RecognizingInvasive Species inWestern New York

Stormwater ManagementReducing Pollution

Characteristics of Invasive Species

• Reproduce abundantly and (plants) by many means.

• Spread by wind, water, and/or animals, people and machinery.

• Relatively immune to diseases, and predation in new area.

• Tolerate wide range of habitat conditions.

• May hybridize with native counterparts and their genes dominate.• Alter soil and/or water chemistry: alter habitat.

Some Common Invasive Plants

“Canada” Thistle – photograph: along I 90

Controls for Canada Thistle

● Seeds viable for 20 years, roots regenerate

● Repeat cutting to exhaust root stock

● Systemic herbicide

– Glyphosate

● DO NOT COMPOST

Giant HogweedGrows up to 14' high.Flower heads may be 2 ½ ' diameter.

Can produce 20,000 seeds from a single flower head.

Sap can cause severe burns, permanent scarring and blindness in the presence of sunlight and moisture.

Federally listed as a noxious weed.

If you find this weed, call the DEC hotline: (845) 256-3111

Avoid exposure.

Serious, long lasting burns result from sap exposure.

Call DEC for assistance if you find this plant present.

Japanese Knotweed

Highway Department worker looking for a culvert pipe...

Japanese Knotweed

● Ecological threat toriparian areas & road ditches

● Spreads quickly. Forms dense thickets.Excludes native vegetation.Alters natural ecosystems.

● Rapidly colonizes disturbed channel slopes, gravel bars and islands.Survives severe flood events/ice scour.Populations are extremely persistent.Roots can penetrate >10’.Seeds are viable for many years.Exposes soil to (dormant season) erosion.

Winter season knotweed pictured .

•Mowing or weed whacking will spread the plant.

• Roots can go 16 feet deep: may not be possible to remove by digging.

• Do not attempt to compost.

• Glyphosate applied to the foliage is effective but follow up treatments will be needed over one to two years

• Natural herbicides (e.g.horticultural vinegar) will not work on knotweed as it only burns the foliage. To effectively kill knotweed a systemic herbicide is needed to target the roots.

Black Swallow Wort

● Outcompetes native plants, replaces plants with habitat value.

● Harms bird and butterfly populations.

Black Swallow Wort

● Systemic herbicide applied to cut stems is most effective chemical control.

● Mow to prevent seed pod production.

● Dig up roots before seed pod production.

Seed pods

Mile-A-Minute Vine

Mile-A-Minute Vine

● Grows up to 6” daily.● Smothers other plants,

interferes with forest regeneration.

● Causes habitat disturbances.

Mile-A-Minute Vine Controls

● Mow in May-June before plants set seeds.

● Pull by hand before plants mature: stem barbs hardenas plants age.

● Plants can be composted if no seeds are present.

● Even small green seeds will germinate. Do not compost if seeds are present.

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

Flowers have unpleasant odor.

Tree Of Heaven● Fast growing,

prolific seeding.● Creates dense

thickets.● Extensive root

systems buckle sidewalks and foundations.

● Root chemicals poison other plants.

Wood is weak, coarse grained.

Controls

● Pull seedlings.● Systemic

herbicides effective if used when trees are in full leaf.

● Cutting is ineffective unless repeated until root stock is exhausted.

Emerald Ash BorerAdult is about ½ inch long

Attacks only ash trees.

Makes S-shaped tunnels beneath bark.

Leaves a “D” shaped exit hole in the spring.

Heavy woodpecker damage may indicate presence of larvae.

Look for vertical splits in bark.

Tree may sprout suckers.

Causes crown die- back in 3-5 years.

Call DEC at 1 (866) 640-0652

Signs of Emerald Ash

Borer presence

suckers

Crown die-back

Vertical split in bark

Asian Longhorned Beetle

Adult Asian longhorned beetles are most active during the summer and early fall and can be seen on trees, branches, walls, outdoor furniture, cars, and sidewalks and caught in pool filters.

Asian Longhorned Beetles attack hardwood trees.

• Purchase firewood where you will burn it. · Report beetle signs. · Allow officials access to your property to perform

surveys. · Diversify the tree species

that you plant.

Beetles prefer to attack birches, Ohio buckeye, elms, willows and maple species including box elder, Norway, red, silver and sugar maples.

Control:

Purple Loosestrife Invasive Phragmites

Garlic Mustard Eurasian Honeysuckle

Buckthorn Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Oriental Bittersweet

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid(white material on branches covers eggs)

Aquatic Invasive Species:Most Important Controls

● Inspect and clean boats and trailers before and after visiting any water body.

● Drain any water from bilge, tanks, etc.● Empty bait buckets on shore.

Hydrilla verticillata

Hydrilla verticillata

● Dense mats shade native aquatic plants, impair recreation, fishing, alter water chemistry.

Reproduces

primarily from tubers, plant fragments, and turions.

Hydrilla can grow:• In almost any freshwater: springs, lakes, marshes,

ditches, rivers, tidal zones. • In a few inches of water, to water more than

20 feet deep. • In low nutrient or high nutrient conditions,• In 7% salinity of seawater (Haller 1974).• In only 1% of full sunlight. • Low light compensation and saturation points and low

CO2 compensation point make it a competitive plant because it can start growing in low light before other plants do (Van et al. 1976; Bowes 1977).

• Hydrilla is somewhat winter-hardy; its optimum growth temperature, 68-81o F; its maximum temperature, 86o F (Kasselmann 1995).

• U.S. southern populations overwinter as perennials; northern populations overwinter and regrow from tubers.

•

Hydrilla

Sign at at lake in Texas...

Water Chestnut

Forms dense mats, blocking sunlight for other plants, creates oxygen deficiencies.

Seeds become hardened, spines are painful to step on.

Seeds may remain viable for up to 12 years.

Other Aquatics

These damaging invasive species

arrived because of human activities.

Rusty CrayfishRound Goby

Spiny water flea

Northern Snakehead Fish

Brazilian Elodea Eurasian Water Milfoil

Brittle Naiad Fan wort

Curly Leaf Pond Weed Asian Clam

European Frogbit

Photographs: University of Connecticut

Didymo(invasive algae)

Ontario-Wayne Stormwater Coalition

Town of VictorTown of Farmington

Town of MacedonTown of Ontario

Town of Walworth Village of Victor

Village of Macedon

Wayne County Highway Department

Ontario County Highway Department

Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation District

Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District

For more Information contact:

P J Emerick480 North Main Street

Canandaigua NY 14424585-396-1450

ontswcd1@rochester.rr.com