Are Invasive Species Eliminating Native Vegetation in Your Village?

January 20, 2023 / Environmental Services / Leave a comment

“The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” Earnest Hemingway said it best. Within our forests, green belts and even our backyards, there is a fight taking place. One that we can all help with: the fight to keep invasive plant species from damaging our native habitats.

Invasive plants are species that exist in habitats outside of their native environment. Introduced accidentally or intentionally, these plants establish themselves – spread – and eventually eliminate native species. Invasive vines grow, unimpeded by natural predators, blocking the sun’s light by overgrowing their native host. Lost along the way is the food and shelter that native wildlife depends on. Invasive plants change the soil chemistry, impact water quality, and alter food webs in our remaining natural areas.

Each of us can take important steps to help in this fight.

Start by keeping invasives out of your home landscape. Some species, such as Japanese honeysuckle, nandina and Asian jasmine, are available for purchase, so shop your local nursery’s native plant section to avoid them. If invasive plants already reside in your landscape, consider replacing them with a native. You’ll prevent their unwanted spread and enjoy the wildlife that natives invite.

Not sure which are the bad guys? HARC Research publishes The Quiet Invasion, a handy identification guide you can search for species of local concern. Report your sightings in our greenspaces through The Woodlands 311 app. Township staff and Invasives Task Force volunteers will start the process of removal.

Now, consider taking it one step further and join the Invasives Task Force. The battle against invasives is a big one but a corps of trained volunteers is helping to turn the tide. As one volunteer puts it:

“The part of vine removal that is always rewarding to me is uncovering our beautiful native species in the understory and to follow-up restoration with natives. In the end, I see the mission of the Task Force to preserve the character of The Woodlands as a remnant forest on the edge of the Piney Woods. The Woodlands is a city ‘in the forest’, not just another suburb.”

Interested in becoming an Invasives Task Force volunteer? By working with our corps of trained volunteers in conjunction with The Township’s invasive species removal program, you can make a big difference in whether all our villages stay green or the invasives win! Attend the next training class for volunteers on February 4, 2023. Full details and registrations available online.

Registration is easy – sign up here.

Got Questions? Contact The Woodlands Township Environmental Services Department at 281-210-3800 or enviro@thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov

Benefits of a healthy waterway

May 3, 2022 / Environmental Services / Leave a comment

“Forested and vegetated waterways provide a multitude of benefits to our air and water quality, flood resilience, our sense of community, and public health” according to Justin Bower, Principal Planner, Community and Environmental Planning, for Houston-Galveston Area Council. He also points out that “everything that happens on the land, including our yards, driveways, roads and open spaces, can wash pollutants and contaminants into our waterways when it rains.”

Explore the critical benefits of healthy forests, riparian areas (streamside vegetation) and waterways by attending the Smarter About Sustainability Seminar on Saturday, May 14 with Justin Bower. You’ll learn…

How riparian areas are the last line of defense for slowing and filtering stormwater before it reaches the creeks and lakes we depend on.
The direct link between our lawns and landscapes and healthy riparian zones and waterways.
Best landscaping practices for protecting our waters and riparian zones including adding native plants and organic fertilizing.
Opportunities to join community volunteer efforts.

Summer clouds over Bear Branch

We’ll also dive into the damaging effects of invasive species. Ashley Morgan-Olvera, Outreach and Education Director for the Texas Invasive Species Institute at Sam Houston State University, will fill us in on why keeping invasive, and destructive, animals and vegetation out of our community’s forests and stream areas enhances the benefits we gain from these critical ecosystems. Learn how you can make a difference by volunteering with our local Invasives Task Force to help remove invasives from our pathways and public green spaces by attending.

Smarter About Sustainability Seminar

Date/Time: Saturday, May 14, 2022 | 9a.m. to noon

Location: Online

This is a FREE Seminar. REGISTRATION is required.

The dilemma of protecting essential riparian buffers – how will you help?

February 18, 2022 / Environmental Services / Leave a comment

Riparian buffers – ribbons of vegetation alongside streams and lakes – offer a host of critical ecological functions. Depending on their health, they can act as safety nets, protecting sensitive aquatic ecosystems or they can devolve into conduits for pollution and actually degrade water quality, making life difficult for aquatic organisms. Proper management is key.

“Riparian forest buffers can deliver a number of benefits including filtering nutrients, pesticides, and animal waste…stabilizing eroding banks…providing wildlife habitat and corridors…providing space for recreation.” – USDA National Agroforestry Center

What does proper management look like? For one…where these buffers lack trees, streams tend to be narrower because of encroaching grasses and other herbaceous plants. Forested riparian buffers shade out an overabundance of these less valuable, and potentially detrimental, elements. In deforested buffers, invasive plants and animals increase from the loss of habitat diversity, while native fish and other aquatic organisms decrease because of the degraded habitat.

In forested riparian buffers, the diversity of all native wildlife – frogs, turtles, beavers, birds, mammals – is full supported for food, shelter, nesting, travel corridors and species richness. Songbirds especially are best protected when buffers are wide and diverse.

To learn more about what you can do in your own landscape to protect our riparian buffers, don’t miss an online workshop on February 19, 2022 on Invasive Species. This presentation of The Woodlands Township Environmental Services will feature Ashley Morgan-Olvera, Director of Outreach and Education with Texas Invasive Species Institute at Sam Houston State University. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link to the workshop.

Yes, one person can make a difference, especially when part of a team of dedicated volunteers. You can join them!
photo courtesy of Kathie Herrick

How do invasive species trigger “trophic cascade”, and why should you care?

February 3, 2022 / Environmental Services / Leave a comment

The Clean Water Act of 1977 mandated Federal agencies to prevent the introduction of invasive species, and the mandate was updated in an Executive Order in 1999 . (On linked website, search for Executive Order 13112)

So why such a fuss about invasive species? Nature so often harshly reminds us that one thing leads to another, and it is doubly true when non-native invasive species move in. In both aquatic and terrestrial environments, detrimental changes begin immediately. And they continue to affect one after another of species’ populations or larger ecosystem communities. First may come the loss of soil organisms, meaning vegetation suffers from reduced nutrients. Then, species that feed on vegetation start falling out. Soon, higher level predators are affected when an adequate number of insects, small mammals and birds are no longer present. Scientists call this ripple effect through the food web a “trophic cascade.” Yes, you should care.

A neighborhood under attack by invasive species.
photo courtesy of Kathie Herrick

We are prone to take all the good things from nature for granted, so sometimes we lose sight of the fact that without all the interactions that create vibrant ecosystems, we end up without vital benefits – things like clean waterways, clear air, forest products, recreational areas, and drinking water!

Now you know. Will you take the next step to put that knowledge into action, helping to stop a trophic cascade along your favorite pathway? Join your many neighbors here in The Woodlands who monitor, control and remove invasive species. The Invasives Task Force of The Woodlands logs over a thousand hours a year in volunteer service to keep our pathways clear of damaging invasive species.

If your answer is yes, the next workshop is coming up on February 19. Here’s the info:

Presenter: Ashley Morgan-Olvera, Director, Research & Education, Texas Invasive Species Institute
Time: 8:30 to 11:30a.m.
This is an ONLINE workshop. REGISTER to receive the Zoom link.

You don’t need to wait until February 19 to make a difference. Join the Invasives Task Force now – sign up HERE as a Volunteer! If you want to know even more about the damage caused by invasives, check out this article on the website of North American Invasive Species Management Association.

Bad guys are stealing water from our forests, right before our eyes!

October 7, 2021October 6, 2021 / Environmental Services / Leave a comment

Water thieves are afoot. They sneak in from foreign lands while our heads are turned, multiply their numbers to create trouble-making gangs, and refuse to leave. Who are these villains? Invasive plants – out of place, out of control, and gobbling up resources, including our most precious one, water.

By definition, an invasive species is “a species that is non-native to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.” (U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee) Invasives lack the natural controls that exist in their own native habitat. As a result, they’re usually fast-growing and rapid reproducers. These bad guys alter the forest in a variety of ways including sucking up A LOT of water.

Because of their heavy water consumption and their prevalence, many are concerned that might actually dry out our forests. Is the problem really that bad? According to the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report, “invasive species are altering large portions of the earth’s terrestrial surface and are considered one of the ‘most important drivers of change in ecosystems.'” Although billions of dollars are being spent to battle invasives in the U.S., the report also predicted rapidly increasing negative effects in the future such as loss of soil health as these water thieves drain up to 250% more moisture than our native vegetation.

*Before and after photos showing the invasive vine removal efforts of volunteers.*

That battle against invasives is fought locally as The Woodlands Township crews and contractors spend about 200 days a year on vine and invasives removal and control. And for the past three years, volunteer invasives removal task force has joined the fray, with much success. During 2020 alone, nearly 100 volunteers spent 1020 hours removing three dump-truck loads of invasive vines, shrubs, and trees from along our pathways. Their participation freed up the Township’s contractors to work on larger areas of infestation.

Some of the worst crimes of bad guy invasives?

Disrupting ecosystem interactions and functions
Displacing native species and destroying habitat
Using 50% to more than 250% more water than natives

Let’s turn the tables and gang up on these water thieves invading our forest! To start, each of us can examine our own landscapes and kick out the bad guys, replacing them with natives that better serve us. Then help restore the health of forest soils by volunteering to remove invasives from our pathways and green spaces. If you’re ready to join the Task Force, sign up HERE.

For more information, contact Environmental Services at enviro@thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov or call 281-210-2058.

Learn more about invasives from these past articles: