Nearly 150 volunteers collaborated to map four non-native invasive plant species in eight southeastern Wisconsin counties last summer, and the data keeps pouring in.
Eight County Leaders were selected to recruit mapping teams of two for each township in the SEWISC region. Team members received training, data sheets and maps which were provided by County GIS Departments and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee American Geographic Society Library. The volunteers collectively surveyed more than 11,000 miles of roadways, devoting over 1,200 hours to the project.
SEWISC's 2011 Invasive Plant Roadside Survey covered all roads with lane markings within Sheboygan, Washington, Ozaukee, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha Counties. Township Mapping Teams also performed surveys focusing on areas in or near primary and secondary environmental corridors and isolated natural resource areas.
Giant reed grass (Phragmites australis) was mapped in 799 locations, common and cut-leaved teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris and D. laciniatus) were mapped in 1,125 locations and Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) was mapped in 133 locations.
These species were selected because they are, 1) common, but still in early stages of infestation in our region, 2) not uniformly spread throughout the region, 3) spreading along roadways, and 4) easy to recognize throughout the year. Although these species have limited distribution in southeastern Wisconsin, each has the potential to spread rapidly along roadsides and rights-of-way. With training, these species were safely identified and mapped by teams of two or more travelling on foot, bicycle or by vehicle.
A very brief summary of the survey instructions is as follows:
• Participants completed survey protocol training and submitted a liability release.
• Survey teams of at least two were required for each township. One team member was charged with safely driving the car while the passenger navigated and recorded populations on the map and data form.
• All populations visible from the road were recorded. A special effort to survey environmental corridors was made.
• Populations were recorded with a dot on the map and labeled with a number. Species and population size codes corresponding to that number were recorded on the data sheet. Populations which were located within the right-of-way were noted.
• All roads surveyed were marked with a highlighter on the map. Maps and data sheets were submitted to SEWISC and the survey data was entered into a digital geodatabase.
The majority of the mapped populations were relatively small, and teasel populations were, on average, smaller than either Japanese knotweed or Phragmites.
It was clear from the mapped populations of the species that they were not uniformly distributed throughout the eight-county region.
Japanese knotweed was the least common of the species, but had a concentration of populations in north-central Sheboygan County in the northern part of our region.
By Brian Russart
I am the Conservation Specialist at the River Revitalization Foundation, I was hired primarily to implement riparian conservation projects on the Menomonee River, but as a very small land trust, my responsibilities run the gamut from grant writer, to restoration work, to administration. I completed a BS in Biological Aspects of Conservation at UW-Madison and a Master's in Environmental Science and Management at the Bren School in Santa Barbara, CA. I have worked for the National Park Service in Yellowstone NP, and for the Forest Service in several spots throughout the Eastern Sierras in California where I did everything from fisheries work to carnivore population studies. After almost seven years out west, I recently came back to my roots in Wisconsin when my fiancée, Joseph, and I moved to Milwaukee in June 2010. I love to explore the hidden, wild places in Wisconsin, go rock climbing, garden, and cook. We can usually be found doing these things with my Australian shepherd, Abbey.
I was born in Miami, Florida in May of 1990. My family and I moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1999 where I finished grade school and then attended Wilmot Union High School. I graduated from high school in 2008 and began my freshman year at UW-Milwaukee that fall pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a second degree in Conservation & Environmental Sciences. During my freshman and sophomore year of college I worked as a field assistant and active site manager for Eric Hileman in conducting research to estimate survival rates, abundance, population density, and sex ratios of the State threatened Butler’s garter snake. During my junior year I became a certified Volunteer Carnivore Tracker for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This required that every winter I conduct three wolf tracking surveys to assist in the DNR’s winter census of our state’s population of wolves. Currently I work as a Milwaukee County Parks Natural Areas intern gaining valuable experience in the areas of land management, invasive species, and plant identification. I have been an intern for a year now and plan to continue the internship as long as I can! I have also been working for the past year as a Wildlife Technician for the Urban Ecology Center in Riverside Park, Milwaukee. I am in charge of conducting the Butler’s garter snake monitoring program. I will be working as a Wildlife Technician for the upcoming 2012 field season as well. I was on the Dean’s Honor List for the fall semester of 2011 and will be graduating this winter. After graduating I plan on attending graduate school for a master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology. I am looking forward to serving as a student board member for the Southeastern Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium!!
David Rogers is a plant ecologist with expertise in the flora and natural history of the Great Lakes region. He grew up in Green Bay, received his B.S. in Biology at the UW-Stevens Point. Following years of fieldwork around the U.S., he then earned an M.S. in Landscape Architecture where he studied the Atlantic Coastal Plain Disjunct plants in Central Wisconsin. He then earned his Ph.D. in Botany at UW-Madison where he used Curtis' baseline data from the early 1950s to study changes in southern Wisconsin forest understories. He is currently an assistant professor of biology at the UW–Parkside where he teaches environmental science, botany, ecology, conservation biology. His research focuses on long-term dynamics of Midwestern plant communities and the influence of current and past land-uses on meta-community dynamics.
Michael has been at Johnson's Nursery, Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin since 1980. He graduated in 1979 from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Horticulture.