I strongly agree with adding the proposed plants to the noxious weed list.  You should also add English Ivy, Japanese Stilt Grass, and Linden Viburnum.  These are all terribly invasive plants in our local parks in Chesapeake, Virginia.  Thank You,

Please, Gentlewomen and Gentlemen, this needs to be passed. A little over twenty years ago I bought a piece of property that has several plants on this list but by far the Kudzu is the worst. I have spent thousands out of pocket to eradicate this plant and yet it spreads. I reached out to my local extension office and received no response. Maybe if these are added to the list I could finally receive some guidance from the state to control this mess. The number of native trees and other plants that have died from this is baffling, but I think with a little help many of us could bring it under control. Thanks, Mike. 

The proposed additions are a necessary change and it is very important that this passes. In addition to those species proposed, the following should be added to the list of noxious weeds:

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

Chinese privet (Ligastrum sinense)

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)

Chinese bushclover (Lespedeza cuneata)

Beach carex (Carex kobomugi)

Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense)

Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis)

Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda)

Please consider these. They are extremely damaging, threaten local communities and in some cases can kill livestock (bloat caused by johnson grass), pull down trees (English ivy and wisteria), and are documented to facilitate increased tick nesting (multiflora rose).

Please support this Plant listing. I have personally spent hundreds of hours cutting these plants from County and National Parks in Northern Virginia. There are not enough resources to control these aggressive plants. They are killing our native trees from small saplings to large mature trees and you are often left with only Invasive plants left.  Some invasives kill trees by the acre.  We must do all we can to limit their spread.  This listing is a step in the right direction.  Please expand the list as noted in other comments and include English Ivy especially, it is out of control in many natural areas in Northern VA and around the state. Thanks for your efforts. 

I agree with the proposed additions to the Virginia noxious weeds list. I also support the addition of the species mentioned by another commenter, Edward Long. (I know some of these are commercially sold plants that you cannot currently regulate but a change in the law is needed.) One additional species that should be added is wineberry.

I agree with the list. 

In Norfolk, English Ivy and also phragmites threaten our wildlife areas and waterways. Please add them to your list.

It is highly probable that the negative impact of English ivy (Hedera helix) on VA forests meets or exceeds that of all the other listed species. It takes over woodlands, killing all of the understory vegetation and climbing the trees, which it proceeds to suffocate. It is universally awful in the state. Whereas kudzu takes over edge habitat, English Ivy kills the forest from within.

The fact that this species  is still being sold in nurseries is a travesty, and it produces nothing for its purchasers except aesthetics and problems.

Also add Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet) and Ligustrum lucidum (glossy privet), which are a growing problem.

I agree with list but ask you to add English ivy and Japanese stilt grass.

Agree with this list, but we need to add English Ivy to this list. It is quite noxious and can be destructive to tree cover if it escapes.

I agree with this list. I also agree that English Ivy should be added. The negative impacts of this noxious weed are very apparent in neighborhoods and parks in the Richmond area.

Please do addd these listed and those mentioned by Ross -English Ivy, Japanese Stilt Grass, and Linden Viburnum. Driving through the Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville areas and south on 29, kudzu is killing our forests, Japanese Stilt Weed invades our property despite constant pulling and we’re also battling mustard and privet. We need to continue education to consumers about the benefits of native plants to wildlife, including bees for agricultural needs, as well as the innocent destructive impact of buying things like English, Ivy, etc. at garden stores. 

English ivy is overtaking many wooded lots in our neighborhood. Please add it to the list. 

I live in McLean, Virginia, on 2.7 acres of forested land along a stream. Easily 80% of the plants on my property are non-native and invasive, in spite of our ongoing efforts to eradicate them. Lesser Celandine and Japanese knotweed are new arrivals in the past five years, brought downstream, and both are spreading in spite of my efforts. We still battle kudzu decades after we arrived here. Amur honeysuckle and Japanese honeysuckle are also a challenge.  No one should be allowed to sell these or further their spread, and providing information on how to deal with them would be welcome.

But you are missing several of the hardest to eradicate noxious weeds that I deal with: English ivy and winter creeper (euonymus fortunei), both of which sprout everywhere from seeds dropped by birds, due to neighbors not recognizing that these vines should not be allowed to grow up trees; creeping lily turf liriope, which seems to be impossible to eradicate other than slowly and by hand; five-leaved akebia, now taking over what passes for a lawn; and a number of other things that I take it are not of concern for the list because no one plants them on purpose. There are good native alternatives, as I've learned, but it's hard for the natives to compete.

Thank you for your efforts to expand the list. Please continue, since there is so much more to do. 

I’m watching it creep closer and closer to the park behind my house. There are so many trees in my neighborhood getting choked out by it. We have lots of great native options. Please please add English ivy to the list. 

These additions to the noxious weeds list are long overdue and imminently necessary. As others have said, there are also other invasive plants which should be added but have met regulatory resistance because they are "economically viable" despite the overwhelming damage they are causing to Virginia's natural historic resources and ecosystem services and the economic cost to those localities, organizations, private homeowners, and countless volunteers charged with removing them. Any injury to the Virginia-based horticulture industry, I'm sure, could be easily remedied.

I do disagree however with the classification as Tier 3 noxious weeds. It is important to list them in order to stop any further sale or movement of these plants, but I believe they could be eradicated. But that's a battle for another day. 

Surprised Ailanthus Altissima is not on the list, Ivy should be added as well as winged eunymous. Purus calleryana would be a great addition. 

I am new in my learning of invasive and noxious weeds, but since my awareness is heightened, I see many of these growing in our parks and green spaces. I agree with others who have commented that English Ivy (hedera helix) and Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) need to be added to the list. I have seen the Ivy taking over in places like Forest Hill Park and James River Park in Richmond, and the stiltgrass is rampant in Shenandoah National Park and many of our state parks. How about adding some money to the budget to provide funds for eradication? 

One of the worst and hardest to get rid of is Japanese Stilt Grass. My neighborhood is inundated with it. I also agree that English Ivy and Autumn Olive need to be listed.

Please also include English Ivy, Japanese Stilt Grass, and Bradford/Callery Pear Trees

I highly support the additions to the noxious weeds list. 

The following is from a 2010 article titled "INVASIVE KUDZU IS MAJOR FACTOR IN SURFACE OZONE POLLUTION, STUDY SHOWS" from UVA Today.

"We found that this chemical reaction caused by kudzu leads to about a 50 percent increase in the number of days each year in which ozone levels exceed what the Environmental Protection Agency deems as unhealthy," said study co-author Manuel Lerdau, a University of Virginia professor of environmental sciences and biology. "This increase in ozone completely overcomes the reductions in ozone realized from automobile pollution control legislation."

"Essentially what we found is that this biological invasion has the capacity to degrade air quality, and in all likelihood over time lead to increases in air pollution, increases in health problems caused by that air pollution, and decreases in agricultural productivity," Lerdau said.

"This is yet another compelling reason to begin seriously combating this biological invasion. What was once considered a nuisance, and primarily of concern to ecologists and farmers, is now proving to be a potentially serious health threat."

We knew this in 2010 it is imperative we act on it today.

Ban as many as many invasive species as possible.  Add Bradford pear to the list.

Through my position at Friends of the Lower Appomattox River and previously at James River Parks System, I engage volunteers to help remove our invasive species along our natural river corridors. The plants that are throttling our native tree populations include English Ivy (Hedera helix) and Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). Taking over the understory are Privet bushes (Ligustrum vulgare). These plants are extremely damaging and should be recognized as such.

Thank you for moving forward on this!

I have had both personal and professional experience attempting to manage many of these species including autumn olive, garlic mustard, bicolor lespedeza, Amur honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle, common reed, kudzu, and Japanese knotweed. The state and federal governments have both spent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars attempting to protect important natural areas from the invasive plants to limited effect. Please add these species to the noxious weed list and consider restricting their sale in Virginia - any monetary gains from the sale of these species will be far outweighed by the tax dollars being spent to control them 

As I walk in my old neighborhood, the evergreen English Ivy is easy to spot and so MANY trees are absolutely covered with it. Compared to kudzu, I guess this is mild, but it is more than unsightly because it will continue to spread until it is totally removed. We've created and are leaving such a mess for the younger generation.

Please add tree of heaven, Bradford/Callery pear trees, Japanese barberry, Chinese privet.  Thank you.

I approve this regulatory action with the caveat that English Ivy (Hedera helix) should be added to the list as well. It has completely taken over vast swaths of our urban forests here in Roanoke.

I agree with the proposed list and these non-native invasive plant species most definitely need to be added to the state's Noxious Weeds list.

As a volunteer with invasive species removal efforts in Fairfax, Arlington, and Greene counties over the last few years, I can attest to the overwhelming situation in which we as Virginia residents find ourselves. This is a drain on so many of the state's resources — human, financial, and otherwise. 

Please also consider adding to this list the plants below which make up a huge percentage of volunteer removal hours to protect our parks and wild spaces:

- English ivy
- Japanese stiltgrass
- Multiflora rose
- Wineberry
- Japanese and Chinese wisteria
- Callery pear
- Chinese privet
- Spotted knapweed
- Chinese lespedeza
- Wintercreeper
- Vinca minor
- Burning bush

Thank you for moving this important effort forward. Our natural resources, human health, and state economy will benefit from it.

Please make haste to amend the noxious weed list to include English Ivy, Japanese barbary, burning bush, as well as the proposed plants:

• Two-horned trapa
• Garlic mustard
• Chinese yam
• Autumn olive
• Lesser celandine
• Bicolor lespedeza
• Amur honeysuckle.
• Japanese honeysuckle
• Common reed
• Kudzu
• Japanese knotweed
• Siberian elm

Many of these have been an ongoing nuisance on our own property and/or surrounding parkland. Thank you! 

Yes please add all these species to the list.

As the president of the Virginia Native Plant Society, I strongly support the listing of these 12 invasive plants as noxious weeks. We would like to see many more invasive plants listed but know that the current law limits that action. 

As a few examples - these are species widely considered noxious that are not on the list.  I have personally spent a huge amount of time and money trying to eliminate these from my small property in Tidewater.

• Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet)
• Ligustrum japonicum (Japanese Privet)
• Sorghum halepense (Johnsongrass)
• Hedera helix (English Ivy)

The privets in particular are incredibly aggressive, rapid growing, difficult to eradicate once established yet still sold widely.

Please add these 12 non native and invasive plants to the State’s noxious weed list! 
Invasive plants destroy infrastructure (think kudzu) and displaces native plants.  Native insects have adapted to use native plants for all stages of their growth. These insects in turn feed native songbird babies, and many grow to be beneficial pollinators and predators of “bad” insects of  agriculture.

Thank you very much for your support! 
Respectfully,

Erin Waldmann

Please listen to the people who spend there time in this profession and take their recommendation!! We in Virginia would greatly benefit by protecting our own eco systems by preventing the spread of such destructive invasive species. 

I agree with the proposal to amend the noxious weed list. I also agree with other comments that other plants such as English Ivy should also be added to the noxious weed list. I would recommend the Board refer to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's list of invasive plants species; many of these plants should also be added to the noxious weed list. These plants are taking over our parks and properties and damaging ecosystems. Please consider amending the noxious weed list further to include more invasive species.

I strongly support the addition of any invasive species to the noxious weed list! 

I would like to offer an alternative perspective on this topic.  I observe that all previous comments are highly in favor of the proposed list or would even like to expand it; and it is not my goal to start a quarrel (especially one I know I won't win!), but rather to add some context, inject some optimism, and push towards a more wholistic and symbiotic relationship with nature.  Thanks in advance for listening.  :)

1. "Well-adapted" is a common descriptor of "noxious weeds," but I would like to view this as -- potentially -- a positive trait more than a negative one.  
2. "Commercially viable" is a limited perspective which ignores other types of value.  I think every one of these listed species has specific uses and benefits -- here are a few examples I happen to know of:
   1. Autumn olive is a nitrogen-fixer which it improves the soil where it lives; the fruits are high in vitamin C, carotenoid antioxidants, and fiber.  Current species are of no commercial use, but they are very valuable to some folks, including me, who has learned to identify, forage, and freeze the fruits and include them in my diet.  They make a tasty fruit leather, a zippy addition to oatmeal, and a delightful soda -- and I would very much like to see what a good winemaker (not myself) could do with them.
   2. Japanese Knotweed is a crucial ingredient in a loved-one's management of chronic Lyme disease.  I don't forage this plant but I ought to learn how....  A few local wildcrafters in each locality could plausibly set up a business of harvesting the stuff and selling it to Lyme sufferers.  This would take effort but in the end would work towards solving multiple issues at once.  It is wildly medicinal and also apparently edible like rhubarb.
   3. Garlic mustard likewise is edible and highly nutritious and medicinal.  One expert speculates that its proliferation has less to do with its invasive nature and more to do with proliferation of deer due to the lack of large predators (which has also widened the vector for ticks... all of this is connected).  It also evidently thrives where conditions for native plants have declined.  (Which might be our fault more than the knotweed's.)
   4. Kudzu has serious potential medical applications in the treatment of alcoholism.
   5. English ivy leaf extract is a primary ingredient in certain OTC cough syrups, e.g. Zarbees.
   6. And practically every taprooted "weed" is doing hard work in hard soil, pulling valuable minerals up from deep down and composting them in leaf mulch at the surface.  (Dandelions thrive in compressed lawns, going through an inch of topsoil and down into nasty clay shale and such.  But they don't grow in forest loam.)
3. Education is part of the way forward.  To the degree that we can learn to forage invasives, we derive food & medicine from them and (if we manage their seeds correctly) actually limit their self-propagation.  To the degree that we see the good in these plants and, through wise cross-breeding, select for desirable traits, we can make them less invasive, more productive, more tasty, and perhaps eventually even "commercially viable."

I could go on from my own knowledgebase, and with some additional research I could go a lot further.  But these examples should suffice to make the point.  And most of what I've said so far can probably be summarized in the old Emerson quote:

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
? Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson was naive in several respects, and I'm willing to allow that maybe I am too.  :)  But there is some wisdom in Emerson anyhow, which I think we should hear and heed.  There are virtues in these "weeds" which (as a general populace) we have not discovered: some of which might become "commercially viable," and others which are valuable in other, non-commercial ways.  

Now: nothing I've said above contradicts the idea that we should ban nurseries from selling items on the proposed list.  That may indeed be a very wise idea in some or all cases: I don't claim to know.  (Probably it's somewhat dangerous to sell anything to a person who doesn't know how to use it properly.)  But the language I've seen used here -- "noxious," "weed," "nuisance," "destructive," etc. -- exhibits a "man vs. nature" mentality that I think is unwise to embrace too tightly.  I certainly agree that many of these species are [currently] providing insufficient benefits, while creating costs.  I just think it's worth asking the questions: Do we primarily need to eradicate plants, or educate people? and Are the problems we observe coming from the plant itself, or from our (lack of) understanding, appreciation, and management of it?

Of course the ban under discussion is really just a management tool.  So that's fine as far as it goes.  But the plants are here, and they mostly cannot be eradicated (and probably making the attempt would be very expensive and not very effective).  So while banning sales may be a necessary immediate stopgap, I do not personally believe there is any long-term solution other than for us -- first as individuals, and then as a society -- to befriend these "weeds," learn their virtues, put them to use, improve them, reign them in, propagate them in specific ways and places, remove them from others, and, in short, do what God told Adam to do in the beginning: care for the Garden and keep it.  

Government cannot do that: it is up to the citizenry, each on their own little plot of land.  But I do hope the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services can help shape the conversation in more helpful ways, and can open the door, through education and training, to guide the people of the Commonwealth in appreciating the "wealth we have in common" in our fields, forest, and wilderness -- natives, invasives, and all.

As a tree farm owner of 127 Acres battling invasive species is an ongoing battle.  it is imperative to forest owners to stop the damage done by these plants.  So much of treatment is not mechanical in order to protect the forest and wildlife.  walking thru our forest, hacking and cutting invasive and hand spraying with spray bottles is very time consuming, but effective.  we have treated autumn olive, tree of heaven,  silt grass, and currently our newest challenge is bittersweet.  As forest owner, it is a constant journey thru the forest to eliminate invasive.  We love our woods and certainly celebrate this action.

Stopping the sale will help to improve timber thru out Virginia.  educating the people of

damage to our forest is important as well.  Enforcement must be at the top of the list to stop the sale of plants.

unfortunately our state highway department is guilty of not spraying invasive along

roadways.  Our state needs to do their part as well as landowners.

I also have a farm in NC and have battled kudzu.

I support this action strongly.

Japanese stiltgrass has one minor weakness: it grows so prolifically that it chokes itself out with big thick mats of stilgrass straw.  Many of the weeds in your proposed list can compete with stiltgrass by growing through and above it.  Many like autumn olive adapt to dry areas and thus do better in dry years than stiltgrass.  Stiltgrass's preference for moisture is a very minor weakness slowing it down in dry years.

Other than some competition, there are no natural barriers to stiltgrass.  It simply takes over gardens and wild areas and stays endemic and can become prolific in mowed lawns.  In riparian areas it can use its length to smother anything other than mature trees and shrubs.

Thank goodness I was alerted to this commenting period through an article in my Google News feed, or else I may have missed it.

Phyllanthus urinaria, or what I've come to know it as -- Chamber Bitter, is "cropping up" all over Hampton Roads.  This delicate, fern-like weed loves our warm summers, and it grows quite fast as a result.  The underside of the plant has loads of seeds.  And if not dealt with correctly, it can quickly overwhelm one's yard, and then the neighborhood!

The other missing species is the Albizia julibrissin, or Mimosa tree.  I thought it had been listed as an invasive species, so perhaps I missed it from the list.  Traveling along our interstates, one can see how it's beginning to insert itself in our woods along the shoulders of our highways.  It's quick to shoot up and shade other, more desirable tree saplings, but with its summer flowers and delicate leaf pattern, few are quick to remove them.

I feel strongly that the state needs to adopt this larger list of invasive species that are having a huge negative impact on our ecosystem. I support recommendations to include English ivy and stiltgrass.

The state also needs to provide more funding to help eradicate invasive plants. I support adding a tax on the sale of plants in the list to be used to help fund the eradication of invasive plant species. I support allowing trained certified volunteers to use herbicides.

i also support not allowing any state funds to be used to plant anything on the list.

Yes, please add these to the noxious weeds list. Some are past due to be added. Others should be on the list. Thanks for these additions.

I agree with those who favor adding 12 more plants to the Virginia Noxious Weed List, especially if it prevents them from being sold by nurseries.   I realize plant nursery businesses are entitled to make money on plants, but, like in many other industries, plant sales should be regulated to prohibit potentially or already known invasive plants to be bought and sold in Virginia.

Please add these twelve plants to the noxious weed list. Invasives are displacing native plants. O

English ivy is damaging too. Please add it to the list. Nandina is bad and needs to be eradicated too. 

I support the action to add 12 non-native plants to the noxious weeds list. It is high time that these and many others, such as English ivy, are considered noxious and sale is prohibited within Virginia. The toll taken by these plants on the native environment is increasing because of their competitive advantage and is resulting in a growing burden to the taxpayer. This regulatory action is highly appropriate and protective. 

I strongly urge the state to add the 12 more species to the noxious weed list. These species including Japanese stiltgrass, kudzu and autumn olive, are some of the most significant threats to the state's biodiversity. There is absolutely zero reason why any of these should be planted. 

I also strongly encourage the state to add the following species to the noxious weed list, as they are commonly planted and becoming very invasive and ecologically destructive as we speak.

Burning bush

English Ivy

Wintercreeper

Japanese barberry

Miscanthus sinensis

Chinese holly

Callery pear

Chinese wisteria

I'm aware that current regulations do not permit listing plants that are "commercially viable".  This is short-sighted and does not acknowledge the tremendous economic impact that is increasingly borne by landowners and localities who spend a great deal of money to remove and continuously monitor open spaces for invasives, or incur the high expense of felling trees that are killed by choking vines.  With this regulatory obstacle in place, we will continue to lose the battle against invasives, despite overwhelming evidence of ecological and economic damage.  Any economic injury to the Virginia-based horticulture industry could not possibly come close to the level of damage we are seeing in our farms, forests, meadows, and wetlands.

So, even though it is quixotic to put this species forward given the current regulatory environment, I am putting forward English Ivy as a plant for consideration.  

Please add English Ivy and Stilt Grass