MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE NON-NATIVE PLANT SURVEY A survey of non-native plants along major and secondary roads in the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska February 29, 2012 MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE NON-NATIVE PLANT SURVEY A survey of non-native plants along major and secondary roads in the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska Prepared for: Anchorage Park Foundation and Municipality of Anchorage Anchorage Park Foundation 715 L Street, Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99501 Prepared by: Helen Klein, Casey Greenstein, Miriah Phelps, Lindsey Flagstad, Helen Cortés-Burns and Matthew Carlson Alaska Natural Heritage Program University of Alaska Anchorage 707 A Street Anchorage, AK 99501 February 29, 2012 MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE NON-NATIVE PLANT SURVEY i Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................. IV LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................................... VI ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 METHODS .............................................................................................................................................................. 4 I. STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 II. SURVEY METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Systematic plots ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Outlier plots ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 Work performed at each plot ................................................................................................................................. 7 Plot naming and numbering convention ................................................................................................................ 7 III. POST-FIELD WORK DELIVERABLES ................................................................................................................................. 8 Voucher collections ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Photo library .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Database ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 IV. POST-FIELDWORK ANALYSES ....................................................................................................................................... 8 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................................. 10 Prioritized species detected within the Municipality ........................................................................................... 11 Species previously unreported within Alaska ....................................................................................................... 15 Species previously unreported within the Municipality ....................................................................................... 16 Non-listed species detected within the Municipality ........................................................................................... 18 I. SENSITIVE AREA TRENDS ........................................................................................................................................... 19 II. SPECIAL NOTE ON ADDITIONAL ANCHORAGE AREA INFESTATIONS ..................................................................................... 19 III. CONTROL ACTIONS COMPLETED TO DATE ..................................................................................................................... 20 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 I. MANAGEMENT PRIORITIES ....................................................................................................................................... 21 HIGH-PRIORITY SPECIES ................................................................................................................................................... 21 A-listed species ..................................................................................................................................................... 21 B-listed species ..................................................................................................................................................... 24 U-listed species .................................................................................................................................................... 41 New arrivals to the State ..................................................................................................................................... 44 New arrivals to the Municipality .......................................................................................................................... 44 Non-listed species ................................................................................................................................................ 46 HIGH-PRIORITY LOCATIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 47 Outlier populations .............................................................................................................................................. 47 II. MOWING PLAN ...................................................................................................................................................... 52 HIGHER PRIORITY ROAD SECTIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 55 LOWER PRIORITY ROAD SECTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 57 III. RECOMMENDED REVISIONS TO THE MUNICIPALITY’S PRIORITIZED LIST OF WEED SPECIES ....................................................... 60 IV. FUTURE PREVENTION AND MONITORING ..................................................................................................................... 61 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 63 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................................ 69 APPENDIX I: PRIORITIZED LISTS OF NON-NATIVE PLANT SPECIES IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE ........................................... 69 APPENDIX II: FIELD DATA SHEET ........................................................................................................................................ 73 MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE NON-NATIVE PLANT SURVEY ii APPENDIX III: STREET NAME SITE CODE ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ 74 APPENDIX IV: VOUCHER LIST ........................................................................................................................................... 75 APPENDIX V: SPECIES LIST ............................................................................................................................................... 77 APPENDIX VI: OUTLIER POPULATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 79 APPENDIX VII: SPECIES BIOGRAPHIES ................................................................................................................................. 84 MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE NON-NATIVE PLANT SURVEY iii List of Figures Figure 1. Municipality of Anchorage study area, Alaska .......................................................................................... 5 Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a systematic plot location and orientation. ........................................................... 6 Figure 3. Presence of high-priority non-native species at systematic and outlier plots completed for the Municipality of Anchorage roadside survey. ................................................................................................ 11