Pocket Guide Helps Put the Brakes on Invasive Weeds
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Benghal dayflower is not yet in Pennsylvania, but if it ever shows up, weed expert Melissa Bravo has a handy pocket guide to help her recognize it.
Published in 2009, Invasive Weeds of the Appalachian Region pioneered a new type of weed scouting handbook—it fits into a pocket, making it more portable than the traditional weed ID guidebook.
“This is easier to carry out into the field than the larger books,” says Bravo, a weed scientist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. “It’s a nice size pocket guide.”
In 2006, University of Tennessee weed scientist Gregory Armel contacted NC State University colleague Robert Richardson about joining forces to put together a unique weed ID guide for the Appalachian region. Richardson had developed pocket guides for the North Central region while he worked at Michigan State University, so he and Armel collaborated on a new pocket-sized guide.
“In the field, land managers may be removed from their necessary tools,” Richardson says. “A pocket guide could improve their efficiency.”
Because the size of the booklet would restrict the number of pages, Armel and Richardson needed to include the most important weeds. A request for top priority weeds, sent to organizations in Tennessee, North Carolina and surrounding states (including Pennsylvania), generated a strong list of the East Coast’s worst invaders.
Extension Assistant Rebecca Koepke-Hill painstakingly searched for every photo, description and credit that would be in the booklet. The booklet is divided into weed categories—grasses, broadleaves, vines, shrubs and trees, and parasitic plant. Each page—sometimes two—is dedicated to a weed, boasting several photos of life stages, stems, leaves, flowers or seeds. Under the photographs is a description of the weed, followed by small icons indicating the control recommendations for that weed. At the bottom, a table allows the user to document where the weed was found, what size it was, what treatment was applied and the date of application.
Many newsworthy weeds appear in the booklet. Bamboo is on page 15. Kudzu is on page 44. Cogongrass is on page 9. And for whenever Bravo needs it, Benghal dayflower is on page 21.
Bravo is not alone in her appreciation for the booklet’s usefulness. Armel says that staff in several Tennessee county offices have distributed the booklets to land use managers in their region and that he and Richardson have also distributed copies to their state’s Departments of Transportation for use by their road maintenance crews. The key is distributing the guide to land use managers so they are able to identify and control these species before they become a larger issue.
“We have given some presentations for maintenance crews who do the applications for roadside weeds and helped them ID some species,” Armel says. “That led to some discussions about having the University of Tennessee do a roadside survey to map invasive species.”
The booklet has already helped several professionals battle invasive weeds. Developers of a new arboretum in Tennessee used the guide to identify invasive species and remove them. In another Tennessee county, an Extension agent used the booklet to guide a homeowner in the steps required to kill a mimosa tree. These are just some of the many examples regarding how these types of educational materials can help people find the answers they need in controlling invasive species in an accurate and timely fashion.
The best feedback of all, according to Armel, came from the University of Tennessee with the Cavender Outstanding Award for Best Extension Publication. Established by a former communications director, the Cavender Award recognizes excellence in the development of published material produced in the Institute of Agriculture. Armel, fellow professor G. Neil Rhodes, Jr., and Koepke-Hill were all recognized for their contribution to the booklet.
Armel says the next step is to keep track of invasive control—where and how it’s being done and who is doing it.
“How do we get practitioners to tell us how they’re trying to control invasives?” Armel says. “Practitioners come up with ideas that are beneficial, and if we can capture those ideas, we may get more invasives cleaned up in a more timely fashion. Joint discussions between practitioners and scientists are critical in the eradication of invasive species.”
Written by: Rosemary Hallberg, Communication Specialist, Southern Region IPM Center, 919-513-8182 or rhallberg@sripmc.org
Date: March 22, 2012