INVASIVE PLANTS

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INVASIVE PLANTS

• What are they and how can we pull together to win
  the war on weeds!

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WORLD OF VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

• U S E S
• snow storage
• visibility
• recovery zone
• utility lines
• guardrails
• signage
• wildlife habitat
• scenic beauty
• context sensitive

• R E G S
• erosion control
• water quality
• endangered sp.
• native plants
• invasive species
• native wildflowers
• Beautification
• N E P A
• Wetld. mitigation

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Invasive Plants v.s. Noxious Weeds

• Introduced from another place minus
• its competition, and
• becomes aggressive.
• EO 13112 gives it legal standing on
• Federal-aid projects.

• Harmful to agriculture, human health, and/or
  environment.
• Most States have noxious weed law giving them
  legal standing.
• 11 DO NOT
• Some invasives are already on State lists.

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MY TOP TEN ROADSIDE INVASIVESall are on some
State noxious weed lists

• Purple loosestrife
• Phragmites
• Leafy spurge
• Knapweeds
• Thistles, Canadian, Musk, Scotch
• Star thistle
• Kudzu
• Russian Olive
• Black locust
• Ailanthus

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LEAFY SPURGE
KUDZU
RUSSIAN OLIVE
PRAGMITES
AILANTHUS
PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE
KNAPWEEDS
BLACK LOCUST
STAR THISTLE
MUSK THISTLE
Weeds to Watch
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WHERE DO THEY COME FROM

• PURPOSEFUL introductions
• Ornamental, esthetics and hardiness
• Erosion control problem solvers
• Pasture grasses with forage values
• ACCIDENTAL introductions
• Seed in imported crop Seeds
• In ballast of ships
• Animal vectors.birds and other wildlife
• Vehicles, travelers, souvenirs, construction

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PREVENTION THROUGH B M Ps

• Disturb as little as possible
• Specify weed-free mulches, sods
• Import NO topsoils into a project
• Steam clean gravel at pits
• Wash down equipment before moving
• Clean off mowers between sites
• Train crews to identify weeds early
• Control before populations spread
• Control before construction begins - NEPA
• Partner with adjacent landowners

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AND DO NOT PLANT THEM!!!

• Find alternatives for erosion control
• Eliminate shrubs and trees known to become
  problems
• Honor adjacent State noxious weed list
• PLANT NATIVE PLANTS as possible
• Train personnel to not use in design,
• revegetation, mitigation plantings
• Educate public at the same time.

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INVASIVE PLANTS, weeds of the global garden
READ

• Randall, John and Janet Marinelli, 1996
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NY
• 9.95 or less on volume order.
• (What not to plant and why not!!!)

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WWW. FHWA.DOT.GOV/ROADSIDES
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Common Roadside Invasives, a roadside field
guide to showy herbaceous weeds in the U.S.

• Put a copy of this laminated field guide in the
  glove compartment of every person who works with
  roadside vegetation management.
• Not all of these grasses or forbs are in your
  State at this time. However, invasive plants
  adapt and move.
• Be the first in your State to spot and eradicate
  a new weed invader!!!

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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

• Greener Roadsides, an FHWA quarterly
• Contact Bonnie to add to mailing list.
• Land and Water Magazine, Ft. Dodge, IA
• Ecological Restoration Journal, U of Wis.
• North American Weed Management Association
  (www.NAWMA.org)
• National Roadside Vegetation Management
  Association (www.NRVMA.org)
• Federal Interagency Committee for the Management
  of Noxious and Exotic Weeds
• (www.FICMNEW or www.invasivespecies.gov)
• Roadside Vegetation website www.fhwa_at_dot.gov/ro
  adsides

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FHWAs very own WEBSITE

• www.fhwa.dot.gov/roadsides
• Visit to view related websites
• Ecological approach to roadsides
• Chapters of Roadside Use of Native Plants
• Invasive plant BMPs and more
• Previous Greener Roadside Newsletters
• List of State and Division contacts
• Improved calendar of upcoming events