Empowering Door County citizens and municipalities with the information, tools, and skills to tackle invasive species.
Empowering Door County citizens and municipalities with the information, tools, and skills to tackle invasive species.
Earlier this year a Door County resident reached out to the Door County Invasive Species Team with a question, “What should I do with a lizard that hitchhiked on some plants I bought at a home improvement store?” The answer, “Do not release it!” The lizard, which was identified as a brown anole, would not have made it through a Wisconsin winter and probably would have been eaten by a bird of prey, cat or another predator prior to the onset of winter. However, there was a chance the lizard could have been harboring a zoonotic pathogen that could have impacted closely related species, such as other cold-blooded animals, or impacted another unrelated species.
This story is not unique. 2021 has been a year with multiple reports of escaped parakeets, parrots, lizards, invasive worms, problematic plants, and early detection species. It seems each week DCIST had another species to focus on. With each new species, there was a unifying effort that people could take to protect Door County’s ecology - prevention. Invasive species can spread through multiple pathways including: hitching rides on equipment to new areas (spotted lantern fly egg sacs being attached to vehicles, seeds stuck on shoes and pet fur, etc.), hitching rides in water containers (zebra mussels and quagga mussels’ larvae in coolers and boat props), hitching rides in firewood (emerald ash borer), and getting a free ride as a pet or ornamental plant (yellow iris, bishops weed). Although not glorious, prevention is relatively simple and helps address the pathways new invaders use: 1) inspect all equipment and furry friends 2) clean all debris off equipment and furry friends 3) Don't move anything with suspected invasive species keep it on site 4) Plant only native plants and use locally sourced materials 5) Properly dispose of material contaminated with invasives (landfill and/or solarize and landfill) 6) Stay on hiking trails 7) if possible control invaders.
For more information on this story check out our September 2021 Newsletter: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/9d8bdf99-a469-4a63-b6aa-964398b2ffe0/downloads/September%202021%20DCIST%20Newsletter.pdf?ver=1632259794861
.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:400,cg:true)
