GREENLAND, NH -- The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, NH Natural Heritage Bureau, and Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR) teamed up with over 120 community members, natural resource managers and academics to develop a statewide strategic prioritization plan for the control of upland, wetland and intertidal invasive plants.

Invasive plants such as purple loosestrife or Japanese knotweed can cause significant ecological and economic harm, and are changing the face of America. They may impact wildlife by choking out natural habitats such as freshwater wetlands, causing loss of available food, or by altering habitat structure or function.

The importance of minimizing the spread of invasive plants across the landscape means they are a common focus of restoration projects. However, invasive plants know no boundaries and can easily reestablish from surrounding areas unless a landscape-scale strategic approach is taken to prioritizing management projects.

To learn more, visit www.wildnh.com/invasives, where you'll find a custom strategy for each community in New Hampshire that can be downloaded. The statewide Priority Areas for Invasive Plant Management data is available for download and can be customized to any area of interest using the University of New Hampshire's GRANITView II online mapping tool. Approaches of how to put these maps into action are demonstrated using real world invasive plant locations from New Hampshire communities. Priority Areas for Invasive Plant Management data are available for easy import into Google Earth or Google Maps. There is also a brief PowerPoint and a handbook that demonstrates how to prioritize projects at the landscape and individual property scale.

Finally, the updated web pages point to the expertise of our partners at UNH Cooperative Extension, our County Conservation Districts and the Department of Agriculture's Invasive Species Coordinator. "Only by working together on shared invasive plant 'battles' across differing land ownerships and political boundaries, can we effectively protect our native plants and wildlife habitat in the long term," says Rachel Stevens, Wildlife Ecologist, NH Fish and Game/GBNERR.


Posted 6/15/16