Field trip to educate on invasive weeds

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Chris Evans, coordinator of the River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area, pointed out a campsite at Pounds Hollow Recreation Area.

The ground was a pretty green when it used to be gravel. It was covered with a grass called Japanese switchgrass or Nepalese browntop. The plant is not unattractive and it grows quickly, but its effects can be harmful to the native plants. The campsite is currently closed until the U.S. Forest Service removes ice storm-damaged trees, but when it is opened again Evans predicts the feet and gear of campers will come into contact with these plants' seeds and further spread it along the hiking trails of the Shawnee National Forest.

"It is probably the worst thing in Southern Illinois," Illinois Department of Natural Resources Regional Administrator Jody Shimp said.

The two, along with U.S. Forest Service staff and Sierra Club representatives conducted a field trip to Rim Rock Wednesday to show the public first hand a handful of the invasive species the River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area was created to control. The RTRCWMA is a joint effort of 12 agencies in the 11 southernmost counties of the state. The agency works on public lands and works with private landowners with the goal of controlling the spread of invasive weeds.

Another group involved with the RTRCWMA is the Illinois WeedWatch Project. Volunteers are trained to identify invasive plant species, map their locations, record the data online and adopt a natural area in southernmost Illinois to monitor.

"We train volunteers to locate invasives. The first thing they have to do is know where they are and to what extent you have them," WeedWatch representative Terri Treacy said.

Anyone interested in volunteering may reach Treacy at (618) 683-2161 or e-mail terri.treacy@sierraclub.org.

The project is funded through the IDNR Wildlife Preservation Fund. Treacy pointed out invasive species are more than an aesthetic problem; they can disrupt the food chain. She said a butterfly species began laying eggs on the invasive garlic mustard which killed the eggs or killed the caterpillars that hatched from them.

More information about invasive species and programs of RTRCWMA is available at the Internet site www.rtrcwma.org.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.

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