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MT Raleigh Report, COVID-19 Edition: What To Expect From NC Lawmakers This Week

MT Raleigh Report, COVID-19 Edition: What To Expect From NC Lawmakers This Week

MT Raleigh Report, COVID-19 Edition: What To Expect From NC Lawmakers This Week

When the North Carolina General Assembly convenes its 2020 session tomorrow, it will do so in a state – and a world – that was unimaginable when lawmakers finished their work for 2019 just a few short months ago. 

Back then, legislators were looking forward to a 2020 session fueled by a robust budget surplus, made unusually large as a result of last year’s budget stalemate that left hundreds of millions of unallocated dollars in the state’s General Fund. 

That, of course, was all before the impact of COVID-19 on millions of North Carolinians and thousands of North Carolina businesses. Now, legislators can expect a reduction in state tax revenue of $1 billion or more and debates about how to respond to the pandemic, when and how to restart the state’s economy and what to do about the state’s suddenly frail finances. 

The Rundown

With the legislative session beginning tomorrow, here is a quick rundown of where things stand in Raleigh and what MountainTrue’s priorities are for the session.

  • Despite limits on public gatherings across the state, the legislature will go into session with strict limits on the public’s in-person access to legislative proceedings. 
  • Lawmakers are increasing electronic access to committee meetings and other legislative gatherings so that the public can monitor the process. You can access those by clicking on the audio icon for the committee or legislative body you wish to tune into here.
  • Credentialed media will also have in-person access to the General Assembly.
  • Legislative leaders hope the session will be very short, perhaps a week or two, and focused only on COVID-19 bills and appropriations.
  • Bills leftover from the 2019 session or new issues unrelated to the pandemic are unlikely to be considered.
  • The COVID-19 agenda is still developing – a House Select Committee on COVID-19 began making its recommendations last week, and more are expected to become public before the session begins.
  • Governor Cooper will also send a list of COVID-19 requests to the legislature for consideration. 
  • The North Carolina Senate has not met formally to develop recommendations for the session, but is expected to have its own list of pandemic response proposals. 
  • Once lawmakers complete their work, they are expected to adjourn and reconvene some time midsummer. 

The legislature is not likely to take up the state budget during this spring session. The delay of the state’s tax filing deadline to July 15 means that lawmakers won’t have an accurate estimate of revenues for the 2020-2021 fiscal year until later in July. 

Despite the tax filing delay, budget analysts in both the Governor’s office and the legislature predict that the pandemic’s impact on the state budget will be significant – in the range of a $1 billion to $2 billion reduction in state revenues for FY2020-2021. 

The state’s overall budget totals about $24 billion annually. While the state has considerable fiscal reserves, the reduction in tax income and the cost of the COVID-19 response and recovery will result in significant budget reductions for the coming fiscal year. Click here to view a recent presentation by Governor Cooper’s budget director about the pandemic’s impact on state finances. 

MountainTrue’s Priorities 

As the only WNC environmental group with a permanent presence in Raleigh, MountainTrue will be active during both the upcoming spring session and the summer session expected later this year. For starters, we will be on the watch for any effort to roll back clean air, clean water or clean energy laws. In WNC, so much of our economy depends on our natural resources, which must be protected if we are to bounce back from COVID-19. Towards that end, we will also oppose any effort to balance the budget with cuts to state agencies that enforce environmental rules. These agencies are already woefully understaffed and underfunded after years of budget reductions. 

MountainTrue will also continue to support key investments to protect WNC water quality and increase public access to our rivers. We have just finished a round of teleconference meetings with two key WNC legislators who have power over budget appropriations: Rep. Chuck McGrady and Sen. Chuck Edwards. Topping our list of priorities are funds for water monitoring and pollution detection for WNC rivers and streams, as well as new investments in public access along the French Broad, Green and Watauga Rivers. While these investments may not seem pressing, outdoor recreation will likely be one of the earliest, safest and most popular forms of recreation available when the pandemic abates. It’s important that our region has improved infrastructure, both for our residents and visitors, to boost our local economy when widespread recreation is safe again. 

Taking a step back, we know that many of our supporters face extremely difficult challenges as a result of COVID-19. We also realize that many of you may not have the time and energy to think about North Carolina politics and policies and their impact on our environment and our economy right now. And that’s okay. That’s why MountainTrue is here: to be a permanent, trusted, informed voice for our region and its natural resources. We thank all of you who provide the support that allows us to do this important work.

Do you value the Raleigh Report? It takes a lobbyist and staff expertise to bring this resource to you. Please consider making a donation to support this work and protect the places we share:  https://mountaintrue.org/join

Introducing Topic-Specific Info Sessions on the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Management Plan

Introducing Topic-Specific Info Sessions on the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Management Plan

Introducing Topic-Specific Info Sessions on the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Management Plan

Action Expired

 

MountainTrue will kick off our series of topic-specific info sessions on the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest Management Plan on Tuesday, April 28 with a deep dive into water quality issues in the draft plan.

Our hope is that these sessions will answer any lingering questions about how topics you care about will be addressed in the new forest management plan, and will help you craft your own public comment to improve the plan.

Register at the links below to access the webinars and submit questions to our speakers in advance. Each session will begin at 5:30pm and last one hour, including time for questions and answers.

Update: Did you miss our April 7 info session where we provided a broad overview of the draft management plan? Good news! Public Lands Field Biologist Josh Kelly will be doing a reprise in association with the Public Policy Network of WNC and North Georgia on May 3, 4:00-5:30. Josh will give an overview of MountainTrue’s perspective on the draft Nantahala Pisgah Forest Management Plan and provide tips and information about how the public can positively influence the final version. The webinar is free of charge and you do not have to be a member of PPN to register for the webinar. 

Celebrate 50 Years of Earth Day with MountainTrue

Celebrate 50 Years of Earth Day with MountainTrue

Celebrate 50 Years of Earth Day with MountainTrue

Action Expired

 

As social creatures, we need to maintain our connections and find new ways to lean on each other during hard times. As creatures of nature, we need to connect with our forests, our rivers and the plants and animals we share this planet with. Today more than ever, we appreciate how important clean water and healthy forests are to our mountain communities.

Hikers like to say, ‘the trail gives you what you need’. I’ve experienced that personally and watched it play out in the lives of others. So regardless of whether you are looking for community, solitude, a challenge, stillness, simplicity, therapy, inspiration, resilience, or reassurance… there’s a good chance you’ll find it in the woods.

Jennifer Pharr Davis

Owner, Blue Ridge Hiking Company and 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year

But our forests and rivers would not have been the wonderful sanctuaries Jennifer describes had they not been protected by people like you. Together, we have built a legacy of action to be proud of. You stopped timber companies from clearcutting in Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests. You kept the pressure on Duke Energy until they were ordered to clean up their coal ash pits and move their toxic ash to lined landfills where they will no longer pollute our rivers.

When you stand with MountainTrue, you fight for our environment. Will you stand alongside MountainTrue this Earth Day?

Protect the Places We Share

The fight to protect the health of our forests, rivers, and mountain communities is more important than ever. We ask that you donate today so we can continue to protect the places we share.

Happy 50th Earth Day, and thank you for being part of MountainTrue and making this work possible!

Tell NCDOT: The I-26 Highway Expansion Must Better Reflect The Needs of Asheville Residents

Tell NCDOT: The I-26 Highway Expansion Must Better Reflect The Needs of Asheville Residents

Tell NCDOT: The I-26 Highway Expansion Must Better Reflect The Needs of Asheville Residents

Action Expired

 

For over a decade, Asheville’s residents and city government have called for the I-26 Connector Project – a state highway expansion that will go through the heart of Asheville – to be smaller and less impactful to local neighborhoods in its path.

By speaking out, we’ve made great strides in scaling the I-26 expansion back. But we’re not finished. The most recent plan for the highway is still missing crucial improvements that our community has called for. It would still displace too many residents and businesses, take up too much valuable land with excessive ramps, create too much noise pollution and have too many new lanes for cars and trucks.

This is our LAST official chance as a community to ask for changes that will make this project easier on local small businesses, residents, pedestrians, bikers and more.

Take action below by April 17 to tell this project’s decision makers that the final product must better reflect the needs of our community – not just those of interstate drivers.

We strongly encourage you to make your message your own, and add how the I-26 expansion impacts you personally. Here’s what MountainTrue is advocating for:

We believe the final design for the I-26 Connector should do the following: 

  • Reduce the overall size of the project so it better matches the character of our small mountain city. This includes tightening up the design for all intersections and interchanges, reducing the number of lanes on the I-26 bridge from six to four, reducing the size of the new I-240 flyovers and reducing the number of vehicle lanes on the Westbound Bowen Bridge from three to two.
  • Save more homes and businesses. Reducing the size of the Haywood Road Interchange could save more homes as well as the Meadows building, an important community resource that houses close to 20 micro-businesses in West Asheville. Improving the intersection on Patton Avenue on the east side of the river could also save homes on Hill Street.
  • Work collaboratively to meet the community’s strong desire to minimize the visual and auditory impacts of the project – including on the historic Riverside Cemetery, whose visitors request peace and quiet.
  • Improve safety and options for pedestrians and bikers. The project should make the speed limit on the new Bowen Bridge no more than 30 mph so it can be a safe place to walk and bike. It should make the bridge-crossing by Haywood Road safer for pedestrians, and prioritize bike and pedestrian safety at all intersections. Reducing the number of lanes on the Westbound Bowen Bridge will also create more room for pedestrians and bikers.

You can see the full Final Environmental Impact Statement for the I-26 expansion here, and learn more about MountainTrue’s history of advocacy on this issue here.

 

​It may have started with a bat in a cave, but human activity set it loose

​It may have started with a bat in a cave, but human activity set it loose

​It may have started with a bat in a cave, but human activity set it loose.
– David Quammen

COVID-19 is a wakeup call. This pandemic is testing our health systems, government institutions, and civil society in an unprecedented manner. The immediate costs — in lives losts, to our economy, and to people’s livelihoods — are staggering.

Though this disease is new and especially contagious, it is not unique. COVID-19 is among a growing number of animal-borne viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens on the rise due to the twin threats of habitat destruction and climate change. Research conducted more than a decade ago showed as much as 60% of new diseases between 1960 and 2004 came from animals.

​The destruction of natural habitats is a key contributor to the spread of new and existing diseases. As human development encroaches on forests and other natural habitats, people come into greater contact with animals and are at greater risk for catching the diseases they carry.

Similarly, human development, resource extraction and climate change can reduce biodiversity. In the natural world, the most diverse ecosystems are the healthiest, having intricately woven webs of species balancing one another. When those webs are torn, the species most likely to carry and spread disease — such as rats and bats — thrive. Meanwhile, climate change is making our region warmer and wetter, and waterborne and mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue fever, Zika virus, chagas disease and malaria are moving north.

Support Our Healthy Ecosystems

​You can protect our mountain region. With your support, we can protect our forest and aquatic habitats.

These diseases are seen as exotic and foreign, but the same conditions of habitat destruction, degradation of biodiversity and increased human-wildlife interaction are happening right here in our mountain region. Tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome, and ehrlichiosis are spreading in our region. Studies have documented growth in tick populations when forests are broken up and the number and diversity of species are reduced.

COVID-19 is an immediate threat, and we encourage our members to find ways to directly support our communities and our neighbors now. But we are also asking you to continue to invest in our environment, our communities and to help do your part to prevent the next pandemic.

When you support MountainTrue, you power:

  • a Public Lands Team hard at work ensuring a management plan for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests that protects our natural carbon sinks, reduces habitat destruction, and promotes biodiversity.
  • a Land-Use Team that promotes smart growth and community planning so that our continued growth doesn’t come at the expense of our environment.
  • Four Riverkeepers and a Western Region Clean Waters Team that work to reduce urban and agricultural pollution, minimizing levels of E. coli and other harmful pathogens in our rivers and streams, and
  • an Energy Team that has successfully fought to move our region away from coal and is helping to lead us toward a renewable energy future.

The fight to protect the health of our forests, rivers, and mountain communities is more important than ever. We ask that you donate today so that we can continue to protect the places we share.

Thank you for standing with us in this time of uncertainty.

Have Your Say In How Our Forests Are Managed

Have Your Say In How Our Forests Are Managed

Have Your Say In How Our Forests Are Managed

Action Expired

 

The Forest Service is accepting public comment on the draft forest management plan for all 1.045 million acres of Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests — a plan that will set priorities and protections for the next 15-20 years of these public lands. This current comment period is our last meaningful chance to provide input on how these public lands are managed. 

These forests belong to all of us. Let’s make sure they are managed for the benefit of all forest users, our environment and future generations.

ICYMI: Watch Our Forest Plan Info Session

Nearly one hundred people joined us on the evening of April 7 for our live online info session on the draft forest management plan for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests. During the session, our Public Lands Field Biologist Josh Kelly presented MountainTrue’s analysis of the draft plan and took questions from the audience. If you missed the webinar, you can watch it on YouTube.

The info session was emceed by MountainTrue Public Engagement Manager Susan Bean, and the Q&A segment was moderated by Western Regional Director Callie Moore. We were fortunate to be joined by Alice Cohen of the U.S. Forest Service, who kicked off the webinar with a brief overview of the forest management planning process. 

Stay tuned for future forest plan info sessions where we’ll dive into specific regions and topics such as water quality and recreation infrastructure.

News About MountainTrue’s Work In the Coming Weeks — And Our COVID-19 Activity Guide

News About MountainTrue’s Work In the Coming Weeks — And Our COVID-19 Activity Guide

News About MountainTrue’s Work In the Coming Weeks — And Our COVID-19 Activity Guide

As our mountain communities brace for the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, MountainTrue is doing our part to help reduce the spread of the virus, and mitigate the health risks to our communities and our staff.

As of Monday, March 16, our four offices in Asheville, Boone, Hendersonville and Murphy are closed to the public. Our staff will still be working hard to protect the places we share, but many of us will be doing so from home or out in the field where we’ll be following recommended protocols.

Following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and public health officials, we are also canceling all of our public events, hikes and training sessions for this spring, and our volunteer-based water monitoring programs, river cleanups and public lands workdays will be on hiatus until further notice.

This Isn’t A Goodbye, It’s New Way of Saying ‘Hello Neighbor’

Together, there’s still so much that we can do to advocate for our environment and our communities, and to break through the isolation of “social distancing.” Though we’ll miss interacting with our members, volunteers and supporters face-to-face, we’re excited to be able to provide you with easy options to take action and new ways of engaging with us and each other.

Seven Things You Can Do Right Now

Sign the petition for I Love Rivers – Our Broad, French Broad, Green and Watauga Riverkeepers and our Western Water Team have developed a comprehensive plan for cleaning up our rivers by tackling faulty sewer and septic system infrastructure, helping agricultural landowners prevent bacterial pollution, and reducing litter from single-use plastics. Show your support! iloverivers.org

Plant a native garden – Help protect our forests, public lands and local wildlife by planting a sustainable garden. Our invasive plants team has put together a great resource for gardeners and landscapers that offers beautiful native plant alternatives to our region’s most damaging non-native invasive plant species. mountaintrue.org/plantguide

Go on a hike and keep yourself healthy and calm – Getting out in nature is good for the body and soul. While we’re sad to have had to cancel our annual spring hikes and outings, MountainTrue’s Public Lands and Engagement teams are excited to be working on a list of self-guided hikes. More to come soon!

Complete the 2020 Census online – The Census comes around every 10 years and this year’s couldn’t have come at a more challenging time. Make sure you are counted because the census helps determine the number of seats that are allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives, how federal monies are distributed to state and local governments, and how local, state and congressional district boundaries are drawn. 2020census.gov

Support our local businesses – As the CDC issues stricter guidelines, local restaurants and businesses are suffering. Consider buying gift cards from your favorite businesses that you can use once isolation is over. And instead of crowding into local bars and restaurants, consider ordering for delivery or pickup. For Asheville, check out #AshevilleStrong for a directory of businesses where you can buy gift cards. In other towns, contact the businesses directly.

Attend worship services online – Maintaining your connections to your community is important and for many of us that means attending church or worship services. Our Creation Care Alliance program has a running list of local churches providing services online.

Talk to us on social media – It’s going to get pretty lonely, so let’s connect on Facebook and Instagram. MountainTrue and our Riverkeepers all have Facebook and Instagram accounts, and we want to engage with our members to establish a deeper dialogue about the work we do, the priorities of our organization and the needs of our region.

MountainTrue
on Facebook		 MountainTrue
on Instagram		 Broad Riverkeeper
on Facebook
Broad Riverkeeper
on Instagram		 French Broad
Riverkeeper
on Facebook		 French Broad
Riverkeeper
on Instagram
Green Riverkeeper
on Facebook		 Green Riverkeeper
on Instagram		 Watauga Riverkeeper
on Facebook
Watauga Riverkeeper
on Instagram		 MountainTrue West
(Western Region)
on Facebook		 Creation Care Alliance
on Facebook
  Creation Care Alliance
on Instagram		  

 

In the coming weeks and days, we’ll be rolling out more things for you to do during the pandemic, more community resources and some ideas for mutual aid. But we also want to hear from you! Please feel free to respond to this email with your ideas, struggles and stories of perseverance. Let us know how you are keeping your spirits up, finding community in the age of COVID-19, and helping your neighbors during this trying time.

In the coming months, COVID-19 is going to test our health care system, our economy and our society. That’s why it is so important that communities around the country and here in our region find ways to help each other even when we can’t hug each other. During more normal times, it’s easy to treat our neighbors as strangers. Easier to avert our eyes than to initiate an awkward hello. Now, we all feel that imperative to connect and help each other even if we don’t really know each other, yet. Let’s tap into that need for connection to strengthen our communities and build new ones.

Let’s be good neighbors.

Call on Asheville City Council: Fund Climate and Affordability Initiatives in Next Year’s Budget!

Call on Asheville City Council: Fund Climate and Affordability Initiatives in Next Year’s Budget!

Call on Asheville City Council: Fund Climate and Affordability Initiatives in Next Year’s Budget!

Action Expired

 

3/13/20

Today, Asheville City Council will decide budget priorities for the next year at their annual retreat. Will you call on City Council to provide funding for renewable energy, public transit, affordability initiatives and protecting our urban forest in next year’s budget?

Contact Your City Councilmembers Now

This time of year, you’re probably used to us asking you to advocate for something in the city budget. This year our advocacy is a little more complex – and we want to explain why.

As you may know, Asheville residents have called for major progress regarding environmental sustainability in recent years. But the ways Asheville can raise funds for these efforts are extremely limited due to state law – options like a food and beverage tax, city-wide sales tax, and local control of our hotel occupancy tax are restricted by the legislature in Raleigh, and are not available funding sources for Asheville in this year’s budget. This makes it hard for the city to prioritize funding for the things MountainTrue fights for – renewable energy, better public transit, a more livable urban community, and so much more. This is also made harder by the fact that as soon as next year, the City’s expenses are set to outpace its revenue.

Here’s what we do know: For such an environmentally-minded community, Asheville is behind the curve on things like renewable energy, public transit, and protecting our urban tree canopy. Year after year, Asheville residents have called for progress on these issues. We cannot wait several more years to take significant action on climate change, or to take further steps to address our affordability crisis – especially when our federal and state governments aren’t acting on these issues in ways that match the extent of the problems.

That’s why we are supporting a shift in what the City of Asheville can control: a modest 3-cent property tax increase in this year’s budget. Called 3 Cents For Our Future, this increase would fill the gap between our values and our revenue, generating $4.5 million per year to fund renewable energy, better public transit, affordability initiatives and protecting our urban forest canopy. We are also calling on the city to pair this initiative with a property tax assistance program for low-income homeowners, so that our city’s response to the climate crisis doesn’t displace people who call Asheville home.

To learn more details about the plan, click here.

Join Us At A Forest Management Plan Comment Party

Join Us At A Forest Management Plan Comment Party

Join Us At A Forest Management Plan Comment Party

Action Expired

 

As many of you have heard through news reports or from our last e-news, the draft management plan and environmental impact statement for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests were released on Friday, February 14. Our forest team is reviewing the more than 2,000 pages contained in those documents and will soon be offering our members and supporters thorough analysis to assist you in providing meaningful public comments to the forest service.

We are also scheduling a series of Forest Management Plan presentations and comment-writing parties throughout our region where our staff will present our analysis, answer your questions and help you write your comments, if desired. Below is our first round of events.

More public comment events hosted by MountainTrue are being planned and we will update you when dates and locations are confirmed for events in Mills River, Sylva, Morganton, Asheville and Bryson City.

As we schedule additional events, we’ll also be adding them to our Forest Plan Calendar.

The Nantahala and Pisgah belong to all of us, and this is the process whereby we, the public, ensure that the Forest Service manages and maintains them according to our values. The management plan determines which areas are protected, which areas will be scheduled for timber projects or managed for restoration, and how projects, like trail building and maintenance, are prioritized.

This forest management plan has been in development since 2013, and this is the public’s last significant opportunity to have our say. The public comment period lasts 90 days (until May 14), and you can submit as many public comments as you like. So, even if you’ve already submitted a comment, you can attend our parties to learn more and add your additional concerns to the public record.


MountainTrue’s Josh Kelly participated in Carolina Public Press’s NewsMakers Forum on the Future of Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest. Watch it here.

Our first impressions of the Forest Plan is that the Forest Service has made a good faith effort to include the values of all constituencies, but that there’s still a lot of room for improvement. All the action alternatives have some elements that we like, and some we don’t.

Some specific areas of concern that we’ve already identified:

  • The draft plan does not include any certain protections for existing old-growth forests. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement documents that all forest ecosystems are deficient in old-growth, very young forest, and open canopy forest compared to the best models of the natural variation in these systems. Unsustainable logging 100-140 years ago, fire suppression, and other factors have gotten us where we are today. Cutting existing old-growth will only make the matter worse, and the Forest Plan should require that old-growth be protected from regeneration harvest — the process by which older forests are cut to make younger forests.
  • The draft plan does not specify if or how old-growth forests will be tracked, making monitoring of the goal of increasing the amount of old-growth on the ground unachievable.
  • The draft plan does not include specific directions to protect many Natural Heritage Natural Areas that contain the best examples of rare species and natural communities in North Carolina. In all forest plan alternatives, between 34,000 and 68,000 acres of NHNAs are included in management areas with scheduled timber harvest. The Forest Plan should preclude regeneration harvest if a site-specific review finds them to be in a condition consistent with their identification as natural areas by the state.
  • The draft plan proposes a 15 ft. buffer on intermittent streams – streams that dry up during a drought. We believe that the intent is to protect those streams, but the plan should require a 50 ft. buffer of protection from heavy equipment such as bulldozers and skidders a default.
  • The current forest plan stipulates that any timber harvest on slopes over 40% must be accomplished with an aerial cable, where at least one end of the log is lifted off the ground, or other aerial logging method to protect soils and reduce the risk or erosion or landslides. The draft plan does away with that requirement and leaves the decision, increasing opportunities for human error. The new plan should also require that all harvest methods on steep slopes should protect the soil as effectively as aerial cable harvest.
  • Alternative C is the only alternative that would manage Big Ivy consistent with the Buncombe County resolution calling on the Forest Service to protect the area.

Moving forward, we continue to contribute as a member of the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership to come up with a collaborative, win-win proposal that takes the best aspects of each alternative provided by the Forest Service, and fixes any of the plan’s deficiencies in protecting water quality, old-growth forests, and natural areas.

To keep up with the latest Forest-related news and action alerts and to receive updates as we add forest plan events to our calendar, sign up here.

Public Lands Team Experiments on Invasive Species

Public Lands Team Experiments on Invasive Species

Public Lands Team Experiments on Invasive Species

​MountainTrue takes pride in being at the forefront of conservation techniques in many areas. Last summer, Public Lands Director Bob Gale decided to work on finding new ways to tackle two of our worst invasives: Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) and Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica).

For the invasive stiltgrass, we are typically stuck hand-pulling it in mid-summer.  This can be a rewarding activity to do with a large volunteer group, but takes a lot of people-hours to accomplish.  However, Bob Gale noticed that in some infested areas, there were pockets of ferns that weren’t being pushed around by the stiltgrass.  Bob decided to work with interns and our Forest Keeper Coordinator, Rhys Burns, to test their ability to fight back. They picked out areas at a local wetland ranging from highly invaded to unimpacted, laid out 4×4-foot plots, and transplanted 48 ferns into these areas.  The ferns continued to establish through the fall, and we will return this spring to see how they fared. Wouldn’t it be nice to fight plants with plants!

Japanese Knotweed is widely considered one of the worst invasives we have.  If broken up, it can resprout from tiny pieces or float down the rivers where it likes to live until it finds a new home.  It is also resistant to many common herbicides, including the low-impact chemicals we like to use in sensitive areas. However, a new herbicide was developed that may kill this unstoppable plant.  In collaboration with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy, we were able to purchase some of this expensive chemical, and put it to the test. Although it will take several years to determine if it truly works, the initial results are hopeful!  In a study conducted over 3 treatments last summer, we were able to kill the knotweed using some methods of application, and rule out others.

With both of these experiments, we will continue to monitor and treat these plots, and work with partners to share the data we collect. Here’s to hoping!