[MAIPC] An introduction and a tenet or two on management

[Muth, Norris (MUTH)]

Starting this week the MAIPC board will be sharing some posts to introduce ourselves. Always feel free to contact us on-list or off about invasive species and related issues (keeping the interactions on-list helps us reach more individuals so keep that in mind). As current president I’m going to get us started.

I got drawn into working with invasive species when, during summer breaks from college, I worked seasonal ranger positions at different National Parks across the country. Having spent hour after hour, day after day, pulling up tansy ragwort in the San Juan Islands I wanted to know more about what the heck I was spending all that sweat on. Since then I’ve worked with many different invasive species, mostly conducting studies on management methods and basic research. As an associate professor of biology at Juniata College I’m still at it, most recently working on Tree-of-Heaven, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, and projects assessing the impacts of native versus non-native species in urban landscapes (more on all my projects at muthlab.org if you’re interested).

As far as my service with MAIPC, I’ve only been president a short time, since our meeting last August (2017). Before that I served as treasurer and before that as one of the Pennsylvania representatives.

Lately I’ve given a number of talks sharing my views on invasive species management, which I will describe a bit of here in a few phrases:

First, I encourage us all to assess the success of landscape or ecosystem management in terms of something other than invasive species. If we can be explicit about our ultimate goals for specific landscapes (in terms of desired biodiversity, aesthetics, function, etc.) then we will be more likely to reach those goals than if we get narrowly focused on “total area treated for invasives.” I have seen many landscapes essentially devoid of invasive plants that would be a far cry from any measure of healthy. Putting in the effort up front to determine our true goals can let us manage more effectively towards them.

Second, try to pick battles big enough to matter and small enough to win. We all have limited resources and, try as we might, we can’t rid the region of all invasive species, so we should be thoughtful and explicit in assessing relative risk and reward.

For more on this, feel free to check out my “teaching & outreach” at muthlab.org.

Thanks for taking the time to read and contribute to the listserve and we hope you gain something out of our introductions.

Best,
Norris Muth (MAIPC President)

—

Norris Z. Muth, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Biology

Office: 814-641-3632 | 1054 VLB

Juniata College

1700 Moore Street

Huntingdon, PA 16652

muthlab.org<http://muthlab.org> | NativePlantAdvocate.org<http://NativePlantAdvocate.org>



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