Invasive plant species are all over our landscape. Some of them hitchhiked in with unsuspecting human travelers in the treads of bike tires or sneakers. Some were brought by road crews. And some of them are sold in nurseries and garden stores as attractive ornamental garden enhancers.
Not all non-native plants are considered harmful. In fact, our state flower, the red clover, is not native. Nor are apple trees, which certainly enhance our early autumn meals.
But some of these species are tenacious, and without their normal predators or other systems to keep them in check, they spread widely and rapidly. They out-compete native plants and even pose a problem for local wildlife
Sharon Plumb is with the Nature Conservancy in Vermont and co-chairs the Vermont Invasive Exotic Plant Committee. Sam Schneski is a County Forester in Windham, Windsor and Southern Bennington Counties. Dan Redondo is a member of the board of directors of Greenworks, a trade association that represents Vermont nurseries and landscapes.
They spoke with VPR’s Jane Lindholm about how foresters, environmentalists and many nurseries are working together to combat invasive plants.