Who will share what they are doing to eradicate Phragmitese?

Yup, I've got a particularly aggressive European strain hybridizing and thriving by me in what was once a wonderful wetlands that was home to many diverse species of both flora and fauna according to a study done on this property in 1990.

Few issues for me are that burning is not going to be an option as the area in which it has colonized has incredibly high organic mass. There are no firms that even concentrate in prescribed burns willing to touch burning it with a 10' pole. I have had three out here and they are all saying big no no and that they don't have enough insurance to indemnify them WHEN the burn would get out of control. Basically, it wouldn't stop burning and there would be a major risk to surrounding homes.

Next issue is that we only own a perecentage of that wetlands, about 3 acres. One of the other 7 landowners of this wetlands alerted us to the issues and asked us to contribute to clean up. My husband and I agreed however the other homeowners don't want to incur any expense of eradicating the phragmites or the narrow leaf cattail for that matter. They think it is beautiful and feel it should merely be left alone. I suspect they are well aware of how much of a problem this plant is as we all get flyers in our mailboxes on a regular basis but they don't see the need to expend personal family resources to get rid of it and re-plant with species more appropriate. Estimated costs of clean up were staggering.

We have lost all of our muskrats that used to be there as well as just about everything else that was once there. This is reversible, I am sure, but how my neighbor is going to get every one on the same page is beyond us so we are staying out of his battle in favor of letting him have at it on his own. I feel bad about that but we have to live here.

I would like to focus on my infested little area and leave everyone else to their own devices. Sounds horrible but not a battle I want to fight. It's their property and I was hoping that if I could start addressing my issues on my property, they might see how beautiful it looked restored and might some day want to invest in doing the same. Sadly, I see a day when property is going to be sold and in addition to being asked if the property has any lead paint or has ever flooded.... I soon see the addition of an invasives exotics question being added to the mix. Actually, this is already surfacing but won't gain in popularity until other factors fall into place, one of which would be funding of SB144 and that's basically a done deal. People don't like getting stuck with conditions present but undetected when they pruchase a property. Regardless, it's their property values that might some day be at stake and hopefully not mine so my husband and I have chosen to go for it with or without the other people. Actually, the one neighbor who originally contacted us is willing to go it alone too if the others continue to ignore him and... we suspect they will continue to treat him as if he is a leper.

Here's my monster-
http://www.invasiveplants.net/phragmites/
http://www.invasive.org/eastern/biocontrol/9CommonReed.html

The unfortunate thing that I have found regarding almost any legislation concerning management, control, and eradication of invasive speices on private land, including S.144, is that it requires the permission of the landowner. Additionally, priority for funding goes to public lands. Given this, it is all that much more imparative that private landowners acknowledge and assume responsibility for their property and the actual or potential impact of what grows on their property. It seems to me that if property owners are held accountable and can insure themselves for collateral damage to other property from fire, flood, and a host of other communicable conditions, then the same should apply to collateral damage to neighboring property, wetlands, public property, etc. that occurs as the result of their negligence when it comes to control and eradication of invasive species.

Your situation makes this seem all the more imparative. How can we expect conscientious landowners like you and your one neighbor to keep footing the bill to clean up their own property, when other neighbors keep their heads in the sand and cause the additional burden of reinfestation from their property back to that of those neighbors who have who have already done their part?

I am of the opinion that sooner or later there will be case law. We have a bastardized form of English Law here in the US. It may not be perfect but it works for us. Along with the good comes the bad and there will come a time where one homeowner holds another responsible for introduction of an exotic invasive and I have no doubt it will stick. Give it about 10 years and let's see what happens. Many of these exotic invasives pose threats to public health. I can't wait to see who will be responsible for a precedence being set. I am thinking people will want to get educated overnight when it hits. Think about it, dog owners are very much responsible for any and all damage their dogs incur and those who go after the owners seeking compensation are generally succeessful in civil actions. Why is it that dogs are held to the boundaries of their owners' properties yet plants aren't? Interesting concept and I have no doubt we will be hearing more on this in the future. I do not want to discuss the ramifications of insurance as I suspect that insurers are gearing up to write exclusionary language for just this type of an environment. Think lead and think mold and take a close look at your own insurance policy. Enough talk of this... got any ideas on my phragmites? Did ya find anything on that for me?

Yes it is the biggest problem.....getting private landowners to realize the problem and then cooperate. However, I'd say that here in the west with such large acerage in ranching that a private owner with 70000 acres and 100 of that in tamarisk-which is estimated to cost at a minimum of $500/acre (and up to $2000/acre) to eradicate-that private citizens can't afford it either!!!

Having the appropriate invasives on the state noxious weed list in conjunction with a law with teeth (and a state/county/city) weed managers that are not afraid to use the law) may be the only avenue. For instance, the Endangered Species Act excludes private landowners. If the Federal Government cannot stop someone from destroying the last remaining wild orchid on their property then we're not going to ever be able to make a landowner take responsibility for invasives. State level action however is a different matter altogether......

Here's a story for you.
There is a liscensed nursery owner in Colorado that is selling listed invasives. When the state weed board members asked the State Agricultural Commissioner to cite the owner and pull the nursery lisence it was found that the owner has cancer. In order to be not percieved as being overly harsh on someone who is sick the Commissioners decision was made to let the owner continue and look the other way!!!! You decide what's right and wrong here.....

The only solution I have ever seen that actually worked was when the property was purchased the owner was required as part of the purchase agreement to control noxious weeds and other plants that have been determined to be harmful by state agencies. If they failed to make a continued effort they were subject to fines and possibly seizure of the property. This is the situation in the Chain-Of-Lakes area in central Wisconsin. It certainly increased the taxes and cost of waterfront property and was fought tooth and nail by long time residents but is probably the only way to keep the chain from being converted into smelly anerobic bogs that wouldn't support any of the wildlife and would make the properties worthless. Not everyone who has the money to buy lakefront property has the interest or intellegence to protect it. Jessamine

Hi caron, I can see it.

Congratulations Jessamine! You are the first person to realize what type of trouble we are in with this "swamp land" we bought! You don't even want to know what we paid per acre in this area back then or it would make you puke. Illinois can't handle the costs of clean up without a significant tax hike and this is spreading into public areas AND they are not liking the clean up bills they are forced to absorb due to their deficit issues. Illinois is beginning to look closely at how other states are addressing the issues and guess what... Wisconsin is nothing but a hop skip and a jump away from us! It's cooooooooomming! I knew there was trouble on the horizon last year when the State of Illinois added Buckthorn and Purple Loosestrife to their Noxious Weeds list. They are setting the stage for the future. Fortunately, we had chosen to go after the Buckthorn long before and had been hitting it hard.

Although we only built this home a few years ago, we bought this land long before these issues were brought to the forefront. The least costly clean up bill quoted for the wetlands area was 60k and that was last year. That could have been spread out over 7 landowners as we all own a chunk of the wetlands collectively. Needless to say, anyone with two neural cells to rub together who has knowledge of the environment in which we buy and sell homes is going to be looking to the future and wanting to protect their property values. I'm one of those people and am stressing as I feel the race is on to clean up.

I do not feel comfortable discussing these issues with those other neighbors as I really do have to live here. Let my one neighbor to the north of me be the "bad guy". I don't need the grief. To quote something a friend sent me, "As complex and difficult as coming to grips with the expanse of actual and potential ecological damage created by invasive species is, trying to do so in a hostile and anti-ecological environment is an exercise in head banging." That being said, I believe it is really in my best interests, since I will be living here for a very long time, to let him go on out and alienate all of our neighbors and let him be the one to be banging his head up against the wall. All of my other neighbors are absolutely clueless because ignorance is bliss to them. All I know is that I am going for this phragmites and narrow leaf cattail on my own even if I risk being immediately reinfected from the others as when they come to me to solicit my cooperation when their backs are to the walls for what ever reason, I'll smile and thank them for offering to include me and say "no thanks" as I will already have a management program in place so I should be pretty well insulated. I can just see those other 5 homeowners going at each other's throats. They'll spend 10k on a Rainbow swingset so the grandchildren have fun when they come to visit but not one of them wants to pay anything to clean up their wetlands? Priorities is about all I can say but then again we have an el cheapo metal Hedstrom swingset in our backyard. Pay now or pay later but they will be paying... it's only a matter of time. Can't wait to see what that 60k estimate will look like 5 years from now let alone 10 years from now after the poop starts hitting the fan and clean up companies start coming in to capitalize.

There's money in this area so they will try to fight it tooth and nail but they'll lose just like the people in Central Wisconsin did. I can't wait for this to hit and I can't wait to see the first person try to sell their home in that type of an environment where buyers are forced to clean up the mess of previous owners. Oh, that will speak volume to the community surrounding me when people start losing tens of thousands of dollars on the sales of their homes because buyers will be factoring in to their offers the costs of clean up. I really hate to repeat this but, "Why is it that dogs are held to the boundaries of their owners' properties yet plants aren't?" I'm thinking the playing field is going to get leveled real soon!