Since the Last Meeting

WIRSC Update Prepared by Emily Anderson BOD Meeting 10-1-2014 Crandon, WI

Since the Last Meeting  Crandon Library Invasive Species Presentation (August 14, 6pm)  Marinette County Fair (August 21-24)  Florence County Fair (August 22-24)  Dickinson County Fair (August 27-Sep 1)  Forest County Fair (September 4-7)  Forest County Association of Lakes Fall Forum (September 13)  Forest County High School Environmental Science field trip (September 15, field trip at Lake Metonga with environmental science students from Crandon, Laona, and Wabeno)  Adopt a Spot Citizen Monitoring Training – UW Marinette (September 18)  Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association Annual Meeting – Field Day (September 21)  Adopt a Spot Citizen Monitoring Training – Crandon High School (September 22)  5th Grade Field Trip – Carney School Forest, Invasive Species Station (September 29)  Florence County Invasive Workday (A workday in Florence was canceled, WRISC had been working with the WNDR Wildlife Dept to hold a volunteer workday in the county, but with WDNR vacancies and new hires plans were delayed and then the proposed site was found unsuitable.)  WI ATV Association Invasives Video (We had planned to shoot an invasives ID video with the WI ATV Association to post online. Unfortunately, conflicts arose and we will have to wait until next season.)

Upcoming Events  Kingsford High School Invasives Field Trip (Oct 9?)  Michigan Invasives Conference (Lower MI, Oct 16-17)  Upper Midwest Invasive Conference (Duluth, MN Oct 20-22)  UP Invasives Conference (Marquette, MI November 4)  Wisconsin AIS Partners Meeting (Stevens Point, WI Nov 5-6)  WRISC BOD Meeting (Dec 3)

Mitigation and Enhancement Fund (MEF) Menominee River Watershed (MRW) Invasives Strategic Plan Status: Will be working on this in Oct/Nov. Combine Known Invasive Location Data: Continue to receive occasional reports of invasives in the area. In communication with WDNR statewide staff, may receive more information on wetland invasive plant locations later in winter. Data is also being collected through other WRISC programs including the citizen monitoring project Adopt a Spot and the WMA Control program. Over the next few months the Coordinator will finish entering data sheets into an excel spreadsheet and will submit it to MISIN. Local partners will also receive copies where the data is sorted by county. One obstacle that has been recognized is WRISC’s lack of GIS software. The Coordinator will discuss options to purchase Arc GIS and a new computer to operate it with treasurer Hruska, and will also explore other mapping options to meet grant deliverables by December 2014 deadline. MRW Invasive Prevention: Summer boatwash work has ended for the year, and most datasheets appeared to have been entered into Wisconsin’s SWIMS database. All that remains is to sort out the sheets/hours and separate by grant and state. MRW Invasive Surveys: Invasive surveys have ended for the year, and all that remains is to enter final datasheets into spreadsheet. Overall, surveys did reveal a great need for further mapping of invasives along roadways. Invasive species prevention strategy – education/volunteer recruitment: The WRISC coordinator participated in the Forest County Association of Lakes (FCAL) Fall Forum, where she sat on a panel with other lake experts to answer citizen questions on lake issues (WRISC partner John Preuss also participated). The WRISC coordinator was also a speaker at the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association annual meeting field day near Crandon. Just this week the coordinator also took part in a 5 school field day in Menominee county where she talked to 5th grad students about invasive species at the Carney School Forest. Volunteer recruitment also took place through the citizen monitoring Adopt a Spot program. Outreach took place at area county fairs. Long term prevention outreach was also sought through support of the regional Play Clean Go proposal (more information farther down).

WMA Coordinator Grant – Wisconsin Strategic Plan Status (as above). Increase membership base, diversity, and involvement: There have been continued requests for participation in action teams, and the coordinator has made these meetings more open by posting meeting time/call in information on the website calendar, homepage, and in mass emails. WRISC also had booths at all five county fairs this summer (more info below). Through community events, we have also added several more citizens to our email mailing list, with about 25 additions since the last BOD meeting. We also had one public presentation on invasive species for citizens at the Crandon Public Library. Targeted outreach: The WRISC coordinator participated in the Forest County Association of Lakes (FCAL) Fall Forum, where she sat on a panel with other lake experts to answer citizen questions on lake issues (WRISC partner John Preuss also participated). The coordinator also participated in a tri-school Environmental Science field trip in Forest County, there she and partner John Preuss ran an invasive species station. The WRISC coordinator was also a speaker at the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association annual meeting field day near Crandon. There she did 3 sessions at an invasive species station going over impacts of invasives, invasive ID, and control/prevention. This event probably had the biggest single impact, with over 100 people in attendance, and an estimated reach of ~75 people. WRISC had been planning an invasives ID video with the WI ATV Association, but that will now have to wait until next year. Work Days: The invasives workday in Florence county was canceled. For grant requirements WRISC still needs to hold a workday in Florence and Marinette counties. With the current time of year, the most likely way to hold a successful workday would be to coordinate something with a local school and control woody invasives. If you know of a likely school/invasive location paring that would work in Florence or Marinette, please contact the Coordinator ASAP. If we are not able to accomplish this we might be able to do spring garlic mustard pulls and have that count before the grant ends. Early Detection Work: See GLRI grant and WMA Control grants.

WMA Control Grant – Wisconsin To date we have two private properties enrolled in this program, for which we will write 5 year invasive management plans. One property is outside of Crandon and has a very large garlic mustard infestation, and one is in northern Forest County and has various thistle plants along forest roads. One property was surveyed in July and the other in August. The coordinator will begin work on the mgmt. plans this winter. With current low participation in the program the coordinator will be writing up a press release to garner more interest. The coordinator is also considering including the two Adopt a Spot properties in this program as well to help meet our goal of 9 total properties. If you know of anyone in Wisconsin who would be interested in this program, PLEASE encourage them to apply.

Citizen Based Monitoring Grant - Wisconsin Two groups have contacted our coordinator to adopt spots to monitor for invasives. Cindy Edlund and the Crandon High School Environmental Science Class are adopting the Crandon School Forest. Keith West and his class at UW-Marinette are adopting a small parcel of university property. In September the coordinator conducted field training for both groups, and began mapping the properties with them. The classes will compile their invasive locations and return them to WRISC to report. Several invitations were sent to other groups and are awaiting a response. If you know of a group you would like to invite to participate in the program, ask the coordinator for a copy of the invitation letter. Terrestrial and Monitoring Action Teams liked the idea of schools adopting school forests, and will be pursuing that route for more participation.

GLRI – Rapid Response Rapid response treatments have mostly wrapped up for the year. In August crew members Joe and Brian conducted foliar treatment of Japanese Knotweed patches that had been previously cut. Both crew members left for school at the end of August, and WRISC was lucky enough to rehire former coordinator Mari Dallapiazza as a temporary field technician. Mari has finished the remaining knotweed herbicide treatments. The only treatment remaining is a garlic mustard fall treatment on private property outside of Crandon, WI. Currently the coordinator is working on organizing rapid response treatment sheets, entering them in a spreadsheet, and preparing to update MISIN on sites that received treatment. There has also been discussion with the Terrestrial Action Team on ways to prioritize Japanese Knotweed sites better next year, which included prioritizing sites along water and conducting landowner assistance for “backyard” sites.

GLRI – Boat Wash/FCLARA CBCW Grant All field staff have turned in the last of their CBCW datasheets and their CBCW kits (we are still waiting for some to return their binders). The WI DNR CBCW grant through FCLARA is just about done for the year, and WRISC/DCD will be putting together the final reports to pass on to FCLARA. Some work continues on the GLRI boat wash grant purely as education/outreach, including a press release in early September on the discovery of Spiny Waterflea in northern Forest County. We are waiting for the last of the CBCW datasheets to be tallied, but between the CBCW, GLRI, and MEF grants, the following is our current best estimate at CBCW/AIS education and outreach at boat landings this summer by WRISC: 4,567 people contacted 1,642 boats inspected/washed

Misc. Newsletters: We have extra copies of the Summer Newsletter leftover from county fairs, feel free to take and distribute. Soon the coordinator will begin work on the Fall Newsletter, to highlight the invasive plant Japanese Barberry. It will also include a highlight on new/rare/uncommon invasives discovered this year in the WRSIC area (spiny waterflea, dwarf knotweed, Himalayan knotweed, brown knapweed, bristly locust, houndstongue). If you have a suggestion to include in the newsletter, or would like to write an article for it, contact Emily. County Fairs: In August/September the WRISC coordinator attended the Florence, Marinette, Dickinson, and Forest county fairs (Menominee’s fair was in July). Thanks to all of the WRISC partners who helped set up/take down/staff the WRISC booth. Despite the fact that every single fair was rained on, it was a great time, with some great conversations with citizens, and even a few new reports of invasive locations.

In the News: Since the last BOD meeting WRISC issued press releases on the Adopt a Spot program and the discovery of Spiny Waterflea in Butternut lake. We also plan on issuing a press release to garner more interest in the WMA Control program. Usually these press releases are sent to the entire WRISC coverage area, but our coordinator obviously does not subscribe to every newspaper. So, if you see WRISC mentioned in the news, please copy and send it to us to keep for reporting purposes.

Play Clean Go: Play Clean Go is a campaign, based in Minnesota, focused on preventing the spread of terrestrial invasives. The simple message is to the point and able to be adapted to several target audiences (hikers, bicyclists, ATVers, hunters, etc.). The WRISC coordinator has been following the progress of a new grant proposal to expand the campaign beyond Minnesota, with the goal of eventually creating a widespread campaign for terrestrial invasives similar to what the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers campaign has done for aquatic invasives. Toward this effort, WRSIC and several other Wisconsin CWMAs have written letters of support for the proposal, participated in conference calls discussing the proposal, and have been written into the proposal to provide match as well as to receive some grant funds (issued on a contract basis). For more information on Play Clean Go, visit www.playcleango.org.

Website/Facebook: Over the last month the WRISC website has had 195 total visitors, 136 of which were new visitors. The image to the right shows the pages most frequently visited.

The website has received updates, but most have been to the events calendar and the WRISC homepage. It is much easier to post regular updates to the Facebook page than to the website. This winter, more work will be done on the WRISC website, including an update to a newer version of our website builder/manager which will change the overall design of the website as well.

Facebook has continued to receive regular updates of invasive articles, links, pictures etc.

The WRISC facebook page has gone from 109 likes (at the last BOD meeting) to 116 likes. The graph below shows the total reach for our facebook page for the months of August and September.

As compared to the graph for the months of June and July.