Invasive species are a growing threat to both native plant and animal life, leading to long-term environmental damage, but the good news is that each of us can do something, Annie O’Connell, a member of the Chesapeake Bay Conservation and Climate Corps, told a virtual audience at a UMGC Earth Day event on April 22.
Most plants and animals migrate into new locations, and many of them naturally blend into the environment, said O’Connell, who is planning an invasive species removal program at the University of Maryland. But an invasive species is one that overwhelms the natural environment, killing off other plants without providing any benefit to the ecosystem.
Invasive plants often grow quickly and emerge early in the season to crowd out competitors, she said, while invasive animals can out-consume natives and sometimes eat them, taking over their ecosystem as the native species die off.
“We designate something as invasive species if it doesn't actually support clean air, clean water or materials that we need, or animal or human health,” she said. “Invasive species don’t tend to create new types of habitats. They do tend to lower numbers of native species. They do tend to reduce the amount of food for pollinators. And they do actually make it easier for other species to invade.”
The session started with a television news report about Gabby Marquez, a 15-year-old Annapolis resident, who took an unusual initiative to eradicate Phragmites, an invasive species of tall stalks that looks like beach grass that were taking over property on the Chesapeake Bay.
Her answer? Rent 20 goats who loved to eat the plants and whose excrement helped to stop them from growing back. She paid for the project with a $5,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, which was matched by her homeowners’ association.
“They eat for an hour and then stop to digest,” Marquez told a reporter from WBAL TV 11. “But they don’t stop eating.”
Already, they had cleared out large patches, she pointed out. Next, she will work with volunteers to plant native plants in areas cleared by the goats.
Earth Day has become the largest civic observation around the world with more than a billion people participating in outdoor activities on April 22, more than a half century after its founding in 1970, noted Sharon Wilder, UMGC’s vice president and chief diversity and equity officer, in her introduction of the event.
As an example of the damage caused by invasive animals, O’Connell talked about the little nutria, an aquatic rodent that looks like a beaver, which has invaded Maryland marshlands from South America. Unlike native species, the nutria eats aquatic plants from the root, wiping them out and leaving vast areas of decimated wetlands, destroying natural stormwater management systems and eradicating the natural ecosystem for many native species.
Whether it’s the spotted lanternfly which arrived from China and Vietnam and has caused extensive damage to agricultural crops, or the Japanese knotweed, which has invaded Maryland and grows into huge thickets, or the emerald ash borer, a tiny bug that burrows underneath the bark of ash trees, Maryland – and even the UMGC campus -- are targets of all kinds of invasive species.
But many opportunities are available for individuals and groups to fight back, said O’Connell, who also serves as a project assistant at the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center.
Individuals can monitor species around their homes and eliminate the threatening ones. The Maryland Extension Service and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources have guidance on how to identify them and how to get rid of them. There are apps, such as iNaturalist, that help identify and report invasives. These reports can be used by wildlife experts to track their migration.
Once you have eliminated invasive plants from your own property, you can get recommendations from naturalists on what to plant to keep them from returning, O’Connell said.
Individuals can also participate in community invasive-plant eradication groups, such as Montgomery Weed Warriors, or even organize their own, she said. After training, they head into parkland to remove damaging plants.
But can invasive species inspire art?
Some of the paper used in the UMGC Art Gallery’s current exhibition, “Eternal Paper,” was made using invasive species, among other ingredients. One collection was made using wings from the various stages of the invasive spotted lantern fly. Another art piece was made to mourn the grief of dying trees.
“Invasive species are everywhere,” she said, “but luckily there is stuff we can do to prevent their spread.”
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