Welcome to Ridley Creek State Park Invasive Plants Workshop

1. Welcome to Ridley Creek State Park Invasive Plants Workshop

2. Welcome and Introduction • Roger McChesney, Park Superintendent • Tim Higgins, President, Friends of Ridley Creek State Park

3. Goals • Understand what invasive plants are • Understand how they impact the local environment • Learn how to identify invasives • Determine strategies for control/management

4. What are Invasive Plants?? • Reproduce rapidly • Spread over large areas • Few, if any, natural controls • Share important characteristics • Spread aggressively by runners or rhizomes • Produce large numbers of seeds that survive to germinate • Disperse seeds away from parent plant via wind, water, wildlife, people

5. How do invasives impact the local environment?? • Displace native plants including some very rare species • Reduce food and shelter for native wildlife • Eliminate host plants of native insects • Compete for native plant pollinators • Affect recreational activities

6. Identifying Invasives • Multiflora Rose

7. Identifying Invasives • Garlic Mustard

8. Identifying Invasives • Japanese Knotweed

9. Identifying Invasives • Japanese Stilt Grass (also known as Nepalese Browntop)

10. Identifying Invasives • Autumn Olive

11. Identifying Invasives • Japanese Barberry

12. Identifying Invasives • Wine berry (also known as Wine Raspberry)

13. Identifying Invasives • Winged Burning Bush

14. Identifying Invasives • Mile-a-minute Weed

15. Identifying Invasives • Tree of Heaven

16. Emerging Invasives in Ridley Creek State Park

17. Identifying Invasives • Kudzo

18. Identifying Invasives • Porcelainberry (also known as Amur peppervine)

19. Identifying Invasives • Japanese Hop

20. Glossary • Alien, exotic, foreign, introduced – all the same as non-native. • Non-native – a species that due to direct or indirect human activity, occurs in locations beyond its known historical or potential natural range. Refrs to species from another continent region, ecosystem, or habitat.

21. Glossary (continued) • Indigenous – same as native • Native – a species that naturally occurs in a particular region, ecosystem and habitat. Species native to North America are generally recognized as those occurring on the continent prior to European settlement.

22. Glossary (continued) • Weed – a subjective word used to describe any plant growing wherever someone wishes it did not; can include native and non-native plants. • Noxious weed – a legal designation used specifically for species that have been determined to be major pests of agricultural systems and are subject, by law, to certain restrictions.

23. Glyphosate - a type of systemic herbicide; e.g., Roundup, for land or Rodeo for wetlands or near water. • Biological control – the use of living organisms – parasites, pathogens, or predators – to control an invasive or other pest species. • Systemic herbicide – an herbicide that is absorbed by a plant and carried throughout the tissues. • Pest – a plant, animal, or other organism considered harmful.

24. More information • Future invasives sessions at RCSP • Websites: • www.nps.gov/plants/alienweedsgonewild.org • www.dcnr.state.pa.us • www.invasivespecies.gov

25. Thank you for coming!! Enjoy your Park!

26. Friends official website… • www.friendsofrcsp.org