Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an established invasive plant that, like many other non-native plants, escaped a cultivated life in the 1870’s to spread and grow into new territories beyond the small garden in which it once existed. Lacking any major herbivores to consume the fruit or plant, its growth consumes wide areas of water, creating impassable dense mats. The establishment of this species, if left unchecked, can severely limit boating, fishing, hunting, swimming, and other recreational activities on the water.  

Wall Lettuce (Mycelis muralis) is an early detection invasive species in Vermont. While not well established, it has the potential to spread quickly and outcompete native flora. It is a watch list species in New Hampshire, soon to be added to the watch list in Vermont, meaning the plant has invasive tendencies but is not yet prohibited.

A long-term study of managing Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) shows that clearing the invasive shrub from a wooded area once can lead to a significant reduction in abundance of blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) for as long as six years.

Vermont is losing 1,500 acres of forest a year and New England as a whole is losing nearly 24,000, according to a report released Tuesday by forestry researchers at Harvard University and the University of Vermont.

Monitoring for and treating invasive terrestrial plants are some of the more important things you can do to take care of Vermont’s working forests and natural areas. Effective July of 2016, yard and leaf debris were banned from landfills, including material from invasive plant control.

For any questions regarding invasive plant disposal, contact the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Waste Management & Prevention Division at: (802) 828-1138, or vtrecycles.com.

A confluence of several events has renewed concerns for the well-being of hemlock trees in Vermont. Read more about why Vermonters should be especially concerned and what you can do to help.

Despite the discouraging discovery of an invasive species near Lake George, the Adirondacks have also seen some recent bright spots in the fight against invasive species.

In this article, Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester, breaks down the steps in the management of invasive species so that any landowner with an invasive plant problem can have a clear path forward. 

Walk through a hardwood forest this month and it may seem more like October than July. Trees that normally provide cool shade have bare crowns with just a hint of green. And is the bark on that sugar maple moving? This is not a trick of the light: you are, in fact, in the middle of a forest tent caterpillar outbreak.

 

The Japanese barberry tree, a popular landscaping shrub with attractive flowers, was banned from sale in the state of New York in the spring of 2015. The Japanese barberry tree is one of the 11 plants on the state’s banned invasives list, but it will soon be returning to nurseries because of research done by the University of Connecticut. The return will likely take place in the next year.