The Aliens Have Landed!

A while ago, we blogged about "Aliens Have Landed: Exotic Invasive Species of New England," an ABC book about invasive species written by students at the Fall Brook Elementary in Leominster, MA. We're happy to report that to help get the word out about invasive species, Ms. Fiandaca and her class have generously allowed us to share a digital copy of "Aliens Have Landed" for anyone to view and print out. Perhaps it will inspire other groups of children to create their own guides.

Please note that the file is 10Mb and may take a while to download.

Mile-A-Minute: Invasion of the Aliens

What lives in the Blue Hills, grows 6 inches a day and is destroying the habitat of our native species? Join DCR Forestry Assistant Alexandra Echandi for a talk about Mile-a-Minute, an invasive weed recently identified in the Blue Hills. Learn how to identify, report and help control the spread of this and other invasive plants.

The lecture will be held on Saturday, February 27 at 9am in the Trailside Museum Auditorium in Milton, MA. Call 617-698-1802 x219 to register.

Can't make the talk? Download our mile-a-minute flyer and learn to tell this invasive plant apart from similar species.

Free ALB Training Session in Worcester 2/24

It has now been more than a year since the Asian Longhorned Beetle ("ALB") was first discovered in Worcester. Residents of Greater Worcester can probably all list a number of ways that this beetle has negatively impacted their lives. While one of the most important things you can do to keep ALB from spreading is to be vigilant about reporting it when you see it, how many of you out there reading this actually know how to recognize ALB or signs of ALB tree damage?

To help residents of Greater Worcester educate themselves about this invasive pest, Jennifer Forman Orth, Ph.D., an invasive species expert with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, will be holding an Asian Longhorned Beetle training session in Worcester on February 24, 2010. Jennifer is the Massachusetts coordinator for the Northeast Forest Pests Survey and Outreach Project, a multi-state effort launched in 2008, when the Asian Longhorned Beetle was first identified in Worcester. The goal of the project is to teach people how to identify signs of ALB and how to report possible sightings.

These sessions have been run not only in Worcester, but all over Massachusetts, including Boston, Fall River, Framingham, and Springfield, training hundreds of people and providing them with the tools to educate others about ALB. Jennifer will be returning to Worcester on Wednesday, February 24th at 1pm, to hold an ALB training session at the First Baptist Church. This session includes hands on training with beetle specimens and damaged wood. Attendees will also receive a pack of resource materials to assist them with identification of ALB and ALB tree damage, a guide to host trees, and more. Following the training, USDA staff will also be on hand to answer questions about the ALB Eradication Program.

This presentation is free and open to the public. Educators and local government staff are encouraged to attend. The First Baptist Church is located at the intersection of Park Ave. and Salisbury St., next to Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The church is handicapped accessible and there is parking on the premises. ALB T-shirts will be given to the first 50 registrants. Call 508-755-6143 or email jennifer.forman-orth AT state.ma.us to register.

ALB Tree Surveys: Volunteers Needed!

Volunteers are needed for the upcoming Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources Asian Longhorned Beetle tree surveys in Boston and Springfield.

These are both street tree surveys. There will be a brief training session before the survey starts, and all the supplies you need will be provided, including binoculars (or bring them if you have them). You should bring comfortable walking shoes and drinking water.

Survey schedule:

• Boston - Sunday, Nov. 15th, 9am-11am (Rescheduled from Saturday due to inclement weather!)
  Meet at the intersection of Commonwealth Ave. Mall and Arlington St. (look for folks wearing ALB buttons)
  Co-sponsored by the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and Friends of the Public Garden
  Download a flyer for the event here
• Springfield - Monday, Nov. 9th, 12pm-1:30pm
  Meet at Mom and Rico’s, 899 Main St., Springfield, MA
  Co-sponsored by the Springfield Dept. of Parks & Recreation
  Download a flyer for the event here

To register for either event, contact Jennifer at 617-626-1735 or email jennifer.forman-orth AT state.ma.us.

Help Needed: ALB Tree Surveys

Volunteers are needed NOW to assist the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources with Asian Longhorned Beetle tree surveys in the Boston and Springfield areas. The surveys are being held to train volunteers and to raise awareness about the beetle in parts of the state where ALB is more likely to show up (but hasn't yet!):

• Boston: THIS THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 12pm-1:30pm, Boston Public Garden


• Springfield: Saturday, Sept. 26th, 10am-11:30am, South Springfield, meeting location TBD

No experience necessary, we'll train you on site! Register and get a free ALB t-shirt. Call 617-626-1735 or email jennifer.forman-orth@state.ma.us for details.

For the latest information about the Asian longhorned beetle in Massachusetts, or to report a potential sighting, click here.

Help Needed: Fight Mile-a-Minute Vine

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is seeking volunteers to help pull mile-a-minute vine in Fowl Meadow, part of the Blue Hills Reservation. Mile-a-minute vine (Polygonum perfoliatum, "MAM"), an invasive species native to Asia, was discovered in Fowl Meadow in 2006 and now covers more than 40 acres. Fowl Meadow is an area of critical environmental concern, a habitat for over 10 rare and endangered species now threatened by this fast-growing vine.


Mile-a-minute in Fowl Meadow (Photo by Alexandra Echandi, DCR)

Mile-a-minute vine can be recognized by its distinct, triangular-shaped leaves, barbed stems, and clusters of bright blue fruits. It is an annual plant whose fruits are attractive to both birds and mammals, and whose seeds can live up to five years in the soil.

DCR is seeking to pull out as much of the Fowl Meadow mile-a-minute vine as possible, in order to reduce next year's populations levels. Pulling sessions are being held this Thursday (9/17/09), 8:00-11:30am and Friday (9/18/09) 8:00am-3:00pm, and more sessions will be scheduled over the next few weeks. If you are interested in lending a hand, please call 617-981-0817.

Photo by winged photography

ALB Train-the-Trainer Sessions

Update: New session on 8/26 at 8:30am just added! The 8/11 Boston session is now full! Email jennifer.forman-orth AT state.ma.us to be notified of future sessions.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle Outreach and Survey Project is looking for volunteers to receive training about ALB and other forest pests. Register now for an Asian Longhorned Beetle "Train the Trainer" session and get the tools you need to teach others about Asian longhorned beetle and protect your neighborhood from this invasive pest!

These sessions, organized by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, are geared towards environmental group leaders, tree care professionals, master gardeners, and anyone else that is willing to commit to passing on this valuable information to the rest of the community. Come to a train-the-trainer session and leave with:

• The ability to recognize ALB and tree damage caused by ALB
• Tips to distinguish ALB from similar species and to recognize when tree damage is not caused by ALB
• Copies of various outreach materials and other cool ALB gear to distribute to the people you will be training
• Access to beetle specimens and damaged wood for your own training sessions
• The latest information on the infestation in Worcester

Boston sessions (UMass Boston)

• August 26th, 8:30am-10:30am
• August 11th, 6pm-8pm (SESSION NOW FULL!)
• July 28th, 8:30am-10:30am (SESSION NOW FULL!)

Springfield sessions: Emma’s Place, 1464 Parker St. Springfield, MA

• July 30th, 8:30am-10:30am
• August 13th, 6pm-8pm

Breakfast or dinner (pizza!) will be provided. ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Sign up via the links above, or email jennifer.forman-orth AT state.ma.us, or call 617-626-1735.

Volunteers Wanted: Help Find ALB!

You help is needed this fall and winter in the search for the Asian longhorned beetle! The Greater Worcester Land Trust is enlisting volunteers to survey conservation land in the Worcester area for signs of the wood-boring invader. The initial goal of the GWLT is to cover a 150 acre parcel of conservation land, a mere 10% of the land that the trust is charged with protecting.

The survey crews meet every Thursday at noon to head out into the woods and look for signs of ALB damage. There is also a weekend event coming up soon for those of you who cannot make it during the work week. Any suspect trees are tagged and have their positions recorded by GPS. The information is then passed on to the ALB Cooperative Eradication Program for confirmation.

The GWLT is happy to train new volunteers on how to recognize the beetle, its host trees, and the damage it can cause. So far, the volunteers have had a pretty good track record at finding infested trees, but there is a lot of work left to do.

To sign up, contact the Greater Worcester Land Trust at 508-795-3838 or email anne@gwlt.org. You can read more about the GWLT's volunteer effort in this Worcester Telegram article.

Pulling Perennial Pepperweed

On Saturday June 7th, from 1-4pm, the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge will host an information and training session on the identification and control of Perennial Pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium). The training will be in Newburyport, MA at PRNWF Headquarters (6 Plum Island Turnpike). The first hour will be spent indoors learning about Pepperweed and control techniques, then participants are invited to gain hands-on experience by pulling Pepperweed at a site along the Plum Island Turnpike. This meeting is open to the public with no obligation to volunteer.

Perennial Pepperweed is an invasive plant that occurs in wetland habitats along coastal areas of Massachusetts, including salt marshes, and is also found along roadsides. In the western part of the USA, it is a major agricultural weed. It can be spread through soil or water movement, or as a contaminant in hay bales.

Throughout the summer, Parker River NWR and the Massachusetts Audubon society will be leading Pepperweed pulls at sites throughout Essex County. The goal is to control or eradicate pepperweed before it becomes as pervasive as other wetland invasives, like Phragmites or purple loosestrife. If you are interested in volunteering for this project but cannot make the June 7th training session, you can contact Sarah Janson (sarah_janson@fws.gov).

Seeking Healthy Hemlocks

Have you spotted any healthy hemlock trees in your walks through the forested land of this state? If so, researchers at the University of Rhode Island may be interested in your find. An effort is underway to find eastern hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis) resistant to two introduced pests, woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) and elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa), with the goal of raising healthy new trees from cuttings taken from resistant individuals.

You might have found a good candidate tree if it meets the following requirements:

• in a forested setting
  
• at least 10 feet tall
  
• relatively free of signs of the woolly adelgid
  
• has deep green needles on full, thick branches
  
• surrounded by dead, mature hemlock trees
  
• naturally resistant (not treated using insecticides or other control measures)

Report possible sightings to URI grad student Laura Ingwell by phone, at 401-874-4083, or by email at: hemlock AT etal DOT uri DOT edu.

Read more about the search for healthy hemlocks in this article from the Providence Journal, or this URI press release. If you want to learn more about how to identify the eastern hemlock, try this site or this one.

Biocontrol Successes

There is a good article in the Boston Globe today summarizing the state's work on the Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is one of the 141 plant species on the state's Prohibited Plant List, and was categorized as invasive by the Massachusetts Invasive Plant Advisory Group.

Beth Suedmeyer of the Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program currently heads the biocontrol project, which has released over 300,000 Galerucella beetles to eat purple loosestrife since 2000. As with most biological controls, a Galerucella beetle attack does not immediately destroy purple loosestrife, rather, the beetles are a tool used to keep current populations of this invasive plant in check.

Suedmeyer is now training citizen scientists to raise and release the beetles, which have shown some evidence of beginning to breed and spread on their own. Visit the Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project for more information, including how you can raise beetles and what to do if you see a Galerucella beetle in the wild.

Invasive Plant Training

If you are a Massachusetts resident concerned about invasive plants, consider signing up for one of the IPANE Volunteer Training Sessions being held this May and June. IPANE teaches volunteers how to identify invasive plants and enlists them to conduct monitoring surveys across New England. The beginner training for western Massachusetts is coming up soon, on May 3, and there is also a Getting Started Workshop for the Appalachian Trail in Sheffield, MA.

If you really want to get your hands dirty, there are also invasive plant pulling events throughout the spring and summer, including one for water chestnut (Trapa natans) in Rowley and glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus) in Winchendon. Check out the IPANE volunteer page for a complete listing.