Invasive plants in the river valley

HAWLEY, PA — “Non-natives in the Upper Delaware River Valley—Where We Are Now” is the focus of this month’s meeting of The Lackawaxen River Conservancy (TLRC) at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at the Lake Wallenpaupack Environmental Center on Route 6. Jamie Myers, a biologist with the National Park Service, will be the guest speaker.

This will be an update of a presentation Meyers gave in 2005 on “Non-natives in the Upper Delaware Valley.” She will discuss current invasive species work that the National Park Service is involved in, and how to identify the five most common invasive species in the local area. This presentation will revisit the most common plant invaders in the Upper Delaware region, but also provide updated information, including bio-control work being done on purple loosestrife and a new option for keeping Japanese knotweed at bay. The discussion will also touch upon a few new invaders that are making their way to the Upper Delaware valley and the threats they pose.

A native of Wayne County, Jamie Meyers has a degree in environmental biology from Lock Haven University and is a biologist in the Resource Management Division of the National Park Service, and its Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River program. Much of her time during the summer months is spent running the Scenic Rivers Monitoring Program, an anti-degradation water quality monitoring program on the main stem and major tributaries of the Upper Delaware River, educating the public on invasive plant issues and removing invasive plants from park-owned land in the Upper Delaware River valley.

Meetings of TLRC are open to the general public and are generally held on the third Tuesday of the month starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Wallenpaupack Environmental Center on Route 6.

For more information visit LackawaxenRiver.org.