New Website for Roadside Revegetation Using Native Plants

Check it out at: http://www.nativerevegetation.org

Looking for Leek Moth images (Acrolepiopsus assectella)

We have several groups looking for images of Leek Moth (Acrolepiopsus assectella). This pest is not known to be in the United States but it does pose a substantial threat.

If you have images please pass them on to us through our online images upload form. If you put "Leek Moth" in the batch name, I'll make sure they get to where they need to be.

Looking for pesticide application and aquatics

We'ver recently had a few people asking for images of pesticide use, aplication techniques, safety, and other topics related to aquatics. Here are a few things that are currently in demand:

* American pondweed
* Southern naiad
* coontail
* musk-grass
* diversion ditch
* pond fertilization
* pond drawdown
* riprap on stream on pond dam or bank
* pesticide being applied at pond site
* before and after pond herbicide application
* fish parasites or diseases
* beaver trap
* somone (like a pesticide applicator) talking to the media
* person talking with landowner about an pesticide application
* sign warning against poisoning aquatic mammals.

If you have images of these species or their look alikes, please pass them on to us through our online images upload form. If you put "Pesticides" or "Aquatics" in the batch name, I'll make sure they get to where they need to be.

Request for images of bonsai diseases

We got a request from Tony DiVittorio with APHIS for images of several diseases affecting bonsai plants. The list is a little lengthy, but any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. You can contribute images through our online image upload form. If you upload the images under the batch name "Bonsai Diseses" I'll make sure they get to where they need to be.

Since the list is a little long so I've included it at the link below.

Bonsai_Disease_Image_Recruiting List‎

The short version would be that any diseases on the following hosts would be useful:

• Bougainvellia spp.
• Buxus sinica
• Carpinus spp.
• Celtis sinensis
• Corylopsis spicata
• Ginkgo biloba
• Lagerstromia indica
• Magnolia kobus
• Pinus densiflora
• Pinus thunbergii
• Podocarpus macropyllus
• Syzygium buxiflolium

North Carolina bans beach vitex

For more information, see article here: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090122/ARTICLES/901220263?Title=State_officially_bans_vitex___kudzu_of_the_coast_

Recruiting images of Everglades Invasives and look-alikes

Different programs focusing on the everglades have been looking for images of invasive species and their native look alikes. Here is a top 10 list:

• Old World climbing fern – Lygodium microphyllum (Lygodiaceae, climbing fern family)
• Brazilian pepper - Schinus terebinthifolius (Anacardiaceae, sumac family)
• Melaleuca – Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae, myrtle family)
• Mayan cichlid – Cichlasoma urophthalamus (Cichlidae, cichlid family)
• Black rat – Rattus rattus (Muridae, rat and mouse family)
• Cuban tree frog – Osteopilus septentrionalis (Hylidae, tree frog family)
• Burmese python – Python molurus bivittatus (Boidae, boa family)
• Purple swamphen – Porphyrio porphyrio (Rallidae, rail family)
• Island apple snail – Pomacea canaliculata (Pilidae, apple snail family)
• Orinoco sailfin catfish – Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus (Loricariidae, suckermouth armored catfish)

If you have images of these species or their look alikes, please pass them on to us through our online images upload form. If you put "Everglades" in the batch name, I'll make sure they get to where they need to be.

Groups sue EPA over ship discharge rules.

Interesting article here.

Looking for Rodent Images

We have recently had several groups of people ask us for images of rodents. I particular, they are looking for images of house mice (Mus musculus), roof rats/black rats (Rattus rattus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). If you have images of these critters, visit our authors information site and send them to us.

Images needed for a Plant Inspection Manual by Representación de la FAO en Chile

We get requests for images from all over the world. Recently, we had a request for images to illustrate a Plant Inspection Manual being created by the FAO in Chile. We were able to help them but there are a few things that they need more images to illustrate. Here is their wish list:

• Puccinia horiana on Chrysanthemum
• Any Insects boring canes (examples below):
• Synanthedon tipuliformis on Ribes
• Zeuzera pyrina in any species

You can contribute images through our online image upload form.

Georgia Invasive Species Strategy

Available online for comment at: http://www.georgiawildlife.com/assets/documents/GeorgiaInvasiveSpeciesStrategy.pdf

Top Five Invasive Plants Threatening Southern Forests in 2009

Scientist Names Top Five Invasive Plants Threatening Southern Forests in 2009

New Maps Show Spread of Nonnative Plants across Southeast

Asheville,NC -- U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Ecologist Jim Miller, Ph.D., one of the foremost authorities on nonnative plants in the South, today identified the invasive plant species he believes pose the biggest threats to southern forest ecosystems in 2009.

"Cogongrass, tallowtree, and Japanese climbing fern are among the fastest moving and most destructive nonnative plant species facing many southern landowners this year," said Miller. "Rounding out the top five invasive species that I’m very concerned about would be tree-of-heaven and nonnative privets. While our forests are besieged by numerous invasive plants, these and other nonnative species present serious financial and ecological threats to the South and its forests in 2009."

Nonnative species often out-compete native forest plants and may degrade forest productivity, wildlife habitat, recreational values, and water quality. Invasive species also greatly increase expenses as public and private land managers work to combat their spread and deal with their effects (such as increased wildfire risk and severity).

Nonnative plants can be introduced and spread by wildlife or through other natural means. Humans also spread invasive species by planting them in their gardens and yards and by seeds hitchhiking on their clothes. Additionally, tractors and mowers used in multiple locations without being cleaned often spread nonnative plants.

In an effort to inform forest managers, landowners, and others about where the most threatening invasive plants are in the South and to help them prepare for these threats, Miller collaborated with SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) scientists to develop maps showing the spread, county-by-county, across the Southeast of more than 30 of the most serious nonnative plant species. The invasive plant data were collected on FIA plots throughout the southern United States in cooperation with State forestry agencies. In partnership with the University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species Science and Ecosystem Health, SRS researchers recently posted the maps and occupation levels online.

Maps posted at http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/acres.cfm show the number of acres in a county covered by each nonnative species. Maps posted online at

http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/percent.cfm show the percent of subplots analyzed in a county that have each invasive species. A spreadsheet found at

http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/summary.pdf shows the total acreage of 33 invasive plant species in 12 Southeastern States (data for eastern Oklahoma is missing as SRS FIA just

completed this part of the State’s inventory this month). Users can access the maps and spreadsheet via http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/. Current plans are for researchers to update the information annually.

Miller hopes government agencies, forest managers, natural resource professionals, landowners, students, and others will use the information to help combat the spread of nonnative plant species in southern forest and grassland ecosystems.

Details on the five invasive plants mentioned above can be found online via: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs062/. The Web page features Jim Miller’s book titled Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests: A Field Guide for Identification and Control, published in 2003. Request a copy by e-mail at srspubqueue@fs.fed.us or by calling 828-257-4830.

Based in Auburn, AL, Miller is a scientist in the SRS Insects, Diseases, and Invasive Plants of Southern Forests unit.

New Book - Economics of Forest Disturbances: Wildfires, Storms and Invasive Species

Book Breaks New Ground in the Study of Economics and Forest Threats Management

Asheville,NC -- U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Director Jim Reaves today announced the publication of The Economics of Forest Disturbances: Wildfires, Storms, and Invasive Species . Edited by three SRS scientists, the book offers a synthesis of new approaches to understanding the economics of large-scale forest disturbances.

"This book comes at a critical time when America 's forests face increasing stress and damage from wildfire, pests, natural disturbances, and climate change - and when agencies face increasing demands for resources to tackle these threats," said Reaves. "I believe this book offers vital information that can assist decision makers and forest managers in developing strategies and making choices that will help them mitigate today's major stresses and ensure healthy forest ecosystems in the future."

The Economics of Forest Disturbances is the first book of its kind to present a comprehensive framework for analyzing the economic effects of large-scale catastrophic events such as wildfires, hurricanes, and invasions of non-native pests. With contributions from leading government and university scientists, the editors show how existing and new scientific techniques can be applied to identify the causes and consequences of forest disturbances. The editors emphasize that economic behavior matters, both in the production and mitigation of forest disturbances. Each chapter clarifies this general theme and shows how physical factors, such as climate, interact with economic factors, such as technology or management incentives, to produce economic damages. The book, which includes several case studies, resulted from the editors' belief that standard methods for evaluating economic impacts are often inadequate for addressing issues affecting forests and provide limited guidance for improved decision-making. The book's 19 chapters seek to describe the state-of-the-art in understanding the economic dimensions of forest disturbances.

The Economics of Forest Disturbances consists of four sections, which reflect the editors' view that: (1) economic analyses of forest disturbances go hand-in-hand with ecological understanding; (2) forest disturbances are random variables that are amenable to new statistical analysis; (3) consistent accounts of timber and non-timber economic impacts (such as disturbance effects on recreation or residential property values) are pre-requisite to planning and decision-making; and (4) economic models can be used to improve decisions and set priorities. The 422-page text is academically focused and written for forest economists, policy makers and analysts, land managers, graduate students, and others in the forestry arena.

Research Foresters Thomas Holmes, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Prestemon, Ph.D., and Research Economist Karen Lee Abt, Ph.D., compiled and edited the book. The scientists are part of the SRS Forest Economics and Policy unit based in Research Triangle Park , N.C. The book is published by Springer.

For more information contact: Thomas Holmes at (919) 549-4031 or by email at tholmes@fs.fed.us ; Jeff Prestemon at (919) 549-4033 or jprestemon@fs.fed.us ; and Karen Lee Abt at (919) 549-4094 or kabt@fs.fed.us .

New images of Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)

The Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania has sent us some new images of Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana). This pest has appeared on the Most Un-Wanted List of several groups in the United States. Take a look at these new images.

Tips for keeping your bird feeder environmentally friendly.

Informative artcle from the Weed Science Society of America here.