New coalition focuses on invasive plants
A group of homeowner and community associations has come together to focus on removing invasive plants and supporting the planting of native species.
The Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance (FIRA), established on on Jan. 19, is sending letters to the Board of Supervisors and state legislators urging action to address the problem of invasive, non-native plant species. Ten HOAs have signed on already, covering more than 5,100 homes. FIRA urges other neighborhood groups to join the coalition. Sign up here.
“Invasives threaten our native trees and other native plants, harm much-needed pollinators, and create environmental degradation,” FIRA states.
“Community associations manage thousands of acres of land that include woods, ponds, and Resource Protection Areas. The problem is too big to be solved by individual communities operating alone, so we are looking to the county for assistance,” FIRA continues.
According to the alliance, at least a million native trees are at risk in Fairfax County, due to smothering and strangling by invasive vines, such as English ivy and Asian wisteria. Other native trees are being displaced by “the notorious Callery Pear,” an invasive tree that rapidly moves in after land disturbances.
Meanwhile, invasive shrubs, such as multiflora rose and burning bush, and invasive groundcovers are choking the lower level of wooded areas.
“As a result of this epidemic, combined with over-browsing by deer, most of our woods are not regenerating and are likely to fail altogether by the end of the century unless action is taken,” FIRA warns. “Our grandchildren may be living in a scarred and ugly landscape that is unable to support birds and other wildlife and that is an invitation to dumping and crime.”
The alliance urges the Fairfax County government to come up with a plan to engage public and private landowners in adopting creative solutions to rid the land of invasive plants.
Solutions proposed by FIRA include:
- developing a vigorous public education campaign;
- collaborating with other public entities such as VDOT and railroads;
- leveraging volunteer labor to maximize effectiveness;
- advocating for needed legislative changes at the state level;
- providing incentive programs for the owners of private properties, such as matching grants for communities to remove invasives on common open spaces;
- encouraging nurseries to stop selling invasive plants; and
- funding the removal of invasives on county-owned land.
For more information about FIRA, contact [email protected].
“Most of our woods… are likely to fail altogether by the end of the century… Our grandchildren may be living in a scarred and ugly landscape.”
Sounds accurate, and don’t think much can be done to stop it. Entire areas would have to be completely razed and start again. Maybe test several methods on several areas over x period. The stuff spreads like dei.
If most physically capable people were willing to volunteer a few hours a week, a huge impact could be made. But like with just about everything, most people have no interest and/or are just too lazy to do any real physical labor. Too many people don’t care about anything until it’s too late.
I agree people are generally lazy. However I’ve been fighting kudzu and other invasives in my yard for 20 years. I spend hours and hours every weekend from Spring to Fall fighting them, and if I miss a weekend, my work is exponentially multiplied. The wind blows seeds from all over the place. There are not enough volunteers in the country to do this by hand, here and there, and make a meaningful difference. You would need one person per acre every weekend.
It’s like trying to bail water from the titanic with buckets.
If one bit of a root is left, or part of a node on the kudzu, it’s coming back. And it spreads seeds like wildfire.
A calm, scientific, measured approach is the only chance. Using volunteers to do it by hand is nothing more than spinning your wheels. It’s by far worse than trying to clear bamboo.
A few years ago the county paid a firm to clean up Mason District Park around the stream. They did landscaping, plantings, and tree scalping but also sprayed a blue-colored liquid on ivy and other invasive species near the stream and the trail leading into the park. Whatever it was that they sprayed, it did the job of killing the growth. There were little yellow markers warning that the spray was environmentally safe and had the phone number of the contracting company. I asked one of the onsite managers what was in the spray. He told me to call the company — which I did — and never received a reply. I had a blue version of “Agent Orange” in mind.
Sadly, most of the growth has returned.
Thanks for this story. I commend the volunteers and agree comprehensive approach is needed.
THIS is what I would expect the supervisors to attack, instead of art committees, covid memorials, green fire stations, data centers.
can I get help in my back yard. I have invasive Italian arum (Arum italicum) is also known as Orange Candleflower, Cuckoo’s Pint and Italian Lords-and-Ladies.
The trick is to find one small area where you’re willing to help and keep at it. Pull up porcelainberry and English Ivy by the roots. Barb — for Italian arum, you have to dig it up including the surrounding dirt to get all the little root balls or nodules — whatever they are called — and put it in the trash. It’s hard to get rid of, like lesser celendine which is now spreading over every riparian area in the region. Let aggressive native plants like pokeweed thrive. That’s bird food, and deer will actually eat it which might take pressure off oak and other saplings that the deer kill.
Hooray for the effort and good luck.
The best and foremost approach is to stop planting invasives-thus stop nurseries from selling them. Second is to stop them from recycled into mulch. The heat in creating mulching is not enough to kill the spores and seeds of invasives. All invasives should be bagged as trash and incinerated. Some invasives is best killed using herbicide. Arum italicum – roots get very deep, cut back the leaves to 3 inches or so and spread poison. Lesser celandine/ficaria verna is spring ephemeral and grows spores above and small seeds underneath. Digging them could dislodging the brown seeds underneath easily. Best is poison in March or April before they flower. English ivy has shallow roots – easy to dig up. If using poison, cut back leaves to about 4 inches. No poison can kill seeds. So apply poison before flowering.
Problem is easily solved if the COUNTRY starts to regulate the nursery industry (aka nursery centers that sell invasive species of plants). The COUNTY problem is that they are understaffed to deal with it. They are also part of the problem by clearing away good forests for new developments. Another factor is that invasives will not grow in the shade/deep woods because of lack of sunlight. You have to work from the outside. There are many factors, but a letter won’t budge the politics!! It takes a movement. One last factor—the earth has changed before, and we are heading for it to change again. Climate change is not directly related to all of man’s abuse, but also that the axis of the earth has changed!!!