Make your day: Rescue a tree

People all over are discovering how gratifying it is to get out into nature (or even just into their yards) to save the local ecosystem from invasive non-native plants.  In times past, the woods and meadows could take care of themselves. Those days are gone, because invasive plants have multiplied past a tipping point so that only human intervention can stop them. Now more and more humans are taking that responsibility seriously.

The legal definition of “invasive” in this context is a non-native plant that, when introduced into the ecosystem in question, causes environmental, economic, or human harm. In natural areas, plant growth is controlled by a myriad of factors including insects and other plants. When plants are moved to a place where  those controls are missing, some species behave aggressively. This can be a nuisance in a landscape setting but a disaster in a natural one. The example most easy to spot is that of invasive non-native vines that crawl up trees and smother or strangle them. If you take a look along the side of highways in more populated regions, you will see tree after tree covered by English Ivy or by blankets of other non-native vines. All those trees are doomed, as are nearby ones that will soon be affected, unless someone gets in there and cuts the vines at their base.

Invasive vines are not the only culprits. Invasive trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials also smother and displace the native ones. In many natural areas, over a quarter of the plant species are non-native, leading to drastic reductions in the abundance of butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. Our fauna co-evolved with the native plants and depend upon them for their survival. 

Examples of the economic harm caused by invasive plants include power outages caused by invasive vines, destruction of pasturage by invasive Fountain Grass, and damage to vineyards caused indirectly by Tree-of-Heaven, the natural host plant for the Spotted Lanternfly. This is not even to mention the damage caused to parks which are made inaccessible by masses of tangles and thorny vegetation and the huge expense required to clear them.

Opportunities abound around Virginia for volunteers to get some free exercise rescuing trees or doing other invasive removal work. Trained volunteers lead others in scheduled events or work independently in public parks. Those roadside vines can be tackled by obtaining a permit from the Virginia Department of Transportation. Residents of homeowners associations and members of faith communities work on their common land. And just about every residential property has at least some invasive plants that need controlling. 

Removing invasive plants is essential to the future of our local ecosystem, but those efforts are set back every time anyone plants more of them, a common occurrence given that they are still widely available for sale. A new law in Virginia will soon go into effect that will require installers and designers to warn their customers if they plan to use an invasive plant. A similar bill to require labeling of invasive plants in garden centers was passed in 2024 by the General Assembly but was vetoed by Governor Youngkin. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a list of invasive plants, a list that is hard to keep up to date as new plants are discovered to have invasive tendencies.  Although there are many non-native plants that don’t cause problems, the safest choices are plants that are native to a given ecosystem. Fortunately, there are plenty of garden-worthy native plants that can be substituted for the invasive ones.

Controlling invasive plants in many cases is more complicated than simply cutting them down. In fact, some infestations are actually made worse by cutting - Tree-of-Heaven is a prime example - so it is important to identify the plant accurately and consult references before deciding on proper management. Plant identification apps have made the first part much easier, and details on management are available on the Blue Ridge PRISM website.