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BREAKING NEWS: The Missouri invasive plant bill—HB 2412—may have a public hearing on January 22 at the Missouri Capitol. Scroll down for details.

Happy New Year, and welcome to the fourth issue of State of Invasives—the quarterly enewsletter of the Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP). Thank you for subscribing.

In the fall 2023 issue, we shared news of the 2023 MoIP Invasive Plant Action Awardees, and shortly thereafter, Fox 2 News in St. Louis formally presented their awards live on the air. Above, from left, is Cole Dannull, a high school senior representing Principia School in St. Louis, the MoIP Invasive Plant Action Awardee in the Individual Organization category; Dale Dufur, the MoIP Invasive Plant Action Awardee in the Individual Citizen category; and John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox 2 News in the Morning, who oversaw the presentation of the awards to Cole and Dale.

MoIP appreciates this media coverage, which honored the 2023 MoIP awardees and helped spread the word about the importance of controlling invasive plants. You can watch the news clip here and read more about the awardees here.

We hope you enjoy our news and resources in this issue, and, as always, please let us know your invasive plant-related questions, ideas, or concerns.

—HB 2412: Missouri Invasive Plant Bill. Voice your support!

—MoIP Workshop at Missouri Natural Resources Conference: February 8, 2024

—MoIP Callery Pear Buyback Events in 15 Missouri Cities on April 23, 2024

—America the Beautiful Grant to MDC Supports Habitat Strike Teams

—Free EDDMapS Training: May 22, 2024

—Missourians Making a Difference: Kara Tvedt

—New Study Published by MoIP Council Member and Colleagues

—Invasives to Treat in Winter: Japanese honeysuckle, cut-stump and basal bark treatment for shrubs and trees, and prescribed burning to control tall fescue.

Thank you for your interest in taking action to control invasive plants!

Carol Davit, MoIP Chair

Matt Arndt, MoIP Vice Chair

Missouri Representative Bruce Sassmann (District 061), has taken action to help protect the state from invasive plants by filing HB 2412.

HB 2412 aims to prohibit future sales and intentional distribution in Missouri of five invasive plant species by repealing a section of Missouri State Statute 263.070 and replacing it with revised language. Specifically, the revised statute would withhold registration-inspection certification—which is necessary to sell plants—if a nursery or nursery dealer knowingly and intentionally sells or distributes burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana and its cultivars, including Bradford and Chanticleer), climbing euonymus (Euonymus fortunei; also known as wintercreeper); Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata). 

If passed, enforcement may take effect January 1, 2026, with the exception that burning bush and Callery pear plants acquired by a licensed Missouri wholesale or retail plant nursery before January 1, 2025 would be exempt from enforcement until January 1, 2028.

MoIP encourages you to read HB 2412. Contact your state representative to voice your support and ask for your legislator's support for the bill as well. If you do not know who your state representative is, use this legislator lookup tool to find out.

A public hearing of HB 2412 is tentatively scheduled for Monday, January 22 at 6:00 p.m. in the basement of the Missouri Capitol. Watch for hearing details and schedule updates at moinvasives.org and Facebook.

Photo of wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei), one of the five species to be halted for sale in Missouri if HB 2412 passes, courtesy of Bugwood.

MoIP has organized an invasive plant workshop to be held at the 2024 Missouri Natural Resources Conference (MNRC) at Margaritaville Resort, Lake of the Ozarks. MNRC, to be held February 6, 7, and 8, is an annual conference with a diversity of talks aimed at natural resource professionals.

The MoIP workshop, Prioritization & Collaboration for Statewide Invasive Plant Control, is scheduled for Thursday, February 8 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will provide in-depth information from these expert speakers:

Dr. Jesse Nippert, Kansas State University Distinguished Professor: Woody plant invasion of mesic grasslands - drivers, consequences, and potential solutions.

Jerod Huebner, Director of Prairie Management, Missouri Prairie Foundation: Ecological Triage: How to Prioritize Invasive Plant Control

Megan Buchanan, Director of Resilient Lands, The Nature Conservancy of Missouri and Nate Muenks, Natural Resource Planning Section Chief, Missouri Department of Conservation: Addressing the Need & Growing the Workforce: Missouri Habitat Management Strike Teams

Matt Arndt: Owner, Matt’s Healthy Woods & Forests and MoIP Vice Chair: Invasive Plant Legislation HB 2412

To attend this and many other talks and workshops at MNRC, register at mnrc.org/registration. Look forward to seeing you there!

MoIP, in partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Forest ReLeaf, and Forrest Keeling Nursery, is preparing for the upcoming annual MoIP Callery Pear Buyback event on April 23, 2024 with registration opening on March 15. Through this program, homeowners are invited to cut down one or more Callery (Bradford) pear trees and receive one free, non-invasive tree.

Thanks to partners and volunteers around the state, the program has expanded this year to include 15 locations in Missouri!

To be eligible for a free tree, participants register and submit a photo of their cut-down Callery pear tree(s). One free native tree will be provided to each registered participant at the selected location on the day of the event. Registration will open on March 15, 2024, and close on April 15, 2024.

Registered participants can pick up their tree on April 23 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at one of these event sites: Columbia, St. Louis, Joplin, Springfield, Lebanon, Cape Girardeau, Farmington, Kennett, Hannibal, Rolla, West Plains, Kirksville, and St. Joseph. For Kansas City-area dates and locations, please visit the Deep Roots website.

For more information about the Pear Buyback program and the invasive Callery pear, visit the MoIP Callery Pear Buyback page, which will be updated on March 15 with registration links. Registration opens on March 15 and closes April 15.

On November 17, 2023, a team of conservationists from Missouri and Iowa met with U.S. Department  of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in Des Moines, Iowa. During the meeting, Secretary Haaland announced the recipients of several America the Beautiful grant awards, including one to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and partners to protect and steward prairie remnants, and expand and connect native grasslands in Iowa and Missouri.

Partners in the $4,730,000, multi-year grant award to MDC include the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Quail Forever/Pheasants Forever (QFPF), the Missouri Prairie Foundation, and Drake University/Jay N. Darling Institute for Rural Sustainability. The partners will focus on conserving, restoring, and reconnecting native grasslands in Missouri and Iowa through collaborative habitat management such as prescribed fire, invasive species control, and grazing. 

With $3.7 million of the grant, TNC and QFPF will establish and coordinate "strike teams" to control invasive plants, conduct prescribed burns, and create prairie plantings on public and private land. Watch future issues of State of Invasives for updates.

Pictured above is Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, center, with the America the Beautiful Missouri/Iowa grant team. Photo courtesy of MDC.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to map the presence of invasive plants throughout the country? Fortunately, there is! EDDMapS is a web-based mapping system for documenting invasive species and pest distribution. It is fast, easy to use, and doesn't require Geographic Information Systems (GIS) experience.

Launched in 2005 by the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia, the program has expanded to include the entire U.S. and Canada. Professionals and citizen scientists can help control invasive plants by documenting observations of invasive plants in Missouri to EDDMapS.

Rebekah Wallace, EDDMapS Coordinator & Bugwood Images Coordinator at the University of Georgia, will offer a free training via Zoom on May 22, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. This training session is open to all and will be part of the Missouri Prairie Foundation's webinar series.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.

Free. Register here. A link to a recording of the training will be sent to all registrants.

Watch for more details in the spring issue of State of Invasives.

Throughout Missouri, many individuals are making significant progress in the early detection and control of invasive plants. MoIP is pleased to highlight their efforts! 

Kara Tvedt took time out of her busy schedule to describe her work. Enjoy!

What is your professional title? 

My current title is fisheries biologist, with a focus on community conservation, for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). As of February 1, I will have worked for MDC for 33 years. 

What is your professional background? 

I went to college at Southwest Missouri State University and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in geography/natural resource management and a minor in biology. In 1990, while in college, I started working as an hourly employee for MDC in Sedalia. The position was in the MDC Fisheries Division and was my first real exposure to this aspect of natural resources. In 1993, I started full-time as a fisheries specialist and then became a fisheries biologist in 2003, which continues to be my current role. However, the focus has changed over the years, and now I am leaning more toward projects that can help communities enhance their aquatic resources, including battling aquatic invasive species.  

What are some of the invasive plant control projects you have led over the years? 

Back in 2012, hydrilla was discovered in Greene County. With that being one of my counties of responsibility for private waters, I was tasked with working with the landowners to eradicate the species before it spread to more areas. Unfortunately, where it was detected was the headwaters of four major watersheds, which all drain to a major public reservoir, heightening the urgency for control. Since that project started, my colleagues and I have identified 37 different water bodies with hydrilla in southwestern Missouri. Read more

—Carol Davit, MoIP Chair

Dr. Lauren Pile Knapp, a MoIP Council member and U.S. Forest Service research ecologist, is the lead author of a study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Forest Ecology and Management. This systematic review of invasive plant management in eastern North America examines treatment outcomes for invasive and native plants, tree regeneration, and secondary invasions.

The review included 165 articles describing a variety of control methods, including herbicide applications, prescribed burning, torching, girdling, clipping, mastication, soil amendments, flooding, enrichment plantings, and biocontrol, as well as combinations of these treatments. Species included some of the most common forest invaders, such as the privets (Ligustrum spp.), honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), buckthorns (Rhamnus cathartica and Frangula alnus), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), and Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). The literature also included recent invaders in eastern North America, such as Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) and fig buttercup (Ficaria verna). 

Download and read the study here.

Photos of Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), above, by Chris Evans, Bugwood

Not all invasive plants are most effectively treated at the same time of year, and treatment methods can differ according to the seasons, such as with bush honeysuckle, mentioned below. Here, we highlight several species to treat in winter. During these cold months is an ideal time to treat invasives that may still be green without harming dormant, desirable vegetation. You can find treatment guidelines for many invasive plants other than those highlighted below at moinvasives.org. 

Note: Treatment methods may differ considerably if invasives are found in otherwise intact, highly biologically diverse areas, in disturbed areas/altered landscapes, or if invasives are found in or near water. When using chemicals to treat invasives, always read label instructions. In addition to the resources below, you may also find this table of invasive plant treatment methods for grasslands, from the Missouri Prairie Foundation, helpful.

Photos below are by Bugwood, Lenny Farlee, Steve Clubine, and Carol Davit

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a woody, perennial, evergreen to semi-evergreen vine that trails along the ground and can climb to more than 80 ft. in length.

Leaves are opposite, oval. and 1 to 2.5 in. long. Flowering occurs from April to July, when showy, fragrant, tubular, whitish-pink flowers develop in the axils of the leaves. The flowers turn cream-yellow as they age. The small, shiny globular fruits turn from green to black as they ripen. Each fruit contains 2 to 3 small brown to black seeds.

On warmer days in winter, this pernicious vine can be treated by spraying the foliage with a 3% triclopyr solution. Often, Japanese honeysuckle grows over native vegetation, so spraying it in the dormant season will not affect desirable plants. Prescribed burning, especially on low humidity days, can also set back Japanese honeysuckle, but may not kill it.

Note: Wintercreeper (Euonymous fortunei), covered in the fall issue, can be easily spotted in winter because its leaves stay on (green or reddish). When the ground is wet, small vines can be pulled. Large stems climbing up trees can be carefully cut, with the cut treated with herbicide (40% triclopyr solution when above freezing). You can also flag larger areas for treatment in spring when new leaves emerge.

Cut-stump Treatments of Woody Plants

With its foliage fallen, bush honeysuckle (Lonicera mackii) may be harder to spot in winter, but without leaves in the way, it is easier to treat via a cut-stump herbicide treatment. After cutting trunks/main stems, apply a 20% solution of glyphosate to the cut stems. Adding dye, such as in the photo at left, makes treatment visible.

While a low-pressure, hand-held sprayer can be used, wiping the cut with a sponge applicator or paintbrush provides more control.

Cutting as close to flush with the ground makes future management and use of the area less hazardous.

Cut-stump treatment can also be used with invasive woody vines and other invasive woody species.

Basal Bark and Hack & Squirt Treatments of Woody Plants

For tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), and other non-native, invasive trees, the cut stump method described above can be used, but it is not practical for large infestations or for large trees. In these situations, basal bark and hack & squirt methods are recommended. 

Basal bark treatment (see photo at left): For tree trunks/main stems less than 6 inches in diameter, mix 1 to 5 gallons of 4 to 5% triclopyr (Garlon® 4 - ester formula - is recommended) in enough bark oil to make 100 gallons of spray mixture. Apply with a backpack sprayer or power spraying equipment using low pressure (20 to 40 psi). Spray the basal parts of brush and tree trunks to a height of 12 to 15 inches from the ground, thoroughly wetting the indicated area, but stopping before runoff occurs. Old trees or trees with rough bark require more spray than smooth, young bark. Avoid spraying near water or with snow on the ground.

Hack & squirt (see photo at right): For tree trunks/main stems greater than 6 inches in diameter, use a hatchet deep enough to get into the cambium layer and make one hack per 3 to 4 inches of tree diameter. Squirt herbicide into the cut: a mix of at least 50% triclopyr (Garlon® 3A - amine formulation - is recommended) in water. The more hacks, the greater the probability of killing the tree. Stop squirting before runoff occurs.

Tall Fescue Control in Winter

The non-native, invasive grass tall fescue (Festuca arundinaria) can be treated with glyphosate on warm days during the winter. The recommended control is through a foliar application of glyphosate with surfactant added. Often multiple applications are necessary to eradicate an established stand. One quart of glyphosate per acre in the winter is recommended. For spot treatment of isolated tall fescue plants, use 1% to 2% of glyphosate with surfactant.

Prescribed burning can also help control it, and in some cases, kill it, along with other invasive herbaceous plants like spotted knapweed and teasel rosettes, which are green in winter. 

State of Invasives aims to:

• Provide useful information to you/the leaders of your organization, agency, or business to help you recognize and control invasive plants and reduce their negative impacts, introduce you to our work, explain the challenges of invasive plants, and make the case for bold action and how this will benefit Missouri and Missourians. 

• Share talking points that you can use when communicating about invasive plant detection and control within your agency, business, or organization, and to your customers or stakeholders. 

• Empower you and your audiences to recognize invasive plants and take action—around your office building, behind your parking lot, on your back 40, right of way, back yard, around your crop field, or on any other land you or your group owns or manages. Our MoIP Video: A Landowner Tour is one of many of MoIP's useful resources.

We hope the information in this enewsletter is helpful, and we’d like to hear from you. What questions or ideas do you have? Would you like to share the invasive plant action you or your organization or business are taking with us? If so, contact us at [email protected].