Home
News
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Invasive species are causing more problems in Oregon with the help of humans unaware of the environmental nuisance they can create, scientists say.
The potentially destructive outsiders have a knack for taking advantage of every method of transportation to get to a new location where they thrive — the treads of off-road vehicles, disguised as science curriculum that’s shipped to teachers, and offered at plant sales as garden beautifiers.
For example, the Eurasian milfoil catches rides on a boat’s propeller, gets brought to a new lake and grows into the dense mats that interfere with swimming, fishing, water skiing and boating.
Felt-soled wading boots transport whirling disease organisms from stream to stream. This parasitic infection causes salmon and trout to swim erratically, have difficulty feeding and trouble avoiding predators.
Well-meaning teachers and students complete a hands-on science curriculum by releasing invasive crayfish into nearby streams. Rusty crayfish displace native species, destroy aquatic plant beds and alter food chains.
Gardeners hoping to attract wildlife buy and plant butterfly bush — Buddleja davidii — which spreads to neighbors’ yards and the park, eventually taking over open habitats.
People also have intentionally released invasive species — nutria to create a fur-trade business and feral pigs for recreational hunting. Both of these mammals wreak havoc on wetland areas.
And the Internet has opened the door to an entire new pathway — often unregulated — for species to end up in a new territory.
For example, aquarium plants, fish and other exotic pets often are purchased from one country or state and sent to another.
When people lose interest in the aquarium pet or move, a quick dump in a local pond makes an easy way of ridding the home of the unwanted critter. But some of those fish and plants can thrive in a natural environment, spreading throughout streams and pushing out native species.
Recently, federal officials began looking into another pathway — volunteers spreading seeds of invasive plants when working on restoration projects along streams or opening up waterways to invasive aquatic species.
“One of the challenges with trying to prevent introductions is there is this diversity of pathways, and some are certainly getting attention, like commercial shipping,” said Paul Heimowitz, aquatic invasive species coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific region.
“But it is sometimes difficult to know where to put our prevention energy,” Heimowitz said. “We don’t necessarily have a good idea of which pathways are really the biggest problems.”
The potentially destructive outsiders have a knack for taking advantage of every method of transportation to get to a new location where they thrive — the treads of off-road vehicles, disguised as science curriculum that’s shipped to teachers, and offered at plant sales as garden beautifiers.
For example, the Eurasian milfoil catches rides on a boat’s propeller, gets brought to a new lake and grows into the dense mats that interfere with swimming, fishing, water skiing and boating.
Felt-soled wading boots transport whirling disease organisms from stream to stream. This parasitic infection causes salmon and trout to swim erratically, have difficulty feeding and trouble avoiding predators.
Well-meaning teachers and students complete a hands-on science curriculum by releasing invasive crayfish into nearby streams. Rusty crayfish displace native species, destroy aquatic plant beds and alter food chains.
Gardeners hoping to attract wildlife buy and plant butterfly bush — Buddleja davidii — which spreads to neighbors’ yards and the park, eventually taking over open habitats.
People also have intentionally released invasive species — nutria to create a fur-trade business and feral pigs for recreational hunting. Both of these mammals wreak havoc on wetland areas.
And the Internet has opened the door to an entire new pathway — often unregulated — for species to end up in a new territory.
For example, aquarium plants, fish and other exotic pets often are purchased from one country or state and sent to another.
When people lose interest in the aquarium pet or move, a quick dump in a local pond makes an easy way of ridding the home of the unwanted critter. But some of those fish and plants can thrive in a natural environment, spreading throughout streams and pushing out native species.
Recently, federal officials began looking into another pathway — volunteers spreading seeds of invasive plants when working on restoration projects along streams or opening up waterways to invasive aquatic species.
“One of the challenges with trying to prevent introductions is there is this diversity of pathways, and some are certainly getting attention, like commercial shipping,” said Paul Heimowitz, aquatic invasive species coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific region.
“But it is sometimes difficult to know where to put our prevention energy,” Heimowitz said. “We don’t necessarily have a good idea of which pathways are really the biggest problems.”
