Invasive Plants and Awareness

When it comes to landscaping and planning for all these parks and plazas hockey stadiums, there can be threats to the eco-system by invasive species. In a region that relies on agriculture and ag science, that could be more than a mere annoyance. From the News-Gazette a few days ago:
In the Garden | Fighting invasive plants
Many of us are utterly unaware of the serious threat these plants present to the native plant diversity of our natural areas.

Thankfully, there is a group of trained ecologists, volunteers and other plant enthusiasts who focus on invasive-plant issues and fight these destructive plants on a daily basis in central Illinois.

The Headwaters Invasive Plant Partnership was formed in 2015 to raise awareness of the invasive-plant issue by making sure area residents have access to information in order to recognize problematic plants and their negative effects on the environment. The group has produced excellent informational materials (such as the Invasive Plants and Beautiful Native Alternatives brochure), sponsors educational events and organizes volunteers to hit the front lines in the battle against invasive plants.

The group established the first Cooperative Weed Management Area in central Illinois, although many others exist across the country. These areas typically rely on voluntary participation from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, private landowners and concerned citizens.

The partnership's mission focuses on reducing the impact of invasive plants in central Illinois, including everything from awareness and early detection of invasives to rapid response and control of invasive-plant populations.
The full article is here and explains a recent awareness project that had odd synthetic plants popping up around downtown Champaign. They had advice for folks with gardens and their own landscaping work:

The take-home message is that we need to be more responsible for plant material we buy and exercise our right as consumers to carefully select the plants we buy. Since all of the invasives I listed above are currently for sale at local retail outlets, it's really important to understand the plant you are taking home.

Kaleb Lukens, the local partnership's newly hired program coordinator, offers some expert advice if you would like to be more proactive in stopping the spread of invasive species: "Gardeners should aim to identify the scientific name of what they're planning to buy, which can be used to search an Illinois invasive-species list.

"It can also be helpful to check guides and find suppliers that sell natives," Lukens said. "This way, gardeners are not only ensuring that they aren't part of the problem, but also helping to be part of the solution. Both an invasive species list and a native-plant-purchasing guide can be found on our website, Ilhipp.org."