Lake Effect

Starting in 2010, New Hampshire will be offering a new grant to municipalities and non-profits who want to remove invasive aquatic plants from the lakes they know and love. To be eligible, lakes must have at least one public access site, and priority will be given to applicants interested in pursuing purchase of Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) equipment.

In The Bag

After years of dealing with all sorts of specimen packages sent in by their Weed Watchers volunteers, New Hampshire finally got smart and put out their own special aquatic plant sampling bags. I managed to get a sample from Amy Smagula, coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services' Exotic Species Program:

What a great idea! The front of each sturdy, ziploc-style bag has the address and instructions on how to prep the plant and when to mail it in. All the information the state needs is in a form on the back of the bag, just waiting for an eager volunteer and a Sharpie. Amy noted that the bags only ended up costing about 8 cents each - a bargain!

Storytelling

Today's post is a story about community action, complete with a happy ending.

I'm a new homeowner (four years this month) and as such I've been making various attempts at landscaping. Mostly this involves removal of invasive species (and some native weeds), but I have also been making some attempts to add new plants to the yard - always something native or non-invasive, of course. I've already made enough purchases to get on the mailing list of pretty much every major gardening catalog and website there is.

Late last year I received an email from Gurney's Seed and Nursery Co. touting the benefits of ornamental shrubs. When I clicked through to the website I ended up on a page selling dwarf burning bush (Euonymus alatus var. compacta). It always annoys me to see invasive plants being given the hard sell to the gardening public. But now, things are different: in 2006 the state of Massachusetts enacted a ban on over 100 different invasive plants. Burning bush is on that list, with an importation ban as of Jan. 2006, and a propagation ban that goes into effect Jan. 2009. The ban does cover cultivars of invasive plants, and Gurney's is importing plants into Massachusetts from out of state, which means Massachusetts should have been on the list of states Gurney's cannot ship this species to...but they weren't:

So I did what any concerned citizen would do - I emailed Gurney's and asked them why Massachusetts wasn't on their "unable to ship to" list. The response from Customer Service was pretty straightforward: "...At this time, burning bushes are not restricted for spring delivery to MA..."

Problem with that response was that it was wrong. I contacted the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to check, and also mentioned that Gurney's was selling Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), both currently banned in Massachusetts. The MDAR verified that import of these species was indeed prohibited, and promised to contact Gurney's. After a few back-and-forths, this was the result:

As of late January 2007, Massachusetts was added to Gurney's "unable to ship to" list for burning bush, Norway maple, and Japanese barberry, and also to some other catalog storefronts (Spring Hill and Audubon Workshop, at least - they all seem to be owned by the same company). I even tried putting the plant in my shopping cart and when I filled out the "Ship To" section as Massachusetts it bounced me back out. Even better, some time between January and today (when I finally got around to getting a screen grab and completing this post), someone in New Hampshire apparently did the same thing, because NH is now on the "unable to ship to" list too!

Sure, seeing positive effects from a small action like a few emails feels good. But wouldn't it be better if there were a system in place where sellers of plants could easily keep up to date about the changes in prohibited plants? Rules are only going to get more restrictive (and more complicated!) as more and more official invasive plant lists are implemented at the state level...never mind the county and town-based regulations. In the meantime, I am happy this was resolved and I even purchased many of my vegetable seeds from Gurney's this year. Also, Audubon Workshop seems to have a nice selection of native Northeast U.S. shrubs in their mix this season.

King Arthur's Court Date

A New Hampshire man was in court today following his arrest last January for cutting down some trees on his neighbor's property. According to this article from the Portland Herald, Mr. Arthur Patch intentionally and apparently without remorse cut down seven Norway maples (Acer platanoides), estimated to have been about 20 years old, and turned them into firewood. Among his claims of defense were that the trees are invasive, which is true. However, there is ample evidence that his real goal was to gain a clear view of a nearby pond. Once a surveyor confirmed that the trees were on the neighbor's property, a warrant went out for Mr. Patch's arrest, and he voluntarily turned himself in.

Cost of the ordeal:

• a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief-vandalism
• a $500 fine
• an impending lawsuit for damages covering the cost of replacement (Likely expensive, but here's hoping they pick something native!)
• the embarrassment of having his *mugshot* pasted all over the local news...for chopping down some trees.

Oh Arthur, if only I could believe you had good in your heart when you took to the saw!

That'll cost you 50 clams or more

New Hampshire residents are now restricted to a single day per week of clamming (it used to be two days), according to this story in the Portsmouth Herald. State officials are concerned about the drop in survival rates for "yearling" clams that are in their first year of life. One possible culprit may be the green crab (Carcinus maenas), a European invader and predator of the clams. Green crab populations have recently undergone a noticeable increase. (Bonus points to the Portsmouth Herald for using the green crab's scientific name in the article!)