Dear Partners,

APIPP is excited Brian Greene has joined our team as the Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator. Read more about Brian below. Earth Day is next week, and you can celebrate by attending the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Forest Pest Symposium. More April events are below. April is also the month you might see garlic mustard starting to emerge, read on to learn about APIPP’s success managing this plant.

Meet Brian Greene, APIPP’s New Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator

APIPP is pleased to announce Brian Greene has joined the team. Brian is excited about working with APIPP’s volunteers and partners. You can meet him at our virtual April 29 Spring Partner Meeting.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and a Master of Science in Natural Resources from Cornell University. Learn more about Brian and his career focused on citizen-science monitoring on our website. You can email Brian at brian.greene@tnc.org.

Spend Earth Day, April 22, at the HCSWCD Forest Pest Symposium

The Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District is excited to host a Forest Pest Symposium on April 22 from 8:30am to 1:15pm. Landowners, town supervisors, and outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged to attend. Participants will learn how to identify these pests, what their impact is on Adirondack forests, and how partners are slowing the spread of emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, and spotted lanternfly. To learn more and register for the virtual Forest Pest Symposium, visit the District’s website or call 518-548-3991. 

Garlic Mustard

You may be familiar with garlic mustard, an invasive spring plant. More about the plant, how to identify it, its impact on the environment, and how to manage it can be found on our website.

A recent research paper from Cornell suggests large infestations of garlic mustard may naturally decline over time and may be best left unmanaged. This research suggests that negative soil feedback may lead to natural garlic mustard decline. Managing sites where human disturbance could facilitate the spread of this species into the Adirondack backcountry, however, is still important.

APIPP has had great success managing garlic mustard as part of our stewardship of DEC campgrounds. Our stewards have eradicated garlic mustard from seven campgrounds! Last year our steward pulled 14,403 plants.

Multiple seasons of pulling garlic mustard have reduced its abundance by 79% across Adirondack campgrounds, greatly reducing the chance that hikers and bikers will spread the seeds from the campgrounds into the backcountry. To learn more about how you can help inadvertently prevent the spread of invasive species when recreating in the Adirondacks click here.

More April Events

April 14: Green Gardening—Designing with Native Plants & Avoiding Invasive Species

Join the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program and expert speakers from the Native Plant Trust to learn how to design attractive landscapes using native plants, avoid invasive species, and prevent the spread of soil harming invasive jumping worms. In 2021, help your garden support pollinators, increase biodiversity, and protect our local environment.

Wednesday, April 14, 10:00am – 11:30am To register click here.

April 29: APIPP Spring Partner Meeting

Join APIPP staff and partners for a discussion of collaboration opportunities for the 2021 field season and learn about environmental DNA (eDNA). Paul Simonin, a conservation biologist with Cornell University, will provide an overview of eDNA and its use detecting aquatic invasive species (AIS). His talk will be followed by a presentation from Mark Whitmore, the principal investigator at the NYS Hemlock Initiative. Mark will share emerging research about eDNA as a tool for hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) detection.

Thursday, April 29, 9:30am – 12:00pm  To register click here.

Happy Spring! I hope to “see” you at one of our events soon.

Tammara