Demo site winding down, mapping project gearing UP!

Thank you to everyone who has put forth so much effort, time and interest for our Japanese knotweed demonstration site this year, our first attempt at mechanical management of this fascinating and persistent plant. Funding came from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund, input and collaboration from the Planning Commission, the Natural Resources Conservation District and the Agency of Natural Resources. Permission and partnership with the Town of Springfield is essential to this project (many thanks to Town Manager, Bob Forguites for helping us get under way expeditiously).

Input, advice, encouragement and suggestions came from so many corners that I'm bound to forget a few...but thank you to all the scientists, biologists, authors, ecologists and community leaders who have answered my pesky questions and offered wisdom from your own experiences.

Community support has been simply outstanding, from Jason of Larochelle Landscaping to Bibens ACE Hardware and Skyline Nursery ~ your services and supplies have been extremely helpful! The value of commitment from a great group of outstanding volunteers is truly immeasurable. Heather, Robin, Jan, Jesse, Allan and Moira...thank you all from the bottom of my heart. And a big hug of thanks to my wonderful hubby, John, for putting up with all my knotweed zaniness this past year!

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Well, the knotweed is hibernating for the season, so we are moving forward with other aspects of the project. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Josh O'Neill today, a UVM student whose GPS class is branching out to donate their services to the community-at-large. He will be spending time in the upper reaches of the Black River watershed for the next five weeks, taking GPS points and developing some fabulous maps for us!

In addition to knowing where the knotweed is along Route 100 from Black Pond to Ludlow, Josh will be including data on the soil types, topography, tributary streams, and slope within a 100' buffer from the river and from the road. He'll be tying this in to land use maps from the Regional Planning Commission, and will also be working to develop a user-friendly, hands-on ArcReader GIS tool for the BRAT website!

Keep an eye on us: http://www.blackriveractionteam.org/.

Flowering knotweed!

I know, Labor Day weekend, I'm supposed to be relaxing. Instead, I brought Moira down for a two-hour session at the knotweed site opn Sunday. She used loppers and I used little hand-held clippers, and we tackled the skinny stalks with vigor. The weather was quite nice, not too hot but not cold either. Bright sun and temperatures in the low seventies.

What seems to be happening is that the larger stalks we cut earlier in the season are re-sprouting with two or more new stems, skinny but more abundant. That's about what I expected; I find it interesting, though, that many apparently dead stalks are growing new stems off to the side. These young stalks, less than three feet tall, are actually attempting to flower ~ hopefully, having let the rhizomes expend this much energy over the past few weeks, a cut now will put a real crimp in next year's growth.

The chunk of stalk is brown and brittle, except for the

spot where the new stem was growing. Resilient stuff!

The poison ivy seems to be enjoying the lessened competition for sunlight, and is more abundant than our last cut. There is soapwort (Bouncing Bet) and Queen Anne's Lace, not to mention these other two plants, found at the edges of the site. If you can tell me what they are, I'd love to know! If the comments are not active on this site, please email me: blackrivercleanup@yahoo.com. The only thing actively growing in the middle of the site, aside from knotweed, seems to be the poison ivy...and that is much more prolific at the edges.

Knotweed on the right, Mystery Plant on the left.



We still plan to sow jewelweed, milkweed, chickory and perhaps some low-growing dogwoods on the site.

If you can tell what these pretty red berries are, let me know.

Some seem to have dried up into little raisin-type things.

Under the tarp, after a few weeks of some warm sun (okay, at least one day of RAGING heat!), the vegetation seems to have been baked to a crisp. There are a handful of terribly weak-looking stalks making a feeble attempt at growth, but everything under the tarp is suffering.

Moira holds back the edge of the tarp for a quick photo; note the white,

squiggly sprout in the upper left corner of the picture.

The crown we exposed last time is making a remarkable come-back; new growth all around, with little evidence that we did much to impede the plant's ability to bounce back. I may try this again, but I doubt it'll have much effect. There were plenty of land-snail shells around and some crickets hopping about under the canopy.

We'll see if one more cut is needed before autumn really kicks in; it'll be interesting to see if any significant growth happens!

Plenty of poison ivy ~ note the pretty leaves near the post,

just 'itching' to get into the picture!

Other greenery on the site

Today I found Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis), otherwise known as Bouncing Bet; there is also what looks like Wisteria, and it will be interesting to figure out whether it is the American or Chinese or Japanese version.

Later this week, perhaps tomorrow, I am planning an after-work excursion to the site with the kids (or at least with Moira, our eight-year-old). The poison ivy's running rampant, so I may do it alone.

Back to school ~ JK wind-up next month

I start this weekend, back to school. I'm finishing up my Bachelor's Degree (yes, and working full-time) at Vermont College/Union Institute & University. This semester, I am taking advantage of their online option called Virtual Vermont. I've passed my Natural Sciences CLEP test, so that leaves me with three more semesters to go, plus one "leftover" or "dangling" credit.

http://www.tui.edu

I heartily recommend this program for adult learners wishing a flexible but challenging way to earn their degree -- flexible in terms of schedule in many ways, but challenging in that you need to determine your own course of study and discipline yourself to do the work. It's a full 15 credits per semester, so there's no slacking off allowed.

I expect the Japanese knotweed site to slow down in mid-September, when all the nearby JK is experiencing leaf-fall (or senescence). Over the winter, I will be planning some brain-storming sessions for anyone interested to offer suggestions and ideas for managing the site (planting, volunteer scheduling, potential partners, etc.). Please e-mail me if you are interested in any part of this: blackrivercleanup@yahoo.com

Ruminations and cogitations

I recently posted about pursuing my own passion in lieu of sleep...then I happened upon The Bamboo Project's blog which gave me even more clarity: Michele Martin promotes being passionate about one's work and not so much about the organization one is working for. Much as I LOVE being a BRAT, this is the crux of the thing -- my love of the BRAT comes from my love of the river. It means that I'm committed to certain principles and ideals, regardless of the organization. I really take pride in cleaning up the river, organizing events to celebrate the river, and learning about it. I hope it is that passion that is contagious, drawing volunteers together for a common cause.

The Bamboo Project: http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/ (That looks suspiciously like a stalk of -- *gasp!* -- Japanese knotweed!!!!! Just kidding.)

Third wave ~ July 15, 2007

The heat & humidity were oppressive today -- Moira helped me by trampling down the growth happening under the tarped area. We didn't see anything tall enough to warrant cutting, but we did pick a crown to expose and begin some bud-snapping. Big black stormclouds were roiling in the distance, so we really put a burn on. The crown was exposed by gloved hands, buds and new root material was snipped off with fingers and put into a yogurt cup for removal from the site. We noted earthworms, crickets, mites, and beetles in and around the soil of the crown. We also found a good number of land-snails, with their iridescent shells shining delicately in the hazy sunlight.

Knotweed stalks were sparse and less than 1/2" in diameter, approximately 12 stalks per 3-square-foot plot, on average. There were three new sprouts along the western edge of the tarp, which I did cut.

Other vegetation at the site includes sumac, wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace), and sweet clover -- and of course the ubiquitous poison ivy.

We had to cut our time shorter than previous visits, thanks to the encroaching thunderstorm; the flip side is that an hour-and-a-half seems to be an adequate length of time to spend doing future visits.

Goals for next time: begin sampling and cataloging other vegetation, bring jewelweed seeds and milkweed seeds for sowing, trample the tarp again, clip JK along the edges, estimate stalk size and density, do a little nature journaling.

I'd also like to get a sign created and erected to stick into the middle of the site, so people can tell what we're doing and why.

Why we do what we do

As most busy people tend to do, I occasionally ask myself why I'm doing all this. Why I'm burning the proverbial midnight oil and the candle at both ends, between a full-time job, full-time college courses, Girl Scouts and the BRAT, not to mention trying to make time for my wonderful husband and our sweet kids.

1) It is more important to pursue my passion than it is to sleep.

2) I will ultimately be a more well-rounded person if I challenge myself constantly.

3) I may never fit into a bikini, lounge around drinking martinis, or afford to hobnob at foreign film festivals to watch Fellini, but I'll be pursuing my own happiness.

4) I am sowing the seeds of stewardship in my own children and in the families of the communities of the Black River watershed.

5) I am part of something much larger than myself, am working toward a worthy goal, and am being a positive role model for my kids. I can only hope it works.

Second wave ~ June 30, 2007

Another hot day, another phase in our management scheme! Robin Reilly brought down a truck-load of stones from Luzenac America in Ludlow, and I brought a roll of landscape tarp from nearby Skyline Nursery. After photographing and evaluating the site, we decided the previous wave's hard work had some noticeable results. The stalk count was down to an estimated 25 per 3-foot-square plot, and the stems were not fully-grown back. Less than five feet tall, many were much spindlier than the first cut.

We cut what was there and also laid out tarp over a 45' x 12' area along the western edge of the site.

To cap off the afternoon, Jesse arrived and waded into the site to pull up poison ivy for us! He swears he is almost immune to the stuff and, although he did get a nasty rash in some spots, his efforts were a huge help.

First wave ~ June 3, 2007

It wasn't easy, nor was it especially fun...but it WAS rewarding! We stuffed knotweed into trash bags like there was no tomorrow. Jason Larochelle of Larochelle Landscaping came early in the day to cut down the entire site to ground-level. Stalks were approximately six to seven feet high, at an estimated density of 40-50 stalks per average 3-square-foot plot.

We discovered sumac and poison ivy growing blithely alongside the knotweed; the three adults all suffered some level of rash over the following two weeks, but eight-year-old Moira escaped untouched. All told, we collected 20 large bags of cut material, including two crowns that Allan dug out from near Route 11.

This was the sweatiest and slimiest day we could've asked for...and we all had to have long sleeves and long pants on! Not that it helped against the ivy; I think that we weren't as careful with ourselves after we were done as we could've been -- moving the bags around without long sleeves on was my own mistake.

Let's get started!

After researching invasive species in general and Japanese knotweed in particular this past semester, I have gotten up the courage to jump in with both feet. I attended and presented at a 2-day knotweed conference at Cornell University in October of 2006, and have been in contact with various researchers and professionals working on this "knotty" problem. One scientist, Jennifer Forman-Orth, has an ongoing citizen-science project called "Life on the Japanese Knotweed." It is a collection by both professionals and amateurs alike, photo-journaling insects and other life-forms living in and around Japanese knotweed: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lifeontheknotweed/

One example is this shot, of ants taking advantage of nectar found on the stem of the plant. Once the ants are attracted to this spot, they defend their nectar-source like junkyard dogs, often chasing potential herbivores who are on their way to munch the leaves waving above the ants.

Beginning in May of 2007, the Black River Action Team (BRAT) is conducting an all-out experiment with a demonstration site of Japanese knotweed in Springfield, VT. After mapping and measuring and taping off the site, we have begun to work it. The goal is for a 3-5 year regime of non-chemical methods to be implemented as a way of trying new techniques and combinations of techniques, and (more importantly) to draw landowners into the issue. If people know what it is and why we are trying to weaken it, they might be willing to lend us a hand at the site and perhaps even make some attempts on their own property.

Yes, that's me standing in front of the demo site in May of 2007, just before Heather and I taped it off and measured it. It's 40 feet by 50 feet, and that is Route 11 running across the back and the Black River running along the right side.

In the meantime, this demo site is being funded partly through a small grant from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund (NEGEF) for the BRAT's WaterWorx environmental education program. Involving landowners is just the beginning; I am forming relationships with various youth groups in town as a means of connecting young people to their community through nature and physical effort. Working the demo site is a great way to gain a wider perspective, perhaps even a paradigm shift; it is my personal experience that being part of something larger than yourself makes you a better person.

The Clean & Clear Water Program is also providing funding for the demo site; funds from this program are being managed by the Town of Springfield and the NEGEF funding is being handled by my umbrella organization, the Connecticut River Watershed Council.

The demo site is located on Route 11 in Springfield, VT across the street from Riverside Middle School. If you are interested in a visit or in participating, please drop me an email to say hello and make inquiries: blackrivercleanup@yahoo.com.

Why knotweed, anyway?

Pretty, isn't it? The creamy-white flowers are plentiful in late summer, festooning river banks and roadsides across the US and the UK.

Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum, Fallopia japonica) is an incredibly hardy, resilient and resourceful plant that originally hails from the volcanic slopes of Mt. Fuji and other Asian locations. Able to withstand the extreme conditions in such an environment, knotweed is a pioneer plant: it 'paves the way' for other species to gain a foothold.


In the mid-1800's, a Bavarian physician in the Dutch East Indies Army took an interest in the local flora whilst stationed in Japan. Phillip von Siebold brought to Europe a variety of specimens, including knotweed. Looking like bamboo, it won an award in the U.K. for Most Exotic New Ornamental and was hailed as an excellent stabilizer of soils. Within fifty years, knotweed was being sold through nursery catalogs to the United States.


Knotweed's lovely sprays of delicate creamy-white flowers are attractive to the eye in late summer, and the nectar fills a seasonal gap in the honey-maker's trade. It is easy to see the attraction that some folks have for this rugged plant! The young leaves, often used in teas and in vitamin supplements, hold an antioxidant called resveratrol. In late April or early May, tender young shoots (bearing a striking resemblance to asparagus) emerge before most other vegetation. They can be harvested and eaten in a variety of ways; check out this website from Steve "Wildman" Brill for recipes: http://www.econetwork.net/~wildmansteve/Plants.Folder/Knotweed.html









Now known for its rapid and persistent growth, knotweed has recently become a nuisance and has potential for serious habitat alteration. The U.K. treats the plant as a hazardous material, excavating infestations some nine feet deep and sixty feet around. Fragments of root material can easily re-sprout a whole new colony, a common event when high water scours river banks, taking chunks of stem and root material downstream. While the main root system is very shallow, the finger-thick rhizomes can extend up to nine feet deep! It is the shallow nature of the roots that can cause a streambank to more easily give way to rushing water, sending sometimes massive quantities of soil downstream to alter the aquatic habitat for all manner of life-forms. While some sediment can be not only natural but also healthy for a stream or river, too much can blanket the bottom, suffocate aquatic insects and fish, slow or alter the course of the stream-flow, raise the temperature of the water (which lowers how much oxygen it can hold, which is bad news for fish and insects), and can even be a breeding-ground for harmful bacteria like Giardia.



As the first plant to burst forth from the soil in early spring, knotweed unfurls large, alternating leaves and crowds out most other vegetation attempting to take root and reach the sunlight. It is this behavior, along with its rapid spreading capabilities and lack of predators that qualify it as an invasive species. After the plant flowers in late summer, the root (or rhizome) draws back the available nitrogen from the leaves to store for next spring. The leaves fall, and the dead canes persist for up to two years without disintegrating. While not strong enough to build anything with, dead knotweed canes can be rigid enough to cut skin or poke through landscaping tarp. They are often washed downstream in high water, causing miniature long-jams and exacerbating the damage already being done by lots of water with nowhere to go.






Knotweed is doing what plants do; it is simply doing it extremely well and has no natural controls here in the U.S. or in the U.K. In Japan, a rust fungus and a small beetle are among knotweed's predators; some of these are being tested rigorously as potential controllers of knotweed here and in the U.S. Travel the country and there will be stands of knotweed in almost every state; there are streams and rivers with literally nothing other than knotweed lining both banks. Rarely does knotweed extend far enough over the water to provide a cooling shade, nor does it add to aquatic habitat. Tree canopy is vital for this. In addition, when a tree falls into a stream, it stays there long enough to create a great little hiding spot for fish as well as food and habitat for other creatures. When knotweed falls into a stream, it decomposes too rapidly to be of value for the river creatures, and tends to float downstream until it finds a new spot to root.



Complete eradication of this plant in the U.S. or the U.K. is probably never going to be a reality. Managing it, controlling its spread and preventing new colonies is our best shot at keeping our backyards from being overrun and our streams and rivers healthy and thriving.