John Exo, Lower Wisconsin River Basin
Educator, UW-Extension
505 Broadway Blvd., Baraboo, WI 53913
email: john.exo@ces.uwex.edu
A unique partnership between conservationists and road managers is aimed at controlling the spread of invasive species in the greater Sauk County area. The Invasives Control Network is a pilot project of the Greater Sauk County Invasive Plant Team.
Invasive plants threaten natural communities in Sauk County, causing loss of species diversity and reduced hardwood (including oak and hickory) regeneration on both public and private property. Exotic species of particular concern in the Sauk County area include garlic mustard, wild parsnip, buckthorn and purple loosestrife. Many organizations and individuals were attempting to address these threats, often in an uncoordinated fashion. To better coordinate invasive plant control efforts, numerous groups came together to form the Greater Sauk County Invasive Plant Team, or GSCIPT. GSCIPT has three primary strategies: 1) education, 2) inventory and mapping, and, 3) coordination of invasive plant control efforts.
Shortly after its formation, GSCIPT began working on an education strategy to reach people who could have immediate impacts on invasive species. We recognized that county and town patrolmen (highway department employees responsible for road right-of-way maintenance) were one audience with potentially significant impact, both positive and negative. Recognizing the potential for patrolmen to reduce the spread of invasives, a GSCIPT education sub-team planned and hosted a seminar for highway patrolmen from Sauk County and nine townships in May, 2001. Forty-three patrolmen attended the workshop, where they learned why invasives are a problem, learned how to identify several species, and brainstormed ways to work together to control specific infestations.
The brainstorming portion of the
workshop lead to the creation of the Invasives Control Network. The network consists of patrolmen and
conservationists assigned to specific State, County and Town roadway segments,
where they work together to locate and find solutions to invasive species
control. The Network is resulting in
control measures and other collaboration that could become a model for other
groups' efforts. If you would like
more information about the Sauk County Invasives Control Network, please
contact the author.
Several factors were key to the formation of the Network, including 1) the support of the Sauk County Highway Commissioner, 2) involving patrolmen in discussions about strategies to control roadside invasives, and, most importantly, 3) matching each patrolman with a land manager or conservationist who knows specific locations of invasive populations and who has knowledge of invasive species control methods. The underpinning of the network is the assumption that pairing a patrolman and conservationist, one of whom knows roadsides intimately, the other of whom knows plants intimately, will result in a trusting personal relationship that can lead to control of invasive plants and other benefits, such as the protection of remnant plant populations.
GSCIPT members include UW-Extension, The Nature Conservancy, Sauk County DNR Forester, DNR staff from Devil's Lake and Mirror Lake State Parks and the Bureau of Endangered Resources, Aldo Leopold Foundation, Sauk County Land Conservation and Parks Departments, Baraboo Range Preservation Association, restoration consultants and several individuals.