Mattapoisett — In 2013, at least 1,000 European flies were released into Nasketucket Bay State Reservation with the hopes that they would spread throughout the area. Awesome, right?
It may not sound like good news, but these flies have a very specific job to do: take down the winter moth population.
"Bittersweet — it's the perfect name for a plant that has some lovely qualities but is also a terrible menace. Many people are familiar with this plant because it has been used for autumn decorations. It grows as a vine with an orange-red berry enclosed in a bright yellow casing.
The supple twisting stem and colorful berries make the bittersweet ideal for creating a fall wreath to hang...
"STERLING - There is a swath of grass cut on the edge of a field at Michael Pineo's farm about one-and-a-half highway lanes wide, but even that does not protect the field from one of Central Massachusetts' most challenging invaders.
"It still spreads everywhere," he said, pointing to tree-sized bushes of autumn olive - plants once used for roadside stabilization but now are an invasive...
WORCESTER - Good news on the Asian longhorned beetle front: Surveys of traps hung across Worcester County this summer have turned up only one of the pests in the city, where an infestation of the tree-killing insects was centered, and none in the region beyond.
This suggests that efforts to stop the spread of the beetle are paying off, according to...
"Most readers are familiar with monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). The striking orange and black species has historically been widespread throughout North America.
Its life history makes it an attractive tool for lessons about insect ecology. Monarch caterpillars forage exclusively on milkweed (Asclepias). Foul-tasting chemicals they acquire from the plants render monarch...
"The tiny seedling was brought over from Eastern Europe and parts of Asia nearly 200 years ago and planted along riverbanks across the United States, mostly in the Southwest, to prevent erosion. It grew fast, its thick branches and oily leaves spreading across five states. As years passed, it became obvious that the introduction of salt cedar, or Tamarisk trees was a mistake. The invasive tree...
In 2001, ash trees began dying in Detroit, and no one could say why. Then glittering green beetles were discovered crawling out of an ash log.
American scientists had never seen the beetles, and they reached out to experts around the world for help. A Slovakian entomologist named Eduard Jendek solved the mystery: Detroit’s ash trees were being killed by Agrilus planipennis, the emerald...
As part of my job managing aquatic invasive species for the Department of Environmental Conservation, earlier this summer I traveled to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom for a site visit to Shadow Lake in the town of Glover.
"Years ago, President Woodrow Wilson grazed sheep on the White House lawn. The wool was sold to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I.
Today there are other reasons to pasture animals on public property in towns and villages – and two Vermont towns experimenting with the practice are seeing positive results.
In Randolph, just at the edge of the village, Jenn Colby’s...
At the height of summer, numerous plants are in bloom. Also in bloom are the reported sightings of invasive plants. While many reports correctly identify common culprits, like Wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed, the suspected sightings of other invasive plants increase because of native plant look-a-likes.
Oak wilt is an aggressive and often deadly disease that affects all species of oaks (Quercus). It is one of the most serious tree diseases in the eastern United States.
Each year thousands of oaks die from this disease in yards, public landscapes and forests. It has been found in 21 states, with considerable damage occurring in...
August is “Tree Check” month. It’s the time when ecologists are out surveying the forests to see if invasive insect species are showing up in the state. Here in Vermont scientists are primarily on the lookout for Asian longhorned beetle, Emerald ash borer, and hemlock woolly adelgid.
So far the longhorned beetle and the emerald ash borer haven’t infiltrated...
As a landscaper, Judson Kimble is used to pulling out tough weeds. But this plant fought back.
"The foliage, the stems, the flowers. Any of it. If you break it, it all has juice inside of it," Kimble said.
That juice earned the wild parsnip its second name, "poison parsnip." And it's the reason Kimble has long, red marks all over his arms. When the sap hit his...
