EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK
Symposium highlights how common invasive species have become
CHAMPAIGN — Nicole Furlan bored to the heart of invasives in the 21st century. ‘‘ We live in a global economy,’’ she said at the start of her presentation on wood- borer surveys in Illinois.
That global aspect is a large part of what makes invasives so pervasive and dangerous in the modern outdoors world.
The fifth Illinois Invasive Species Symposium was held Wednesday at the University of Illinois Extension office.
I will focus on forestry extension and research specialist Chris Evans’ tracking of invasive plants, especially the Illinois Invasive Plant Phenology Observation Project. That citizen- scientist project uses volunteers, primarily master naturalists, master gardeners or land managers, to monitor plant phenology.
‘‘ There’s lots of anecdotal information about invasive [ terrestrial plants], not much actual data,’’ Evans said.
That’s the thing about the increasing impact of invasives: Citizen scientists are needed as eyes in the field.
Evans has 35 observers around the state, broken into six regions. In the 15 monthly reports, 56 species have been reported on. Most reported is bush honeysuckle. Multiflora rose, garlic mustard and autumn olive are also highly reported.
Each volunteer generally observes four or five invasives ( county, species and stage) between the eighth and 15th of each month ( January generally is taken off ). Evans does a monthly summary of the six regions to inform landowners, land managers and anybody who can use the data.
If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Evans at ( 618) 695- 3383 or cwevans@ illinois. edu.
Other quick notes
Eric Larson, in talking about Great Lakes invasives, explained the pluses and minuses of ecological niche modeling.
When asked if there was a correlation between the explosion of mussels and the rise of the rusty crayfish, which arrived more than 100 years ago, he said: ‘‘ It’s a little suspicious that rusty crayfish did not expand until after zebra and quagga mussels arrived.’’
Jeremy Tiermann discussed exotic freshwater mussels, including recent finds in northeast Illinois, and noted: ‘‘ If there is a grad student out there who wants to do a project, this is a chance to do a project on an invasive species and become an expert.’’
I didn’t realize how scary Callery ( Bradford) pears are until Mike Daab talked about them. Here’s where the human and natural worlds have an unnatural connection. I love looking at decorative pear trees, but Callery pears are becoming devastating enough that Evans hopes to gain more information about them from his observers.
Greg Hitzroth noted smaller retailers have had a good response on aquatic invasives, such as accepting things back, and pointed to TakeAIM. org ( aquatic invaders in the marketplace).
I need to spend a day with Paul Brewer to talk about life and prescribed burns. Until then, tons of information is at Fire Effects Information System ( feis- crs. org/
feis) or # WhyWeBurn. Both Brewer and Clair Ryan mentioned Midwest Invasive Plants Network ( mipn. org).
Ryan walked us through setting up the GLEDN ( Great Lakes Early Detection Network) app. Some 200 species are listed by Latin or common names. She recommended personalizing the app.
Ryan stressed how critical it is to push the detection point as close as possible to arrival, a time before invasives explode on the landscape and into public consciousness.
‘‘ Simply put, invasive species are a very expensive problem,’’ Furlan said.
At that point, it’s expensive in economic, biological and landscaping ways.