Feral Pigs in NY Allegany State Park

feral pig (photo from National Forest Law Blog)

if you like this article, click the Blip chiclet!
based on a posting in the FLT e-group, original source uncertain

The NY Department of Environmental Cconservation has confirmed that feral pigs (wild boar) are invading Allegany State Park. A road crew saw the pigs last weed whil working, and two visitors managed to take their picture.

The damage these animals do to an ecosystem is considerable. "When they go to the wild they actually go through a morphological change. Their hair turns thicker, darker and courser, and their tusks develop. You wouldn't think that little pink porker could become that razorback type of boar but it does," said New York DEC Wildlife Manager Mark Kandel

There are concerns about the boars invading central New York as well. They can produce three litters a year, and quickly cause problems. They avoid human contact, but will attack if they feel threatened. And an adult boar can weigh 300 pounds.

The DEC wants to eradicate the animals from the state. The New York State Hunting guide reads "Feral swine are a harmful, invasive species. DEC is working to eradicate feral swine from NY's landscape. Hunters with small game hunting privileges may shoot and keep feral swine, at any time, and in any number."

There are areas and times when hunting is restricted in state parks that can override the "anywhere, anytime" directive. The meat of these feral swine is reportedly leaner and healthier than that of the commercial chemical laden pork sold in stores. But NYS law doesn't even require that they be removed. They just want them eradicated before they get established beyond eradication.

Invasive Plants Workshop at Allegany State Park, NY

Mile-a-Minute Weed, Asiatic Tearthumb, Polygonum perfoliatum(from Purdue University)

from Meg Janis, Natural Resource Steward -Biologist, Letchworth State Park

Forests, streams, lakes and fields are being degraded or irreparably damaged by alien invasive species. The cost to eliminate or mitigate the effects from these species will be vastly higher the longer we wait. The economic damage suffered by other parts of the country will happen here unless we are vigilant now. Emerald Ash Borer is confirmed just south of Cattaraugus County; Asian Long-Horned beetles have been found in the Long Island Region; Mile-a-Minute Vine and Giant Hogweed are in Cattaraugus County.

Mile-a-Minute Weed Range (from USDA

Allegany State Park is offering a free workshop on May 7. Learn how to properly identify the invasive specie and then what to do in response to help eradicate the problem. The three main topics at the workshop are aquatics, plants and insects.

Speakers are: Mike Goehle (USFWS) - Aquatics; Paul Furhman (Ecology and Environment, Inc.) - Plants; and Melissa Plemons (OPRHP Invasive Species Biologist) - Insects.

Bring your own lunch. The closest restaurant or store is a 10-minute drive away.

Schedule:
9:00-9:30 AM       Registration
9:30-10:00 AM       Welcome
10:00-11:00 AM       Presentation #1
11:15-12:15 PM       Presentation #2
12:15-1:00 PM       Lunch
1:15-2:15 PM       Presentation #3
2:15-3:00 PM       Wrap-Up

Please pre-register by May 1 with Cassie Wright or (716) 354-9101 ext 236. There is space for only 80 participants.

See Skip the Sushi- New Tapeworm in Great Lakes
See Biological Pesticide Found for Zebra Mussels
See Bloody Red Shrimp Invades the Great Lakes
See Birch Leafminer Controlled in Northeast

Birch Leafminer Controlled in Northeast

birch leafminer damage photo by E. Bradford Walker, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation

excerpts from a news release of the University of Rhode Island

The United States has been under assault for decades by a wide variety of alien plants and animals, and it is not often that one of these aliens faces a counterpunch. But in a collaborative project with several other institutions, the University of Rhode Island has scored a knockout.

The birch leafminer, an insect pest that regularly disfigures birch trees, has been virtually eradicated in the Northeast. And the credit goes to entomologists from URI and other institutions who successfully introduced a biological control agent.

"Birch leafminers are no longer a pest in the Northeast," said Richard Casagrande, URI professor of plant sciences. The program consisted of introducing a natural enemy of the birch leafminer, a parasitoid called Lathrolestes nigricollis, which was brought to the U.S. from Europe where it effectively controls the birch leafminer.

Now the same can be said for Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey. The URI scientists recently coordinated a survey that has documented complete control of this pest in these states.

According to scientists, the birch leafminer arrived in the U.S. in 1923, probably in a shipment of plant material sent to Connecticut. From there it spread throughout the Northeast and into the Midwest. In the 1970s, Roger Fuester and colleagues at the Delaware Beneficial Insects Rearing Lab introduced several European parasitoids to fight the pest.

The birch leafminer is not a fatal pest to birches. It disfigures the trees by mining within the leaves, and since birches are often used for landscaping, the effect became an aesthetic issue. Birches do have a fatal pest—the bronze birch borer – which can kill white-bark birches very quickly, but no biocontrol has been found for this native pest.

"The birch leafminer program is a good example of the results of a coordinated, long-term approach to classical biological control," Casagrande said. "We're seeing similar success with programs for purple loosestrife, cypress spurge, mile-a-minute weed, and perhaps, lily leaf beetle, but as you can see, it takes time— 34 years in this case for complete control."