Invasive Plants Council Releases Annual Report

HARTFORD — Connecticut’s Invasive Plants Council has released its annual report, highlighting many actions undertaken during 2011 to address problems caused by invasive plants.

Accomplishments highlighted in the annual report include:

*Hosting an all-day training workshop for municipal staff and conservation organizations about invasive plant control and the use of native plants to improve wildlife habitat.

*Continuing ongoing efforts to inform the public about threats from mile-a-minute vine and to gather information on new infestations. Removal efforts were undertaken in Newtown, Bridgewater, Greenwich, New Milford, Roxbury, Sprague, and Westport.

*Developing “Guidelines for the Disposal of Terrestrial Invasive Plants” to provide the public with information that will help prevent the unintentional spread of invasive plants. These guidelines are available to the public in hardcopy and through www.hort.uconn.edu/cipwg.

*Highlighting an ambitious effort by the green industry (led by the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association) to phase out 25 of the most high seed-producing varieties of Japanese barberry by 2013.

*Conducting a survey of aquarium plant retailers (done by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station), which found that 29 percent of stores were selling prohibited invasive plants. All retailers were revisited and given information on state laws and an aquatic plant identification guide.

*Coordinating water chestnut control and removal throughout the Connecticut River.

*Updating the Connecticut Invasive Plants List and evaluating new species for listing.

The Council is a nine-member partnership established under state statute in 2003 between state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and industry.

Its membership includes representatives from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Department of Agriculture, University of Connecticut College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Invasive Plant Atlas of New England, The Nature Conservancy, Connecticut Federation of Lakes, Connecticut Green Industries and the Newtown-based Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association.

Primary functions include developing the state invasive and potentially invasive species lists, developing and providing educational materials and programs about invasive plants and supporting state agencies in invasive plant efforts.

Additional accomplishments of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and associated organizations, including the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association and the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group, are also included in the report.