Last month the New Jersey Invasive Species Council completed a four-year effort to develop a plan to deal with the tremendous ecological and economic problems caused by the spread of invasive, non-native plants and animals across New Jersey. The threats posed to our state by invasive species are real: New Jersey suffers over $290 million in losses every year as a result of impacts from agricultural weeds and other pests. About 30 percent of the plants now growing in our state are not native. Plants including purple loosestrife and garlic mustard, which are widespread across our region, crowd out native plants and alter the composition, structure and function of ecosystems. Water chestnut and Eurasian water-milfoil are literally choking many lakes, ponds and streams right here in the Upper Raritan watershed.
The New Jersey Strategic Management Plan for Invasive Species provides practical, science-based recommendations to delineate control measures for troublesome species, utilize an early detection/rapid response methodology to prevent the establishment of new invasive species, and restore natural and agricultural systems that have been damaged. Furthermore, the plan calls for better public education and improved coordination among government agencies and neighboring states.
This plan needs our support! The Upper Raritan region offers areas of extraordinary natural beauty, wildlife habitat, agriculture, and it provides clean drinking water for all of us who live here and more than one million residents in other parts of New Jersey. To protect and preserve the natural systems on which all this ecological and agricultural productivity is based, we must stop the spread of invasive plant and animal species. URWA recognized this fact a few years ago and recently co-founded the Central Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team with the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space. The Strike Team represents our state's first comprehensive effort toward invasive plant management through a public-private partnership that is pooling its expertise and resources to reduce the spread of invasive plants. In its first year alone, the Strike Team detected 978 emerging invasive plant populations and eradicated 251 of them in the Highlands and Piedmont regions. The Strike Team’s 160 trained partners and volunteers also made presentations to civic groups, business associations and local leaders, reaching over 500 citizens with the message about stopping these plants before they degrade natural habitats and threaten biodiversity. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection cites our Strike Team as a model for what can (and should) be done state-wide.
Happily, implementation of the Strategic Management Plan for Invasive Species will be budget-neutral over the next two years. All of the near-term recommendations it makes can be accomplished by staff already in place and resources that are available now. These recommendations call for the State of New Jersey to implement such common-sense measures as:
• Establish a permanent NJ Invasive Species Council
• Establish ongoing communication channels between NJ and neighboring states
• Pre-screen all new plants proposed for introduction to NJ
• Prohibit the sale of invasive and potentially invasive plants
• Fully implement the statewide deer management program
• Apply Early Detection/ Rapid Response methods to prevent new infestations
Of course, these steps will not resolve all the problems related to the spread of invasive species, but they’ll go a long way before additional staff and resources will be required over the longer term. Please encourage Governor Christie and his Cabinet to implement the NJ Strategic Management Plan for Invasive Species. And, do your part – as you plan your spring and summer landscaping projects, make sure you do some research and avoid invasive or potentially invasive plants. You can get lots of great information about the plants that threaten our state and the ones that truly belong here on our Strike Team web site (www.cjisst.org).
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