Title: New US coalition works to stamp out invasive plant species
[The Daytona Beach News Journal Aug 10, 2010 by DINAH VOYLES PULVER] -- Pellets dropped into a Deltona lake last week were meant to speed the demise of hydrilla, an exotic plant creeping across the lake that can choke out native grasses that help keep the lake healthy. A day later in Ormond Beach, a state park biologist went to work on an invasion of exotic torpedo grass. Across Volusia and Flagler counties, such battles continue daily with government and private landowners trying to eradicate a creeping green invasion of exotic plants growing where they're not wanted. A new group formed this summer aims to give the agencies, as well as private landowners, another tool in the fight.
A Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area was formed by representatives of state, local and federal government agencies, nonprofits and private landowners in Volusia, Flagler, Brevard and Putnam counties. Two co-chairs were appointed to lead the group, Ed Northey with Volusia County Mosquito Control and Kelli Gladding with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"Invasives are everybody's problem," said Gladding, as she prepared to work on hydrilla in Deltona's Lake Gleason with a state contractor. "We want to know what our strengths are and figure out how to fill in the gaps."
The new group joins 15 similar groups across the state. It is designed to help local landowners be more competitive when applying for grants and more efficient by pooling resources when working on projects. "I think it's great," said Greg Jubinsky, who oversees the wildlife commission's upland weed-control program.
Imported plant species that escape into the wild can change natural areas, for example by growing over and killing native plants and by clogging lakes and streams.
By some estimates, more than 25,000 plant species have been introduced to Florida, with about 700 of them now growing wild. Statewide, farmers, government agencies and others spend an estimated $350 million a year to control the spread.
Alex Holmes, with Applied Aquatic Managemant in Bartow, and Kelli Gladding drift into a patch of invasive Hydrilla in Lake Gleason in Deltona on Thursday. N-J | Peter Bauer
The management area groups really got started to help private landowners manage invasive species, Jubinsky said. With about 30 percent of the state's total land mass in conservation by public agencies, the other 70 percent remains in private ownership.
"In any state park, you can look over the fence and see different kind of invasive weeds growing (on private land)," he said. Public land managers, who are controlling such plants, "recognized they can't do it alone."
"Land managers needed a way to get ahead of the ball, instead of trying to mop up after plants come on his side of the fence," he said.
Don Spence, a supervisor with the Volusia Soil and Water District, helped launch the plan to form the new local effort.
"We've had a lot of support," Spence said, including help from the wildlife commission and the Florida chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Recent organizational tele-meetings have included 11 to 12 people in Volusia County, two in Flagler, two or three in Putnam and four or five in Brevard.
The new group means that about 70 percent of Florida is now covered by an invasive-species group, Jubinsky said. The group is putting together a five-year plan and setting goals for what it hopes to accomplish.
Often, even representatives of public landowners don't know what other governmental agencies are doing, Gladding said. At a meeting in September or October, the group will discuss its available resources and all the various conservation efforts going on in the area.
