Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) is hosted by the NY-NJ Trail Conference and is dedicated to protecting the Lower Hudson region's biodiversity & ecosystems with a focus on controlling the harmful impacts of invasive species. 

The Invasives Strike Force wrapped up training and tackled some high priority projects in June! To kick off the month, the crew spent two days managing invasives at Croton Point Park. Chinese bushclover, a meadow invader, was treated by the team to prevent it from spreading to a nearby meadow that is currently undergoing restoration work to promote native bird habitat. Paper mulberry and sycamore maple were also managed to prevent spread across the region.

The crew also undertook intensive Wilderness First Aid training to keep themselves and volunteers safe in the field. After that, the crew headed to Lenoir Preserve to tackle a new foe, five-leaved aralia. This thorny shrub was recently classified as a highly aggressive invader, so early detection and rapid response of this species is critical.

The crew also managed giant hogweed, a dangerous invasive that has photophytotoxic sap. Of the 12 sites visited, most had fewer than 10 hogweed plants present. The largest giant hogweed site we manage has seen vast improvement - from around 7,000 hogweed plants in 2021 to around 1,100 in 2022 to around 700 in 2023! We're stoked to see this emerging invasive on such a precipitous decline.

The crew made their return to Dover, NY towards the end of the month for their annual sticky sage management work . By the end of their first week managing there, they removed sticky sage from nearly all of the infested parcels surrounding the Appalachian Trail. The AT is prioritized first for management because sticky sage has sticky seeds that can hitchhike on animals and hikers, making the AT a potential highway for future invasions.

To wrap up the month, the crew spent a few days in Leave No Trace training to better understand and teach proper outdoor use etiquette.

Brent Boscarino works together with volunteers from the Irvington Green Policy Task Force to identify tree of heaven and remove SLF through vacuum harvesting  at a collaborative event on the Old Croton Aqueduct on June 10 (see backpack vacuum on Brent and a volunteer in photo above).

With funding support from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets and NYS DEC, the Trail Conference has been leading efforts to mitigate the impact of spotted lanternfly (SLF) throughout the region. Our response plan has involved multiple control measures including chemical treatment, trapping, vacuum harvesting and surveying. 

Thanks to collaborating partners like the Irvington Green Policy Task Force, Westchester County Parks, Scenic Hudson, and CCE Rockland County, we have removed 3800 SLF from the environment through vacuum harvesting alone in 2023. Hundreds of tree of heaven have already been chemically treated by Lower Hudson PRISM partner, Trillium Invasive Species Management, Inc. this year which, at a minimum, has doubled the number of SLF already eliminated by our team through manual removal.

Furthermore, the Conservation Dogs Program spent 48 survey days searching for and removing over 1,100 egg masses (covering over 200 survey miles in the process!) Given that each egg mass holds ~20-30 SLF eggs, that’s another order of magnitude of SLF removed from the environment by our team. We are also excited to report that we have close to 100 ISF surveyors signed up to search for and report SLF and TOH along our trail system this year. In addition to all of these measures, we  installed over 40 circle traps at early detection sites in our region that will enable us to respond rapidly to new reports.  

While we can’t completely stem the tide of the advance of these insects into our region, we feel confident that these continued efforts are helping to mitigate their impact to our economic and ecological resources in the region and helping to empower community volunteers to protect their own homes and gardens.