! 

Invasive species pose some serious threats. They can displace native fish and wildlife and change native habitats, harming fish, wildlife and plant resources. Invasive species can also pose a risk to human health. In 2012, the Service worked to reduce the impacts that invasive species are having across the Northeast Region. A few projects that we worked on this year:

The first collection of hydrilla verticillata
in Tonowanda Creek.  Credit: USFWS

In September, staff at the Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office discovered hydrilla verticillata, a highly invasive aquatic plant, in the New York State Canal System in Tonawanda, N.Y. Hydrilla crowds out waterweeds and other essential plants, slows water flow and can clog lakes and rivers, enough to even eliminate swimming or boating. The pest is confirmed within one mile of the Niagara River, and thus the Great Lakes. The extent of its possible impacts to the Great Lakes remains unknown, but monitoring elsewhere suggests the plant can become quite a nuisance in waters up to 25 or 30 feet deep. The Service’s Lower Great Lakes office is leading a rapid assessment team of state and federal agencies to determine the actual reach of the plant in the Tonawanda Creek and Niagara River corridor, which will help establish potential response options.  

Hydrilla closes in on the Great Lakes

The first collection of Hydrilla verticillata from
Tonawanda Creek. Credit: USFWS

You don’t necessarily need to be looking for an aquatic invasive species to find it. Sometimes it appears when you least expect it.

That’s exactly what happened in early September, when Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office staff discovered Hydrilla verticillata, a highly invasive aquatic plant, in the New York State Canal System in Tonawanda, N.Y. The location was literally at the base of a boat ramp, a highly visible area that should lend itself to early discovery.

Nonetheless, it apparently went unnoticed for some time, hiding within the abundant native plants, particularly Canadian/common waterweed, a native aquatic plant similar in appearance. The distinction between the two is important, as hydrilla crowds out waterweeds and other essential plants. It slows water flow and can clog lakes and rivers enough to even eliminate swimming or boating.

Conservation celebrity visits a home for New England’s only native rabbit

The national head of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chief Dave White, visited an eastern Connecticut farm on July 14 in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rare New England cottontail.

The farm is owned by Tom McAvoy, a lifelong outdoorsman and the first partner for the New England cottontail under the new Working Lands for Wildlife program. The program, led by the NRCS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is an innovative approach to work with farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to restore and protect land for wildlife.

Service biologist Ted Kendziora talking with NRCS Chief Dave White and others at the farm. Photo courtesy of Tom McAvoy.

Nuggets for knotweed!

Puddles the Blue Goose with
Devin Gill. Puddles is the symbol of the
Service's National Wildlife Refuge
System. Credit: USFWS

Our West Virginia field office recently teamed up with McDonalds and the Potomac Highlands Cooperative Weed and Pest Management Area to educate Randolph County residents about the negative impacts of non-native, invasive plants like Japanese knotweed on their property and on broader landscapes.

"It was a great success!" says Devin Gill, AmeriCorps volunteer with the West Virginia office. "We spoke with many individual restaurant-goers at our booth, and informational hand-outs were passed out by the McDonald's staff on food trays and in to-go bags. They had extras at the end of the day, and I've heard that they continued distributing hand-outs on subsequent days until they were all gone. A successful event and a great partnership for our office!" 

Puddles cutting a stem of Japanese knotweed. Credit: USFWS

The local paper also covered the outreach event. 

A creative solution to invasive plants problem at a Delaware park

Two new recruits are spending their summer at Brandywine Creek State Park tackling invasive plants by doing what they do best – eating.

Two river water buffalo, named Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger, are chowing down on invasive plants at a rate of 20 pounds per day as part of the park’s prescribed grazing project. By both eating the plants and crushing the root mat with their weight, the water buffalo are proving very effective for controlling invasive plants like canary reed grass.

Julie Slacum stands with one of the water buffalo. Credit: USFWS