Invasive Plant Focus: Bur Buttercup, Ranunculus testiculatus

Bur Buttercup, Ranunculus testiculatus: plants emerge, flower, and form fruit in the early spring, soon after snow-melt. Bur Buttercup is a native to southeastern Europe. It has become a common weed in small grains, pastures, waste areas and along roadsides in several western states including California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. Bur Buttercup can be competitive, especially in dryland small grain crops. It is highly toxic to sheep. -Weeds of the West, by Tom D. Whitson

It is important to control Bur Buttercup before flowers and seeds are produced.

Invasive Focus: Kochia (Bassia scoparia)

Kochia is a summer annual – seedlings emerge in early spring. It has inconspicuous flowers that form spikes in leaf axils. The leaves are grayish in color, are smooth on top and hairy on the bottom. Kochia can grow from 1 to 6 feet tall with numerous branches. Seeds last less than one year and disperse through a “tumbleweed” process. After the plant has reached the end of its lifecycle, with strong winds it can break off at the base of the stem and form into a tumbleweed. The tumbleweed is easily blown around and usually ends up in fencerows, roadsides, etc, spreading seed on the way.

Kochia prefers disturbed and overgrazed sites, and is typically not a problem where healthy stands of perennial grasses exist.

Mowing the plants before flowering is effective in reducing seed production.

(photo and info source: Colorado Noxious Weeds)

Sharing TNC’s “Keep Autumn Colorful”

Sharing this great blog post written by Sarah Volkman on The Nature Conservancy Blog, Cool Green Science:

Ahh. The smell of fall; crisp leaves and yellow, orange and red hues displayed brightly by the trees that line our streets and cover our mountains. Can you imagine what it would be like if we first lost the gold, the crimson and then… the whole forest?

Invasive forest insects like the emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle have the potential to do just that. So far, dozens of cities in 18 states have found out what the scene looks like minus millions of ash trees. Known for their early season yellow foliage, ash trees are a significant part of the fall color palette and a popular street tree throughout the Great Lakes and Northeastern United States.

In these states, millions of dead and dying ash trees have been removed from streets because of the emerald ash borer, a tiny green invasive insect that kills ash trees. It made its way from Asia to Michigan — where it was first found in infesting trees in 2002 —  and now is as far east as Massachusetts, as west as Kansas, and south as Tennessee.

The stories of how invasive species are threatening ash trees in Baltimore, walnut trees in Missouri, and the avocado groves of Florida are featured in a new documentary Trees, Pests & People produced by The Nature Conservancy’s Forest Health Protection Program.

For cities like Baltimore, Maryland, the green menace has meant the loss of more than just autumnal colors. “Street trees are really important for a lot of reasons. You want to make sure you have shade, but it also protects you from the noise,” says Valerie Shane of Baltimore’s Parks & People Foundation, in the documentary.

These destructive pests threaten to destroy fall foliage, tree lined streets, small businesses, and even our beloved guacamole if they are not stopped. Thankfully, there are ways you can help!

Keep Autumn Colorful in Two Easy Steps

Don’t move firewood: Protect trees at your house, cabin, or favorite camping spot from pests. Buy firewood near the location where you will burn it. You may not realize it, but tree-killing insects and diseases can lurk in firewood, and when people move firewood these tree killers can hitchhike hundreds of miles. New infestations destroy forests, property values, and cost huge sums of money to control.

Be a concerned citizen: Observe the trees around you, and keep an eye out for unusual insects and unhealthy trees. You can make a difference by reporting any potentially new or worrisome tree symptoms or pests to an arborist, county extension officer, or other plant health professional. The problem could be harmless — but it also could be a critical find of a new invasive forest pest infestation. Learn more.

[Image: Brilliant, golden foliage colors this autumn view of forest at South Fork Preserve, southwest of Telluride, Colorado. Image source: Lynn McBride]

Restoration of Native Plant Habitats

CSR’s Wyoming Regional Manager, Barbara Murcray, at a restoration site near Douglas, WY. CSR will be spraying noxious weeds and then seeding the site with native species this fall. The management of noxious weeds is an integral aspect of implementing a long-term plan for native restoration projects.

Noxious/invasive weeds cause several detrimental effects upon the environment. They destroy wildlife habitat, displace native species, reduce plant and animal diversity by creating monocultures, disrupt migratory and waterfowl flight patterns and nesting habits, increase the likelihood of fires, and are the second largest contributor to native species becoming threatened or endangered. Viewed in this context, a weed management program becomes imperative to further enhance the restoration of degraded landscapes.

CSR’s weed management program is derived from the following objectives:

• implement effective weed control methods using an integrated approach

• prevent the introduction, reproduction and spread of designated noxious weeds and invasive exotic plants

• protect important or critical habitats from weed invasion

• rehabilitate infested areas to reduce susceptibility of reinvasion

• contain the spread, reduce the density, and decrease the size of existing infestations

Once a balanced native ecosystem has been established, further chemical application is not necessary. Weed control is paramount to successful restoration.

Read more about herbicide application and the restoration of native plant habitats HERE on the CSR website.

Native Bumble Bee, Bombus huntii

Hunt’s bumble bee, Bombus huntii, a native to the intermountain west.

Hunt’s bumble bee is photographed here on the highly invasive weed, Houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale).  This plant is extremely mobile and once established out-competes native habitat. Because the seed is cased in the hard shell with barbs, it can last 7 to 10 years in the soil. (reference: Idaho Weed Awareness)

Invasive Focus: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is an invasive pest, that is becoming wide-spread in the U.S. and is of concern to farmers. It feeds on a large number of high-value crops and ornamental plants in its immature and adult life stages. The species is native to Asia and was introduced into the United States in the mid-1990s, possibly stowing away in a shipping container. Their numbers and range have been growing since that time, and they have proved difficult to manage.

In 2010, these stink bugs were seen in extremely high numbers in the mid-Atlantic region. They were responsible for causing major economic damage to fruits and vegetables on a number of farms. In addition to plant damage, brown marmorated stink bugs are a nuisance to people. Adult stink bugs may seek shelter inside houses and other buildings, although they do not bite people or pets, nor do they damage buildings. (EPA:Controlling Pests)

Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs were recently found in Idaho.

The Non-Native Bulbous Bluegrass, Poa bulbosa

Bulbous Bluegrass, Poa bulbosa, is a perennial that grows from basal bulbs, the culms closely clustered, 1/2 to 2 feet tall. The leaf blades are narrow, flat or loosely rolled; with membranous ligules about 1/8 inch long. Flowers are modified to bulblets with a dark purple base.

Introduced from Europe, bulbous bluegrass is now weedy in pastures, grain fields and roadsides in scattered areas of most states. (Weeds of the West)

Bulbous bluegrass was likely a contaminant in grass and/or clover seed imported by the United States. It originated near Portland, Oregon, an active shipping port, spread into Washington and progressed eastward to northern Idaho and western Montana between 1891 and 1980. (USDA Forest Service)

Invasive Species on the Move

The following is shared from the frequently asked questions page on the Center for Invasive Species Research website…

How do invasive species move from place to place?

Invasive species reach new areas outside of their home range in one of two ways: (1) self introduction on their own, or (2) with human assistance that may be deliberate or accidental.

Self-introduction of species into new areas is not a new phenomenon. This process has been happening for millions of years at a very slow rate, and often introductions occur between close neighbors. For example, New Zealand has acquired bird, plant, and insect species that are carried by winds across the Tasman Sea from Australia.

Humans have greatly altered the speed at which species are moved around the world and species introductions are occurring between areas that are separated by vast distances and across natural barriers (e.g., oceans and mountains) that had previously prevented the long-distance movement of species. The speed at which long-distance spread can happen has greatly accelerated due to air travel which allows people to reach most places on earth within 72 hours or less. Short travel (hours on a plane as opposed to weeks or months on a boat at sea) times have greatly increased the survival chances of invasive species traveling with humans.

Humans have deliberately moved an incredible number of plant and animal species around the globe either for food, as part of international commerce (e.g., the pet and nursery trade), or for sport (e.g., hunting and fishing).  It is estimated that there are 50,000 non-native species of plants and animals living in the USA.

Occasionally, some of these species that were once beneficial while under human control (e.g., weeds that were originally garden plants) become problematic when they escape and start to colonize and breed in areas where they are not wanted. For example, plants like salt cedar from Eurasia have invaded the desert southwest of the USA because humans deliberately moved them there for the control of constantly eroding desert sands.

Often, invasive species are moved accidentally by humans. This can occur through hitch-hiking unnoticed on plants that are being moved (e.g., tiny insects or diseases on leaves or in potting), in ballast water that is used to stabilize large transport ships, or inside other animals (e.g., diseases that kill birds have been spread by the commercial trade in exotic pet birds.)

Air Traffic: The above video shows world air flight traffic over a 24 hour period. Notice how the number of planes flying changes between daytime and nighttime. Even at night there are still lots of planes flying around the world. Every flight can potentially move an invasive species into a new area.

Invasive Plant Focus: Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum

Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is noted for its toxicity. It is a herbaceous biennial plant which grows between 1.5-2.5 m tall, with a smooth green stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of the stem. The leaves are finely divided and lacy, overall triangular in shape, up to 50 cm long and 40 cm broad. The flowers are small, white, clustered in umbels up to 10-15 cm across. The plant is often mistaken for fennel, parsley or wild carrot although the characteristic stem hairs of the wild carrots are missing. The Poison Hemlock root is fleshy, white and often unbranched and can be mistaken for parsnip. When crushed, the leaves and root emit a rank, unpleasant odour often compared to that of a mouse or parsnips. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Poison Hemlock is the purplish spots on the stems.

Poison Hemlock contains the alkaloids Coniine, N-methylconiine, conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine, g-coniceïne and Atropine . The most important and toxic of these is Coniine. Coniine is a neurotoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system and is toxic to people and all classes of livestock.

Poison Hemlock has been introduced and naturalised in many other areas, including much of Asia, North America and Australia. Poison hemlock is often found on poorly drained soils, particularly near streams, ditches, and other surface water.
(photos and info source: Idaho Weed Awareness)

From the University of Wyoming: Noxious Weeds