In New Hampshire lakes, rivers and ponds, non-indigenous plants have moved in choking out the natural flora and fauna, but volunteers and state officials have taken up the fight against them. We’ll look at the latest in that fight, as well as invasive insects from the Emerald Ash Borer to the Wooly Adelgid.
GUESTS:
- Douglas Cygan - Invasive Species Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture
- Piera Siegert - state entomologist at the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food
- Amy Smagula – limnologist and Exotic Species Program Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
CALLOUT:
- Andrea Lamoreaux - vice president of the New Hampshire Lakes Association. She overseas the lake host program, which includes about 80 groups of volunteers who are working to fight invasive plants and animals in NH’s lakes.
TOP N.H. INVASIVE SPECIES:
Hemlock Wooly Adelgid: small, wingless insect uses its piercing mouth-parts to feed on small hemlock twigs, killing the tree within 4-10 years. The action plan for managing the wooly adelgid is to quarantine affected hemlock material from infected counties. Find out more here.
Japanese Knotweed: to combat it naturally, 'smother' it (do not mow). Herbicides are also recommended. It spreads through stem & root fragments, and by seed. Japanese knotweed is aggressive, and spreads quickly along surface waters and in right-of-ways.
Emerald Ash Borer: An invasive insect called the 'most destructive in North America.' It is readily transported in hardwood firewood, ash wood products, and ash nursery stock - the best way to prevent it is quaranting these products. The best way to identify it is by looking for signs of their impact on trees: canopy dieback, or sprouts growing from trunk or roots.
LINKS:
- Check herefor ways to get involved in your area with invasive plant-pulling and other stewardship projects.
- NHBugs.org has more resources on invasive insects.
- A guide to New Hampshire's Upland Invasive Plant Species
- New Hampshire's Department of Agriculture has more resources on invasive plants.
