Virginia Coastal Program: 2004 Coastal Grant Project Description and Final Summary
Project Task:
FY 2004 Task 11.08
Grantee:
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Division of Natural Heritage
Project Title:
Management, Monitoring, and Landowner Workshops to Address the Phragmites Invasion on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Project Description as Proposed:
Project Summary:
Nationwide, invasive species have been identified as the Number Two threat to biological diversity, second only to loss of species and habitat from development and urban sprawl. The invasive wetland grass known as common reed (Phragmites australis), hereafter called Phragmites, is one of our most serious and problematic invasive plant species. Phragmites is found in every U.S. state and is well-established and increasing in coastal habitats of Virginia. This fast-spreading plant grows up to four (4) meters tall and forms dense monotypic stands, crowding out other native marsh plants. Phragmites is long-lived and spreads rapidly due to its ability to reproduce both by seed and dispersed rhizome fragments, establishing readily in disturbed areas. As a result, marsh plant species diversity and habitat quality are drastically reduced for many kinds of marsh-dependant wildlife.
Phragmites is known to exist in North America, including Virginia, in two genotypic forms. One form is native to the U.S. and appears to have been a non-dominant component of diverse eastern seaboard marsh communities for millennia. Recent DNA studies provide strong evidence that a distinct, non-native Phragmites genotype is also present in the U.S., supporting the existing theory that an introduced variety of Phragmites has been aggressively invading and dominating coastal marshes and other wetland communities, in part due to a lack of natural biological control mechanisms. The presence of an invasive, non-native form of Phragmites largely explains how and why the plant has rapidly spread and become dominant over thousands of acres of wetland communities during the last two decades in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.
The Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay as well as the extensive estuarine and island wetlands of the Eastern Shore Seaside are currently experiencing rapid invasion by non-native Phragmites. Work in Years One and Two of the Seaside Heritage Program has, among other accomplishments, determined that at least 2,024 acres of Phragmites now occurs on the Seaside, with about two-thirds along the mainland-lagoon ecotone and the remainder on the barrier islands. Indications are that during the last decade (mid-1990s to 2004) the amount of Phragmites on the Seaside has about doubled. This current GPS mapping of the current extent of Seaside Phragmites distribution will enable a sound basis for prioritized control treatments, serve as a benchmark for future assessments of Phragmites spread and control measure effectiveness, and assist private landowners with assessing the extent of Phragmites on their property.
The scope of work proposed here for Year Three consists of the following activities:
(1) A new project focus will be a series of educational programs to inform Eastern Shore landowners about methods to control Phragmites on their property. Information collected from the 2004 aerial census will be shared with landowners to assess quantities and locations of Phragmites currently infesting landowners property.
(2) Patches of Phragmites treated on Parramore Island and other Seaside locations in early summer of 2005 will be monitored for treatment efficacy in late summer of 2005 to allow assessment of the need for repeat treatments of treated patches and to refine new control approaches, including evaluation of the efficacy of the new wetland herbicide, Habitat;
(3) a GIS-based Shore-wide risk assessment will be conducted using existing mapped rare species / significant natural community occurrences and assessing which ones are adjacent to and threatened by mapped Phragmites stands;
(4) an estimate will be made of the amount (area covered; number of patches) of native Phragmites on the Seaside, to be determined by Natural Heritage staff visiting a randomly selected subset of all mapped Phragmites stands and making on-site native vs. non-native determinations;
(5) focused Phragmites control will be conducted at the highest priority locations identified in (3) above including ground-based herbicide treatments within sensitive and (in some cases) extremely rare natural communities such as Sea Level Fens on lands in the public interest;
(6) re-evaluate the Swash Bay spoil restoration sites for effectiveness of past Phragmites control and native plant establishment efforts;
(7) Begin control measures for patches of non-native invasive Phragmites at Parramore Island Natural Area Preserve (postponed in Years 1 and 2) as well as other priority Seaside locations held in the public interest.
Extended Project Summary:
Scope of Work - general
A) Conduct technical landowner workshops to provide information on Phragmites control methods.
B) Monitor patches of Phragmites treated in early summer of 2005 on Parramore Island and other Seaside locations.
C) Conduct a GIS-based risk assessment for the Seaside using existing mapped rare species / significant natural community occurrences and assessing which ones most threatened by Phragmites;
D) Estimate the amount/abundance of native Phragmites on the Seaside;
E) Conduct focused Phragmites control actions at high priority locations, including ground-based herbicide treatments within sensitive areas such as rare natural communities;
F) Re-evaluate the Swash Bay spoil restoration sites for effectiveness of past Phragmites control and native plant establishment efforts;
G) Begin the twice-postponed aerial control treatments for patches of non-native invasive Phragmites at Parramore Island Natural Area Preserve.
Scope of Work detailed
Component A Conduct technical workshops for landowners on the abundance, distribution, and control of Phragmites.
A focus of this series of technical programs will be to educate Eastern Shore landowners about reasons and methods to control Phragmites on their property. Information collected from the aerial census would be shared with landowners to assess quantities and locations of Phragmites currently infesting participants land.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $10,000
Component B Conduct additional Phragmites monitoring.
Patches of Phragmites treated on Parramore Island and other Seaside locations in early summer of 2005 will be monitored for treatment efficacy in late summer of 2005 to allow assessment of the need for repeat treatments of patches, to refine new control applications, and to identify additional high priority treatment locations for control efforts to be made in future years.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $8,000
Component C Conduct a GIS-based Shore-wide risk assessment.
A GIS-based risk assessment will use existing mapped rare species and significant natural community occurrences (Natural Heritage element occurrence data) and mapped Phragmites locations to determine which resources are adjacent to and/or most threatened by Phragmites. High risk resources would then be targeted for future control efforts. If needed, field work will be conducted to verify current presence and condition of some element occurrences.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $10,000
Component D Estimate the amount/abundance of native Phragmites on the Seaside.
An estimate will be made (using sampling procedures) of the abundance (area / number of patches) of native Phragmites on the Seaside. Biologists will visit a random subset of mapped Phragmites stands and make on-site native vs. non-native determinations. Extrapolations will then be possible for the entire Shore on native Phragmites abundance.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $5,000
Component E Conduct focused, ground-based Phragmites control actions at high priority locations.
Phragmites control actions will be conducted at the highest priority locations (identified in Component C above). This will include ground-based herbicide treatments within sensitive areas such as extremely rare natural community types such as Sea Level Fens. Treatments will be made only on lands held in the public interest.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $12,000
Component F - Re-evaluate the Swash Bay spoil restoration sites for effectiveness of past Phragmites control and native plant establishment efforts.
VCU scientists will make site visits and monitor vegetation plots established during a previous (mid-1990s) project on two Swash Bay dredge spoil restoration sites. This project included numerous partners and involved control of Phragmites and establishment of desirable native species following chemical treatments and prescribed burning. A follow-up evaluation in 2005 will allow for additional information on the success of these past efforts in managing Phragmites on the Shore Seaside.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $4,000
Component G Begin the aerial control measures for Phragmites at Parramore Island Natural Area Preserve that were planned for Years 1 and 2 but were prevented by adverse weather conditions.
DCR will take a lead role and work closely with The Nature Conservancy (landowner) in implementing measures to control Phragmites at Parramore Island Natural Area Preserve, as well as other high priority Seaside locations in the public interest such as Wreck Island Natural Area Preserve and the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge.
Estimated Year 3 budget: $25,000
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Total Year 3 budget: $74,000
Federal Funding:
$74,000.00
Project Contact:
Richard K Myers - 804.371.6204: Rick.Myers@dcr.virginia.gov
Project Status:
Grant Closed
Final Product Received:
Project Summary Provided by Grantee:
This project had multiple objectives including conducting landowner workshops, controlling and monitoring Phragmites, developing a GIS-based risk assessment tool, estimating the amount of native Phragmites on the Eastern Shore Seaside, and re-evaluating an existing Phragmites control and restoration project. The following results were achieved.
1) Four landowner workshops were conducted at two Eastern Shore locations during April (Northampton County) and June (Accomack County). Attendees were private property owners facing their own Phragmites control situations and most were looking to control Phragmites using herbicides, although many did not have technical knowledge or experience. Nearly thirty landowners attended the workshops and benefited from the information distributed.
2) DCR staff contracted with an aerial pesticide applicator to treat 220 acres of Phragmites at Parramore Island Natural Area Preserve with treatments applied on August 25, 2005. Contracted ground-application control of four acres of Phragmites was also accomplished at Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve on September 28, 2005. Finally, DCR staff used backpack sprayers to treat approximately one acre of Phragmites at Wreck Island Natural Area Preserve in early October 2005. In all, 225 acres of Phragmites was treated on the Eastern Shore Seaside in 2005 using Habitat herbicide. Post-treatment monitoring has consisted of qualitative observations of treatment effects with early indications of success. Due to the late growing season treatment dates, in-depth quantitative monitoring of treatment effects must wait until the growing season of 2006.
3) A GIS-based risk assessment of the threat posed by Phragmites to natural resources on the Eastern Shore Seaside was completed, consisting of an 8-page map atlas showing all 1,404 mapped patches of Phragmites on the Seaside coded by color to indicate those patches considered high priority for immediate control, given their spatial proximity to known occurrences of rare species and natural communities.
4) Extensive field sampling was used to estimate the abundance of native Phragmites on the Seaside. Biologists visited a random subset (n=81) of the 1,404 mapped Seaside Phragmites patches and made on-site native vs. non-native determinations. None of the 81 randomly sampled sites had native Phragmites characteristics. Based on the results from this unbiased 6% sample, there appears to be little (if any) native Phragmites on the Virginia Eastern Shore Seaside.
5) A re-evaluation was made of a Phragmites control and restoration project established during the mid-1990’s in Swash Bay near Wachapreague, VA. Phragmites was controlled and desirable native species were planted. In 2005, while still supporting some of the desirable plants and functioning as habitat for some native wildlife species, the Swash Bay sites have decreased plant species diversity as a result of gradual Phragmites re-colonization.
For more complete descriptions of this and related project components, see DCR’s report on Year 3 of the Seaside Heritage Program entitled “Management, Monitoring, and Landowner Workshops to Address the Phragmites Invasion on the Eastern Shore Seaside of Virginia” by Myers et al.
Disclaimer: This project summary provides the federal dollars initially awarded to the grantee. Due to underexpenditure or reprogramming of grant funds, this figure may change. For more information on the allocation of coastal grant funds, please contact Laura McKay, Virginia Coastal Program Manager, at 804.698.4323 or email: Laura.McKay@deq.virginia.gov
A more detailed Scope of Work for this project is available. Please direct your request for a copy to Virginia.Witmer@deq.virginia.gov