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DCR Launches New Seaside Phragmites Mapping Web Application -- February 2007
A new tool developed by DCR allows users to identify occurrences of the invasive wetland grass Phragmites as mapped by an aerial census conducted in 2004. The tool, called the Seaside Invasive Reed (Phragmites) Web Mapping Application, also makes use of digital aerial photography and tax parcel boundaries. Landowners or land managers can find their property and determine if Phragmites has been mapped there, where it is, and how much is there. Learn more

DCR Phragmites Control Efforts -- October 2006
During the 2006 work year (Sept. 2005 - October 2006), a total of 270 acres of Phragmites was treated on DCR Natural Area Preserves and State Parks. 109 acres were aerial treated with glyphosate and 22 acres were aerial treated with imazapyr on 4 NAPs and 2 State Parks. Additionally, 57 acres were treated with glyphosate with ground-based equipment and 81 acres were treated with imazapyr with ground-based equipment on 4 NAPs and 3 State Parks. The NAPs and State Parks involved include: Dameron Marsh NAP, Hughlett Point, NAP, Bethel Beach NAP, North Landing River NAP, New Point Comfort NAP, False Cape State Park, Belle Isle State Park, York River State Park, Westmoreland State Park and First Landing State Park. DCR staff is eagerly awaiting the 2007 growing season to measure results of these treatments. Early indicators suggest that imazapyr is a highly effective treatment that will help land managers restore many hundreds of acres of native marsh vegetation.

VISC management plan approved -- December 2005
The Virginia Invasive Species Council, then chaired by Secretary of Natural Resources W. Tayloe Murphy, Jr., unanimously approved Virginia's first Invasive Species Management Plan. The plan was crafted by a team of stakeholders from state and federal agencies, local governments, and private interests, including The Nature Conservancy and the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association. Read the plan.

Zebra Mussel

Zebra Mussel Eradicated from Millbrook Quarry -- May 2006
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) has confirmed that the Commonwealth’s only infestation of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), a notorious invasive aquatic species, has been exterminated. Eradication of this noxious species from the 12-acre, 93-foot-deep quarry pond is believed to be the first successful eradication of zebra mussels from a large, open body of water in North America, and perhaps the world. Read the full press release. (20 kb PDF)
Visit the DGIF Millbrook Quarry zebra mussel web site
Regional agencies join forces against exotic invaders -- May 2005, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's Bay Journal
When Bay region officials learned four years ago that zebra mussels had been found in the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, they responded with letters to New York officials urging them to stem the spread before it was too late. Read more.
Zebra Mussel sighting distribution -- 2005, US Geological Survey. Read more.

Emerald Ash Borer

USDA Amends Emerald Ash Borer Quarantined Areas -- Nov. 4, 2005, APHIS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced it is amending its existing emerald ash borer (EAB) regulations by adding areas in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio to the list of quarantined areas, and is restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from these quarantined areas. Read more.
USDA Announces Additional $28 Million to Fight Emerald Ash Borer – March 23, 2005, USDA
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced an additional $28.2 million in emergency funding for the emerald ash borer (EAB) eradication program. Read more.

Phragmites

Invasive plant taking over Virginia's Eastern Shore – Jan. 3, 2006, Virginia Pilot Online/Associated Press
The common reed is a good-looking plant. It grows tall and slender, its feathery crowns glowing golden in the late-afternoon sun, and bobbing as one in the gusts that sweep this seafaring village. Read more.
Battling Alien Invaders: Making war on phragmites and other flora that take no prisoners – Sept. 15-21, 2005, Bay Weekly
It’s not a glamour job, tromping through the marsh in hip-waders and canvas jumpsuit to slash through thick, endless clumps of reeds in the hot sun. Read more.

Regional News

Mid-Atlantic Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species (MAPAIS) Launches New Web Site -- April 2007
MAPAIS is one of six regional panels administered by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to preventing and controlling aquatic nuisance species as authorized by the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act (NANPCA) of 1990. Visit the new site.

Tiny Insect Threatens Ash Trees -- March 2007, Baltimore Sun (requires free registration to read)
Efforts escalate in the attempt to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer in Maryland, and potentially the rest of the East Coast states. Some 17,000 trees have been targeted for removal in a 21 square mile area in Prince George County. Last year, Virginia officials successfully stopped an infestation in Fairfax County. Read more.

Laurel Wilt Disease -- January 2007
In coastal Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, a recently discovered beetle, Asian ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus), has been found to transport a fungus (Ophiostoma sp.) that causes a wilt disease and mortality in tree and shrub species in the laurel family (Lauraceae), including red bay and sassafras. Learn more. (offsite PDF)

Maryland state agencies train citizens to help fight purple loosestrife
A new program in Maryland will train volunteers to recognize and report occurrences of the highly invasive purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicarium). The Maryland Departments of Natural Resources, Transportation, and Agriculture have teamed up to control this species. They are seeking volunteer assistance from and offering training to Maryland citizens to help achieve their management goal. Location information is critical to prioritizing control projects. A new web site describes the plant and offers an online reporting form.

Asian Soybean Rust Development in 2005: A Perspective from the Southeastern United States -- January 2006, American Phytopathological Society
The American Phytopathological Society (APS) presents an overview of the history, current status, monitoring and management of soybean rust. Read the article.