Honeysuckle: Tartarian, Morrow, and Belle’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) are all types of invasive honeysuckle that live in Vermont. Reaching heights of anywhere from one to 16 feet, this creeping vine or thicket-creating shrub strangles trees and shades out much of what is below it. The plant retains its leaves long into the fall giving it an advantage over native plants. Tartarian honeysuckle is native to central and eastern Russia, Morrow honeysuckle is native to Japan. Solution: The best method is prevention. Clearing small infestation by hand works well. Herbicides or burning are required for larger infestations.

Buckthorn: A deciduous shrub or small tree, with oval shaped leaves with teeth lining their edges. The flowers are a greenish yellow. It has both a glossy and dull leaved varieties (common and glossy buckthorn). Buckthorn lives in open, wooded upland. Common buckthorn is native to Europe, but grows in Asia. Glossy buckthorn is native to North Africa, Asia, and Europe. The buckthorn reproduces often and has an extended growing season, and re-sprouts with ease. The shrub creates dense thickets, able to shade out many other plants. They most easily infest open areas. Solution: Many management techniques have been tried in order to control this species: cutting, mowing, girdling, excavation, and burning.

Zebra mussels: A small, thumbnail sized, black and white striped, freshwater mollusk hailing from the Caspian and Black Sea regions of Eurasia. They were discovered in Lake Champlain in 1993, thought to have arrived via the Great Lakes in the ballast tanks of boats and ships. Zebra mussels cause damage on many fronts. They are known to attach en mass to residential, municipal, and industrial water intake pipes, ruin boat hulls and engines, and carpet rocks in the water and on the shore. The mussels are decimating other native mussels by attaching to their shells, making it impossible for the native mussel to open its shell to feed or breathe. As they eat large numbers of plankton in the water, normally eaten by other members of the Lake Champlain food chain, the organisms in the food chain above them become affected and a side effect, the water becomes clear. Solution: there is little anyone can do about this problem, save trying to stop the spread of the animals. They are being closely monitored by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation organizations around the Lake. More about the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s monitoring of the species at http://www.lcbp.org/zmmonitoring.htm.

Eurasian water milfoil: First discovered in Lake Champlain in 1962, Eurasian water milfoil is a seaweed-like freshwater plant. It spreads by breaking apart and re-growing, making the job of containing it very difficult. Animals as well as people can easily spread this plant all over the lake and into neighboring lakes. Solution: Attempts at containing this aquatic plant include mechanical harvesting (much like an underwater lawnmower), hydroraking, building bottom barriers, lake level drawdown, fragment barriers, hand pulling, and biological control via a species of aquatic weevil. It is almost impossible to contain this plant as it can spread through humans (in boats) or animals breaking off stems and carrying them to other areas within a lake or to other bodies of water.

Water chestnut: Found in the 1940’s, water chestnut displaces other plants, provides little nutritional value to fauna, and creates thick mats that transform a habitat. Luckily, the infestation has limited itself to the Southern half of Lake Champlain. Solution: Unfortunately, budget cuts have left the management of this at a standstill. The main methods used to deal with this plant have been hand pulling and mechanical harvesting.

Purple loosestrife: A five-petaled purple plant native to Europe, purple loosestrife can be found in the wetlands of Lake Champlain. Once it enters a wetland, the loosestrife takes over, choking out whatever native plants are living there. By producing millions of seeds in one summer, as well as having the ability to produce roots out of stem shoots, it can easily take over its habitat. Once it is established, the wildlife that call the wetland home are pushed out as well, no longer having native plants as their shelter. Not much can feed off of this plant, so it does little to contribute to the local ecosystem. The only thing it has going for it, is its pretty color. Solution: Many management ideas have been tried including burning, pesticides, and pulling the plant by hand. These have worked to some extent, but only in small, young populations. A better solution seems to be introducing the insects that naturally control the plant in Europe, to the wetlands in Vermont. After years of rigorous testing to ensure that these non-native leaf-eating beetles (Galerucella spp.) would not harm native plants or agricultural crops, they have been put to work, controlling the loosestrife population quite effectively.

Sea lamprey: It is hypothesized that these parasitic animals entered Lake Champlain through the Champlain Canal. They survive as a kind of large leech, attaching a suction cup mouth to fish. This has disturbed fishery production as well as fish populations in Lake Champlain. They spawn in neighboring creeks, leaving their non-parasitic larvae in stream sediments for several years. Solution: Currently, chemical lampricides such as Bayer 73 and 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) are used in 13 streams and some deltas to attempt to control the population. Low head barrier dams on Lewis Creek (VT) and the Great Chazy River (NY) have also been installed—hopefully this will alleviate the need for chemical sprays in all the tributaries.

Other Invasive Species Resources on the Internet:

InvasiveSpecies. gov - A Gateway to Federal and State Invasive Species Activities and Programs. Has good profiles for each invasive species. (http://www.invasivespecies.gov/profiles/main.shtml#aqplants)

Invasive.org - Invasive and Exotic Species of North America (http://www.invasive.org/)

New England Wildflower Society - Invasive plants (http://www.newfs.org/conserve/invasive.htm)

Zebra Mussel Monitoring Program - Excellent explanation of the Lake Champlain Basin Program's Zebra Mussel Monitoring program. (http://www.lcbp.org/zmmonitoring.htm)