My posting here is in three parts.  The first part gives my overall perspective on the issue.  The second contains my comments on the regulations that were adopted in January.  The third part talks about what should be done in addition to those regulations.  I am fully supportive of the comments from Arlington County Parks and Natural Resources and the Arlington County Urban Forestry Commission - with the additional suggestions listed below.  The author of these comments is a retired CEO who lives on 1,500 acres in western Albemarle County and who has undertaken extensive programs to control the invasive species in his forest.

BACKGROUND AND PERSPECTIVES

What is needed to address this whole subject is a balanced discussion among all the major stakeholders that takes into account all of the following (and more):

• The impacts on business, jobs, et al - particularly in the nursery, landscaping and related trades

• The extraordinary damage to public and private property caused by invasive plants, the rapidly growing costs to deal with them and the time it takes for the ecosystems to recover, if they ever fully do so.Once released into the wild, invasive plants rarely, if ever, can be eradicated.Control efforts can push them into the background, but those efforts then need to be continued potentially forever.

• The rights of landowners to do as they wish on their own property, considering as well that when one landowner plants an invasive plant, he may adversely impact his neighbors for miles around.

• Prevention, when properly done, can be a great deal cheaper than dealing with it once it gets out of control.

  Note that this discussion needs to distinguish between invasive plants and non-native plants.  There are lots of non-native plants that are well behaved that are not the subject of this discussion.  The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage has published a list of invasive plants in Virginia.  Each of the species on this list was carefully evaluated using the DCR Invasive Species Assessment Protocol.  As suggested by the petitions, this list should be the basis for these discussions and any potential new laws and regulations.

   

  COMMENTS ON THE RECENTLY ADOPTED REGULATIONS

  The new regulations are fine in the sense that there is only one reason why they shouldn’t have been adopted.  There is nothing wrong with them as far as they go.  The only reason not to have adopted them would be if anyone thinks that the job has been done and can now be put on the backburner.  The real issue with these regulations is that they do so little when so much needs to be done.  This is one baby step when a long march is needed.  The problems caused by invasive plants in the US and in Virginia are huge and growing rapidly.  Those of us who know what they look like see them everywhere we go, along the highways, the city streets, parks, in our forests, etc.  The plants listed as highly invasive  multiply and spread quickly.  They are on the march and will continue to devastate and supplant our native flora with more and more profound impacts on our insects, animals, watersheds, soils, and the aesthetics of our land.

   

  As I understand it, the current laws and regulations prevent weeds from being categorized as noxious if they are “widely disseminated”.  This is absurd.  Just because a plant is already widely disseminated doesn’t mean that it is truly everywhere or has already done all the damage it is going to do or that we shouldn’t stop people from planting more of it.  The first thing you want to do to solve an ongoing problem is to stop the bleeding.  In this case it means we should stop planting more of the things causing the most damage and that will cause us all to spend untold amounts of money and effort to rectify.

   

  The regulations as adopted will help stop a few new cuts, but they don’t deal with all the bleeding that is killing the patient.  What follows are my suggestions on how to proceed to properly preserve our natural heritage for the generations to come.  Right now we are definitely not on a track that will leave our children and grandchildren with the natural heritage that we have all enjoyed and come to take for granted.

   

  WHAT REALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE

  Below I have listed the topics that need to be addressed.  Some of these topics should be relatively non-controversial and should be able to be put into legislation or regulations that can be adopted quickly.  The other topics will require a working group to deliberate at length and reach compromises that can be supported by all the key stakeholders before there is any point in trying to pass new legislation or regulations.  For all of these areas I would suggest convening a working group that includes at least the following:

• Representatives from the state agencies that will be involved in administration, implementation and enforcement

• Representatives from the horticultural industries (nurseries, mail order, landscaping, et al)

• Representatives from the landowners (public and private) who are dealing with the ecological, quality of life, and economic impacts of invasive species

• Representatives from other interested organizations (e.g. universities, non-profits) who are dealing with the ecological, quality of life, and economic impacts of invasive species

  All of these groups need to send people who acknowledge that this is not a one-sided issue.  There are multiple facets, many stakeholders, and lots of complexity.  Nonetheless, all the people in the group need to take the long view of what will produce the right and best result for the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia - both now and for generations to come.

   

  TOPICS THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED

• Suggested for fast track processing

  • Eliminate the sale and importation into Virginia of invasive plants that are not sold through Virginia businesses or are not significant in their economic value to the industry in Virginia.  I would like to see the Virginia horticultural industry take the list of invasive plants published by DCR and indicate which plants on that list contribute zero, low, medium and high value in their trade in Virginia.

• Longer term issues to be worked through by the working group

  • How to deal with the plants not selected for the fast track process but that are on the DCR list.Many different kinds of solutions may be chosen on a species by species basis, including but not limited to outright bans, phasing out over a number of years (as proposed in one of the petitions), required use of proven sterile hybrids where available, or other solutions that reduce or eliminate the risks and damage caused by these species.

  • Rights and obligations of state agencies to go onto anyone’s lands and eliminate the species listed or other means to compel the elimination of noxious weeds

  • Funding the remediation of problems caused by invasive species starting with the problems that already exist and are rapidly getting worse.  But also, who bears the cost burden when new plants are deliberately imported and later become large scale invasive pests?  Should those who gain the benefit also pay for some part of the damage?  Or are the taxpayers and the landowners who didn’t cause these problems obligated to shoulder most of the costs?  What is the right answer?

  • Restrictions on the sale and importation of new plants not currently for sale in Virginia.  Introductions of new, attractive species of plants are a major revenue producer for the horticultural industry.  But this process is also one major avenue for introducing new plants that could get out of control and become the next pest that alters our ecosystems and costs large amounts of money and effort to deal with.  There are elaborate safeguards through the USDA that control the introductions of insects and other pathogens needed to control invasive species.  Introducing new plants (and occasionally thereby new problems) is relatively easy.  It is true that most newly introduced horticultural offerings prove to be ecologically harmless - though there are those who would argue this point.  However, those few that become disruptive invasive plants can cause economic harm and other damage of incredible proportions.  We have seen many of our major forest species effectively eliminated or on the way to elimination (e.g. chestnuts, elm, hemlock, ash, butternut, walnut, and more).  Species like cogon grass, Japanese stiltgrass, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, autumn olive, et al create monocultures that destroy or crowd out native vegetation on a large scale and, if untreated, fundamentally change our ecosystems.  The costs of damage and control are skyrocketing.  Published estimates are that invasive plants currently cost $34 billion annually across the US and the number is rising rapidly.  Furthermore there is reason to believe that not only are these costs understated, but they don’t include other impacts like the lost aesthetic value of park trees and landscaping that have been decimated and will take years or decades to be replaced.   

     

    Actions like those listed above are required if we are to preserve our natural heritage and turn over to the next generations some reasonable semblance of what we have all come to love and cherish.

I spent my career working for the Department of the Interior who funds the Federal Interagency Task Force on Invasives.  I am also a landowner in Rockbridge County where I fight invasives every year.  I also bicycle all over the county and see invasives spreading everywhere.   Recently, our Virginia Master Gardener chapter voted to not sell any plant on the DCR or Blandy list of invasives.  And our lecture series for CLE credits is focused on sustainable gardening.   The sale of plants on the DCR and Blandy lists should be prohibited.   The landscape industry, particularly in the Chesapeake area, is beginning to voluntarily NOT promote these plants and to suggest natives instead.  And they are working with nurseries to move them away from invasives.  If the public is educated to understand why non-natives are bad (Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home) they are much more supportive of changes.   Prohibit Tier 1 and 2 and the plants on the DCR and Blandy lists.

As a landowner and worker with several years' experience combating oriental bittersweet and other invasive plants, I support the science-based position supported by the Arlington County Petitions.  If we use ineffective definitions, we will see more land severely degraded.  If we work together using science-based definitions, we can make a significant impact in slowing and reversing this cancer.

As a private landowner of 156 acres of field and forest in Greene County, I want to associate myself with the comments of Roderick Walker, also posted to this Town Hall.  I acknowledge that the Noxious Weed Law which is the subject of this regulatory process, and which only targets plant species that are "not widely disseminated", is inadequate to address the regulation in the commercial trade of the vast majority of invasive exotic plants on DCR-DNH's invasive plant list, which have already escaped into natural areas and are already widely disseminated.  The Noxious Weed Law needs to be changed, or some new law created, so that these plants eventually are no longer bought and sold in the trade, which only further compounds a multi-million dollar problem already present in Virginia.

This year we will spend thousands and thousands of dollars, our own, and State and Federal program funds, to control invasive exotic plants on our land that are still being sold in the commercial trade in Virginia.  Does the continued sale of these noxious weeds make sense, for the taxpayers of Virginia, or for the health of our natural areas?

I own a small landscape design/build company in the Richmond area and I am opposed to the petition(s) that Arlington County has proposed to VDACS. I believe that the noxious weed regulations should remain the way they are and be given the chance to work before such broad changes are proposed or made.

As part of the nursery and landscape trade, it is a great relief to me to have the "widely disseminated" clause present in the wording of the law so that the process remains more or less scientific and does not become a "plant of the month" type process where a plant can be banned because it is not popular in a particular part of Virginia, or another state, for that matter.

From time to time I plant some of the plants that are listed on DCRs site. I use barberry because I think it looks better than a chain link fence with razor ribbon on the top - both the fence and barberry will provide a small amount of security, but which one looks better? I plant English ivy and periwinkle too. Try finding a homeowner who owns a Georgian styled house who would use any other groundcover. If the market did not call for these plants, if my customers wanted something else, then I would plant that instead, but that is not the case. At times, I need those plants. The noxious weed regs keep them available for my customers.

I trust the process because I have seen it at work first hand. There are dedicated people in both agencies who take the problem of invasive species very seriously. There are working groups and advisory committees composed of individuals from conservation organizations, state agencies academia and even the nursery and landscape industry. They should be allowed to do their jobs.

I support the Arlington plan.  By utilizing our existing Commonwealth's Department of Conservation and Recreation's own Invasive Alien Plants list to prohibit the sale and transportation of our worst invasive exotic plant species we will help begin to control a mostly uncontrollable biological pollution issue that costs millions to control.  This plan is science and fact-based and will hopefully lead to more resilient native ecosystems in Virginia during these times on the cusp of potentially threatening climate change.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has determined that certain alien (non-native) plants are invasive in the state. These invasive species cause damage to our environment.  And cost significant amounts of money to eradicate once established.   People who plant these invasive species put their neighbors private property as well as Virginia public lands at risk of being taken over by these invasive species.  

The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services List of Noxious Weeds should include these invasive species.  Being listed as a Tier 1 noxious weed would forbid the sale and movement of these invasive plants that do extensive damage.  The Department should help the nursery trade develop alternatives to these invasive plants (hopefully native plants), and educate Virginians on the values of these native plants.

I am writing in opposition to Arlington's proposed changes to the noxious weeds regulations.

I own a small native plant installation company who also specializes in the removal of invasive species, but to take the entire DCR list and require the landscape and nursery industry to remove these plants from their inventory would create undue financial and regulatory burden on an industry that is just recovering from the economic crash. Customers like options and not all want native plants. I know this firsthand.

To allow local jurisdictions to decide what can and cannot be sold and distributed would create a patchwork quilt of regulations and puts some businesses at an economic advantage over others.

Let the new regulations have a chance to work and have faith in the people who have volunteered their time to create these regulations.

In our work with educating the public about invasives and their control - clarifying the classificiations of invasives and taking steps to label and phase out the production and sale of these destructive species is very important.  It will take a concentrated and combined effort from many people to effectively tackle and bring under control the invasive species running rampant in our midst - and this petition lays the stage for how we can start that process.   

As the Forest Botanist and Non-native Invasive Plant Coordinator for the National Forests in Virginia I see the negative impacts of non-native invasive plants on the natural environment.  Some of the most damaging plants were introduced as being beneficial to wildlife such as autumn olive, multiflora rose and the bush honeysuckles.  Others have been introduced accidently or have escaped from cultivation.  Whatever their source, the U.S. Forest Service is spending a great deal of time and money to try to control non-native invasive plants.  The Arlington Plan suggests using the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage list of invasive plants as a starting place from which to develop a list of plants that are so invasive, expensive to control, and having such a negative impact on the natural environment that they need to be restricted from sale.  The expertise of the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage is a tremendous asset and should be utilized.  Non-native invasive plants are a huge problem in Virginia and elsewhere, regardless of their source.  State and federal agencies, the nursery industry, and private citizens all share the responsibility of preventing the introduction of new invasive plant species and for controlling existing infestations.

I have enjoyed a long career in horticulture, as an employee in the industry, as a widely published author of numerous gardening books and magazine articles, and as a garden designer.  I once promoted and planted in gardens many of the vines, shrubs, and groundcovers that I now see everywhere strangling our forests and smothering our fields and fencerows.  Although I mourn the plants I know I should no longer grow in gardens because of their invasive qualities, I realize that the health of our natural world depends upon eliminating them from our natural areas and gardens. Invasive exotic plants (“noxious weeds” according to VDACS),  most of which escaped from home gardens or agricultural fields, are destroying the beauty and economic potential of Virginia’s natural resources in local and national parks, private and commercial lands. This is an environmental tragedy that is growing exponentially.

Many other beautiful plants, both native and non-aggressive exotics, offer beautiful substitutes for the bad actors, so any garden or nursery industry professional who claims he must grow, sell or plant a specific species is being self-serving and lacks imagination. As disappointing as it is to a gardener to limit his garden plant palette, stopping the sale of invasives is an absolute necessity.

It makes no sense to limit the label “noxious weed” only to plants that are not yet widely disseminated. A landowner or park authority could spend countless hours and dollars attempting to eradicate the widely-disseminated plants not categorized as a noxious weed only to have a neighboring property owner plant those same species where they can once again invade the cleaned-up property. This is plainly folly.  As they are written, the new regulations adopted by VDACS for controlling “noxious weeds” does not address this problem. I strongly believe that the list of noxious weeds must contain the entire list of invasive plants published by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreations’ Natural Heritage Division – these are the professionals whose opinion we must respect and trust – and if necessary, the law that governs the regulations must be changed so this list can become the law.

Increasingly, Virginians are becoming aware of the environmental and economic costs of plant species that spread and take over our private and public lands -- effectively killing off habitat necessary for our wildlife, greatly damaging the natural beauty of our forests, and rapidly stealing from us our natural heritage.  Many of us spend immeasurable hours removing invasive vines and shrubs in our own yards and in natural areas in the hope that we can prevent the permanent destruction of our trees and woods and leave some of our natural heritage for posterity.  But if these harmful plants continue to be sold, millions of hours and dollars will continue to be focused on invasive plant removal efforts. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is yet aware of the problems that these plants can cause and, due to a lack of awareness, many people will continue to purchase and plant them.  Of course, plant nurseries sell these plants because if they do not, their competitors will.  To create a level playing field for nurseries and to begin to stop the damage that invasive plants cause, it is essential that we end the sale of those plants that scientists have determined to cause environmental harm.  

There are thousands of different plants, both native and non-native, that are beautiful in landscaping.  Many people simply are not aware of them, because they ask for those plants that have become popular in recent generations.  An expansion of the list of invasive plants will not hurt nurseries, because people will not stop planting yards and gardens.  Those who might have planted an invasive plant will simply purchase and plant alternatives. 

The approach that Virginia uses to create its list of noxious weeds is outdated.  For the future of our Virginia, we need to update that approach to include the plants that DCR recognizes as invasive. Please adopt the VA DCR list as the basis for our noxious weed list.

I whole-heartedly support the recommendations to strengthen the regulations on noxious weeds, as also supported by Fred Huber. Habitat is highly degraded in our remnant of "natural areas".  Countless hours have been spent in invasive removal, while every day homeowners and commercial property owners are allowed to continue adding to the population of harmful plants.

As a concerned citizen and owner of a 120 acre property in Rockbridge County, with a lifelong concern for preservation of our Virginia natural heritage, wildlife, and landscape, I strongly support the recommendations to strengthen the regulations on noxious weeds  and urge that the regulations be strengthened to include the DCR-DNH invasive plants, among other things as detailed in the petition from Arlington County. 

I have seen firsthand on my property, and on that of my neighbors, the terrible destruction brought on by the unchecked spread of invasive plants.   I have spent countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars on removal of invasives from my own property, while every day homeowners and commercial property owners are allowed to continue adding to the population of harmful plants through purchases from nurseries and landscape companies.

The noxious invasive weeds wreak the same destruction throughout our parks and natural resource areas, overwhelming our native plants and destroying habitat necessary for the survival of our native wildlife.  We need to take serious measures now, as further delay will drastically increase the costs to contain, control, and possibly eradicate the invasive plants from our land.

The nursery and landscape industry must not be permitted to continue to bring these harmful plants into the state, particularly since they do not bear the costs required for control and eradication that are imposed on landowners.  The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services List of Noxious Weeds should include all of these invasive species, leveling the playing field for the nursery and landscape companies.  Being listed as a Tier 1 noxious weed would forbid the sale and movement of these invasive plants that do extensive damage.  The Department should help the nursery and landscape industry develop alternatives to these invasive plants (hopefully native plants), and educate Virginians on the values of these native plants.

The approach that Virginia uses to create its list of noxious weeds is outdated.  For the future of our Virginia, we need to update that approach to include the plants that DCR recognizes as invasive. Please adopt the VA DCR list as the basis for our noxious weed list.

Most homeowners and many gardeners are simply not aware of the damage that these invasive plants are causing to our natural areas as well as our farmlands.  I live in Rockbridge Co., own 118 acres of pasture and woodlands and am spending 10's of thousands of dollars to a company that is eradicating autumn olive, honeysuckle, multiflora rose(all sp. originally planted here  intentionally), and japanese stiltgrass over a 5 year period.  Most of my neighbors simply cannot afford to spend that kind of money and/or manpower.  It feels like we are merely tilting at windmills unless there are more stringent regulations that will stop these noxious plants from being sold in the first place.

My little one acre pales compared to the land areas others have spoken of, but it's representative: I have a hard time keeping up with the English ivy, burning bush, porcelain berry, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, liriope, Norway maples, Callery pears, and more that the birds, winds, and water plant on my land. I have suffered Lyme disease after too close contact with barberry in the wild (read the research out of Connecticut about the barberry/tick/Lyme disease connection). I  have spent years volunteering on national and county park and nature preserve land, removing invasive exotic plants. I have also sat in lengthy meetings of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, learning over and over that the palnts that cause the biggest problems in Northern Virginia where I live may not be the ones of greatest concern in other parts of the state, but that if a plant is a problem in one part of Virginia now, it will likely become a problem in more places next year. Let's get serious about addressing this problem.

English Ivy is a noxious weed that needs to be listed as such. It's sale and importation should be banned in Virginia. I know the terrible impacts of this noxious weed as my entire backyard was covered with the plant as was the nearby Lubber Run Park. I spent two tedious years removing this plant, section by section, and Arlington County spent considerable funds to remove this noxious weed from the park. My backyard and Lubber Run Park are no longer green wasteland monoculture but instead have native plants.

List English Ivy (Hedera helix) as a noxious weed and ban its sale in Virginia. At the very least garden center should be required to give customers notice that the plant is a noxious weed with a QR code to an Internet site for native alternatives.

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My neighbors and I spend hundreds of hours each year in an attempt to remove invasive plants from our small forest in order to allow some semblance of the natural ecology of the forest to develop as it should.  After 6-7 years of regular work in our 12-acre forest, we have made decent strides.  Yet, individuals may go to a garden center to purchase and plant those same plants on the other side of our fence. 

Just as we require children to be vaccinated in order to attend school, so should we consider the potential for spreading of the noxious plants in our environment  - especially when there are so many viable alternatives.

Please update the outdated approach that that Virginia uses to create its list of noxious weeds is outdated and please adopt the VA DCR list as the basis for our noxious weed list.  Especially English ivy.  Thanks for reading my comment.

As a longtime resident of Virginia who cares about protecting our natural spaces, many of which have been overrun by invasive plants, I would encourage you to reform the process for the identification and sale of what is a noxious weed.  I encourage you to eliminate the sale in Virginia of invasive plants.  Perhaps we favor the claims of the horticultural industry too strongly.  It costs thousands of dollars to clear one acre of invasive plants and yet, those plants are still permitted to be sold. 

As a nature enthusiast, I learned about invasive plants through my love of bird watching. It ultimately led me to my love of native plants. The more I learned, the more crystal clear the issue of noxious weeds became: they are taking over and suffocating our natural spaces, particularly in areas already stressed by urban development. Why are these plants (which we know ultimately strip down native areas, create monocultures, and don't positiviely contribute to the eco-system we all so desperately need) left to be sold legally? Why is English Ivy, for example, still allowed to be sold in tray after tray at stores? I spend dozens of hours every year helping the state of VA eradicate English ivy and other noxious weeds such as porcelainberry, oriental bittersweet, and garlic mustard. It would be great to know these and others would simply not be available for sale.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreations’ Natural Heritage Division has already identified an appropriate list of noxious weeds. Respect the professionals who defined this list and help push change one county at a time, starting with Arlington (if the entire state is unable to support such legislation). Change isn't always easy but having the governmental support to make this law will be a great way to help create momentum to move our state as a whole to do the right thing in requiring the landscape and nursery industry to remove these plants from their lists. I hope to see Arlington be on the right side of history.

I appreciate and applaud the approach DCR has taken to address the requests from VNLA, Nature Conservancy and others that the process of identifying plants as invasive, and the further step of nominating a plant for regulation, that is, terming it noxious, be a science based assessment of the risks posed by these plants.

I do not support local regulation of different plants in different parts of the commonwealth.  I do support a memorandum of understanding between the agencies to use the risk assessment protocol, early detection methods,the invasive species advisory and working groups, and the noxious weed regulations now in effect to make a consistent targeted effort at communication and education regarding plants deemed noxious, where limited but concerted state and local resources can be focused on control and eradication.