A plan to combat invasive species

COURTESY HOPE LEESON
WEEDING OUT PROBLEMS: Out in Front Horticulture President David Renzi treats Japanese barberry, an invasive species of plant. Renzi says the Forest Health Works Project has been a “tremendous help.”
COURTESY HOPE LEESON WEEDING OUT PROBLEMS: Out in Front Horticulture President David Renzi treats Japanese barberry, an invasive species of plant. Renzi says the Forest Health Works Project has been a “tremendous help.”

Two years ago, the Forest Health Works Project was created with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Its goal was two-fold, to create jobs and to help the state maintain its woodlands. According to local landscapers, arborists and nursery owners, the project is succeeding on both counts.
In 2009 the R.I. Department of Environmental Management teamed with the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) – an independent nonprofit – and was awarded a $673,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service. The goal of the grant was to train “green industry” professionals to help control invasive plants that threaten important forests in the state. The project would also provide summer job opportunities, aid local nurseries and require an assessment and inventory for the forests and nonnative, invasive species.
When the project’s original funding ran out last November the program had compiled the following results: It created 3.5 full-time-equivalent, permanent jobs, 12 seasonal, full-time-equivalent positions and 14 youth conservation-crew, summer employees. A total of $285,000 was expended on 16 green-industry contractors and 12 nurseries.
In addition, the project held 51 public-outreach events that involved and trained many volunteers, with a total of about 2,300 interested parties attending the events. It has been so successful that the organization has been able to generate an additional $196,000 to continue its work for as long as new funding can be found.
The contractors involved in the program have benefited greatly from it, including certification in managing invasive species issued by the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council. Throughout the program, participants were actively engaged by some of the most knowledgeable resources, including, RINHS, DEM, Coastal Resources Management Council and the University of Rhode Island Landscape Restoration Program, just to name a few. According to a survey conducted by RINHS at the end of the study, the training had resulted in participants obtaining 22 additional projects with a value of about $62,000. “The training offered by the folks at the URI Landscape Restoration Program was excellent,” said Brandon B. Faneuf, a principal scientist at Ecosystem Solutions in West Warwick. I received my CRMC Invasive Plant Manager certificate in 2009, and in 2010 took a Forest Invasives class. I’m up for recertification and am taking a class on Feb. 29 to qualify.” He described the training as being productive and comprehensive. “I look forward to it,” he said.
“The folks [involved in the project] did the most they could with the money they had, but the problem with invasive plants is that they don’t keep to a human-made schedule,” Faneuf said.
He added that the training helped obtain some work at the time but has not led to more jobs as of late.
“Perhaps it’s because people aren’t as willing to spend the money on removal of invasives, especially in this economy,” he said.
Eric R. Larson, manager of Green Systems Inc. in Portsmouth, agreed: “Through the training and by having some of the work that was being done in Arcadia State Park, it helped us to solicit for other jobs. We’ve done quite a few here on the island, both with residents and the CRMC zone. Recently it helped in getting a job with the town of Middletown on Second Beach. It’s opened up a whole different aspect of the green industry for me.”
A landscape veteran of 10 years, Larson said he has been questioned on the importance of removing invasives but says the training has been invaluable. “People do not understand the importance of getting invasives under control. Once you learn about it, you realize just how detrimental it is to the forest. You can go to areas in Arcadia where the bittersweet kills the trees. It strangles them and wipes them right out,” he said. Greg Ferrante, a landscape architect with Shalvey Brothers Landscape Inc., in Warwick, has also used his certification in obtaining private jobs for his business. “The project was worthwhile and the certification to work with invasives has helped. I plan on keeping it current,” Ferrante said.
All agreed the program is highly informative and practical, including David Renzi, president of Out in Front Horticulture in Exeter. “It was very well done,” he said. “It’s been a tremendous help in working with invasive plants.”
CRMC rules also require that the removed plants must be replaced with species native to the state, thus the program also was designed to help the nursery industry to produce locally sourced, native plants. The initiative was given the name Rhody Native.
Last year, more than 5,000 plants of 12 different species were distributed to eight garden centers for sale and placed into six demonstration gardens. Seed has been collected and cleaned from 41 native species and will be distributed to local growers, with some being grown under contract in 2012.
A logo was designed, and the Rhody Native name was trademarked to create a unique identity. Plant tags and signs were developed as marketing tools for nurseries carrying the brand. The program is hopeful the commercial/conservation partnership will benefit both the nurseries and the environment.
In total, about 60,000 acres, or 37 percent of the conservation land in the state, have been inventoried to identify the presence of harmful, invasive plants, and about 166 acres were treated at more than 41 different sites. •

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