Keene Valley – The Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) is gearing up for a summer of diverse educational programs on the importance of reporting, managing and preventing the spread of invasive species by offering a free summer education series. On June 9, APIPP will celebrate New York’s Invasive Species Awareness Week with two programs, one field trip and one webinar.
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) has added a new tip sheet to its library of free outreach materials just in time for the start of the summer construction season. “Best Management Practices for Moving Topsoil and Fill” was developed with highway department crews and construction contractors in mind, but it can be referenced by anyone doing a project that involves moving excavated materials.
Bolton Landing, NY – The public is invited to attend a hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) field survey training on Saturday, March 11, from 10 am to noon, at Hearthstone Point Campground in Lake George.
Program leaders will give an overview of winter outing safety skills, while teaching how to identify hemlock trees, survey for hemlock woolly adelgid, and report findings using iMapInvasives.
ADIRONDACKS – Forest Pest Hunter volunteer Bill Widrig has reported more than 300 forest pest survey observations, and he isn’t done yet. Widrig was among the first to join the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program’s Forest Pest Hunters effort when it began in 2021.
“Our property on the lake has old growth hemlock, some over 200 years old, that are very special to us,” Widrig said. “As hemlock woolly adelgid is a threat to these trees and all other hemlocks in the Northeast, I felt that I could not in good conscience just stand by and do nothing to help stop the spread of this pest.”
ADIRONDACKS —The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) and its partners have charted a course for the next five years. The “Adirondack Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) Strategic Plan 2023–2027” outlines how APIPP and its partners will minimize the impact of invasive species on the Adirondack region’s communities, lands and waters.
“The 2023-2027 Strategic Plan highlights some of the innovative ways PRISM partners build knowledgeable and engaged Adirondack communities that are empowered to act,” said Peg Olsen, Adirondack Chapter Director of The Nature Conservancy. “The Nature Conservancy and APIPP share a vision for an Adirondack region where the diversity of life thrives, and our lands and waters are protected for future generations. As the climate continues to change and exacerbate the spread and impact of invasive species, APIPP’s foundational work as a leader in invasive species prevention, eradication and management, and as a convener of more than 30 diverse regional partners, is even more vital.”
BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE—A summit to address two invasive species that are a threat to the Adirondacks will include a discussion on new research that shows a link between hydrilla and the death of eagles in the Southeastern United States. The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program will host a free symposium, “Invasive Species at our Door: Adirondack Invasive Species Summit,” from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. The event will cover two species that could dramatically impact Adirondack forests and freshwater ecosystems: hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a forest pest, and hydrilla, an aquatic invasive plant.
ADIRONDACKS—Beech leaf disease is in the Adirondacks, and scientists need help gathering data on the newly emerging forest pest. To teach community scientists how to identify and report beech leaf disease, the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program will host a free webinar from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, called “Forest Pest Hunters: Surveying for Beech Leaf Disease.”
Beech leaf disease was first detected in Ohio in 2012 and in New York state in 2018. In 2022, the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed the presence of beech leaf disease in over 30 counties in New York including Herkimer County, the first documented infestation in the Adirondack region. Beech leaf disease can kill mature beech trees in six to 10 years, while young trees can be killed in as little as two to three years.
ADIRONDACKS – Anyone can help prevent the spread of invasive species, even without leaving their yard. That’s the gist of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program’s free webinar “Backyard
Invasives—Identification and Management of Terrestrial Invasive Species,” which will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 20.
“A lot of invasive species tend to grow on forest edges and roadsides, and some get planted intentionally, making people’s yards an ideal habitat,” said APPIP Terrestrial Invasive Species Coordinator Becca Bernacki.
Invasive species are plants, insects, fish and other animals that are not native to a region and cause ecological, economic or human health harm. They can reproduce quickly, outcompete native vegetation and are often spread by human activity.
Yards not only provide a welcoming habitat for invasives, they’re also heavily traveled upon, which increases the opportunity for plants and seeds to be unintentionally relocated. Mowing and landscaping are two ways unwanted plants can be spread. And while it isn’t easy to control the spread of invasive species, understanding how to identify and manage them are things anyone can do.
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) is inviting volunteers to join its Lake Protectors program and is kicking off summer with its first (of three) Lake Protectors training sessions from 9-11:30 a.m. on June 28.
“Being a Lake Protector is fun, easy and a great way to help Adirondack lakes,” said Brian Greene, APIPP’s Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator.
Since the program’s inception in 2002, hundreds of volunteer Lake Protectors have surveyed more than 460 lakes in the Adirondacks, of which more than 75-percent do not have invasive species present.
Participation in the program is simple. After taking a training course, every volunteer is encouraged to adopt a waterbody of their choice and commit to surveying that pond or lake at least once during the summer. Many Lake Protectors, like Saranac Lake author Caperton Tissot, view the program as a way to spend time on a favorite waterbody while also helping to protect it from the threat of invasive species. Tissot has been a volunteer Lake Protector since 2009. In an interview last summer, she said her favorite place to survey is Barnum Pond in Paul Smiths because there are no buildings nearby, she rarely sees another boat and the shoreline varies from rocky outcrops to forests and bogs.
Adirondack-area establishments including Pendragon Theatre, Adirondack Land Trust, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Adirondack Mountain Club, and Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program recently welcomed new staff members.
New York’s Invasive Species Awareness Week (ISAW) is Monday, June 6 through Sunday, June 12, with several community events planned in Saranac Lake.
A viewing of the film, Uninvited: The Spread of Invasive Species, will be hosted at the Hotel Saranac on Wednesday, June 8th at 6:30 p.m. The Great Hall Bar will be open and experts will be on hand to introduce the film and discuss local actions.
Co-sponsored by Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute and the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, and developed by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the documentary is a professionally produced 60-minute film about the threat invasive species pose to food systems, water, public health, and ecosystems in New York State. See the trailer.
The event is part of New York’s Invasive Species Awareness Week, June 6-12. For more information, visit adkwatershed.org and adkinvasives.com.
Photo at top provided by Zoë Smith, Deputy Director for Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute.
As the snow melts and red-winged blackbirds arrive, it is time to think spring gardens! And you can support wildlife and help keep invasive species out of the Adirondacks by planting native gardens. Join the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) on Wednesday, April 6 at 10 am for a free webinar to learn how to design beautiful landscapes using native plants.
March is filled with days that feel like spring, even if they don’t feel like spring. The angle of the light, the birds and buds, and the blue, silviculture IV’s running from maple to maple all suggest a mood that the temperatures do not.
As we hardy, resilient outdoor types watch the calendar shift from complaining-about-ice season to complaining-about-mud season, there are bound to be some cold, sopping wet days where we just look out the window and think — no.
But there were other things to do this week, thanks to the Adirondack Garden Club, which was hosting Becca Bernacki of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, who was speaking on a quinella of insects that have the potential to do great harm in the forest, and how we can do our part to stop them.
Online Training: Adirondack Forest Pest Hunters – Surveying for HWA (Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program – Wednesday, February 16 from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
You can help protect the Adirondacks by surveying for invasive hemlock woolly adelgid. This training will cover basic identification, survey techniques, and how to sign up for a trail to survey.
More information and a link to register can be found on APIPP’s website.
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