Like the buds of our treasured maples, our program offerings are about to burst open in the months to come. Photo credit: Brent Boscarino.

The landscape is starting to turn vibrant in color and spring is in the air! Are you ready to greet the season by getting outdoors and joining one of our volunteer programs? This newsletter will highlight some of the opportunities that are immediately available to sign up for this spring as well as introduce you to some of the faces of our programs and what's to come. Keep reading to learn more!

We are also looking for volunteers to help with data entry computer work over the next few months, from the comfort of your own home! All that is required is a basic understanding of spreadsheets and data management. For another more applied opportunity, do you have a background in ArcGIS and want to volunteer with some GIS-related work? We would love help with some projects we have in mind! If you are interested in learning more about either of these volunteer opportunities, please email us at [email protected].

April is citizen science month and what better way to celebrate than learning about and joining our amazing volunteer-powered Invasives Strike Force team!  Photo credit: blog.scistarter.org

Have you ever been interested in learning about the types of plants you are seeing while out hiking? Are you frustrated by the vines strangling the trees on your property or in the park you love and want to do something about it? Love gardening and want the communal feel of working together with others? If you are interested in any of these things or simply curious about what the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has to offer in terms of citizen science program offerings, then you should attend our upcoming Introduction to Citizen Science Opportunities webinar on April 18, 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Below also are some other upcoming opportunities already on the calendar for our Stewardship programs.  

A cracked egg mass found at an SLF infestation site in Orangeburg, N.Y. So far, this is one of the few locations known to have SLF egg masses in New York State. Photo credit: Brent Boscarino.

The all-new Spot the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) Survey Program has taken full flight so that SLF can't ever take to the air in our region! Over 100 different volunteers in northern New Jersey and the Lower Hudson Valley have heeded the call to search for these pesky insects' egg masses and for its primary host tree, tree of heaven (TOH), in the hopes of keeping SLF grounded. Not only has this committed group of concerned community members attended the training sessions and taken the steps to learn the reporting system, but they've already dedicated over 150 hours of survey work towards efforts to map the distribution of these species over the past few weeks.

To date, there have been no new confirmed reports of SLF egg masses in New York State since our program has launched (a number of initial possible sitings were followed up on, but none of these were confirmed as positive by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets). While a number of sitings have been reported to iNaturalist in New Jersey, they have been from counties with known populations. What this means is that it is critical to stay vigilant in actively surveying to better delineate, with higher resolution, the boundaries of the population so that the right pieces can be put in place for rapid response and removal. 

In sum, our message from the first few weeks of surveying is a positive one: What an incredible response from our community to step up and participate in such an important program! We are still in this critically important early detection/rapid response window of opportunity to act and stop this invasion in its tracks. Continue to spread the word to others about joining our efforts and keep looking! We are all in this together. 

Ready or not, here comes the field season and we are ready to welcome in some new faces! We’re getting an earlier start than usual with the Trail Conference Conservation Corps. Crew leaders will be starting on April 6 to get a head start on planning and field work. This year, Kassidy Robinson (above left or top photo on mobile devices) will join the Invasives Strike Force as crew leader. She comes to the ISF with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science: Ecosystems from Binghamton University and has a wealth of experience with invasive species management! Kassidy aims to “share (her) passion for conservation with others and achieve ambitious conservation goals through collaboration” and “dedicate (her)self to protecting nature.” We’re beyond excited to bring this enthusiastic individual onto the team! The rest of the crew will be starting on May 13; in those five weeks, Kassidy will help coordinate projects, go through leadership and project management training, and get out for some scouting and invasives removal. The crew leader’s early start will allow the Invasives Strike Force crew to hit the ground running when the rest of the team arrives!

And let's not forget that we will have a volunteer-led ISF Crew working in New Jersey in 2021 led by Rich Rockwell (seen in foreground removing barberry of photo on right, or on bottom on mobile devices). Since retiring 2 years ago from a career in web technology in the pharmaceutical and banking industries, Rich has been able to spend more time hiking and doing volunteer work on trail maintenance and invasive species management and was generous enough to take on the role of Volunteer Crew Leader for New Jersey. Last year, Rich led several projects on the Mashipacong Trail at High Point, and the American Canoeing Association and Adirondack Camps at Harriman State Park as well as worked with the Forest Regeneration Team of the South Mountain Conservancy on projects in their Wildflower Preserve and some of their deer exclosures.  He is also working on some projects along the Morris Canal Greenway – Morris Canal Park at Oak Tree Lane and the grounds at the historic Collins House removing invasives and restoring native pollinators. Rich will also be collaborating with Trail Conference Trail Supervisors to plan several invasive mitigation projects along Trail Conference trails in 2021. 

For the 2021 season, ISF and AISF Crew Leaders have been extended to 1200-hr AmeriCorps service terms, rather than the former 900-hr terms. This means that crew leaders will be with us for 2 additional months, allowing us to increase our capacity for pre-and post-season work. A big welcome to our new AISF Crew Leader, Maya Thompson (pictured above)! Maya recently graduated from Clemson University with her Master's degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. She loves being on the water, especially kayaking, but also really enjoys birdwatching, reading, wildlife photography, and hiking. Last summer, she worked in the Finger Lakes region of New York as a watercraft steward and she is excited to be a crucial part of protecting waterways again this year! Maya’s former experience as a steward will be instrumental in assisting with training the rest of the AISF crew. We’re excited to welcome Maya to the PRISM on April 6! She will be assisting with planning volunteer workdays as well as monitoring and management projects, and reaching out to partners to confirm project dates. She will also be working to extensively analyze 2020 post-season data and write up final reports and lake assessments for our partners. 

Dia (left, or on top on mobile devices) and Fagen (right, or below on mobile devices) getting ready for a spotted lanternfly hunt! 

The work of the Conservation Dogs Program continues to increase with each new year. As we add more invasive species to our workload, we will also be adding more dogs to our program. But, we wanted to take a moment to reintroduce our current stars of the program: Dia and Fagen. Back a few years ago when we first started searching for candidate dogs to lead our program, we initially had another female Labrador retriever in mind. Unfortunately, this initial candidate dog's x-rays showed that she had minor elbow dysplasia. With the distances we cover searching for invasives in the field, we decided that it was too risky for us and for the dog. That set off a nationwide search for the perfect conservation canine. And, after a month of internet searches and many phone conservations, we found Dia in Wisconsin! She is an American field Labrador retriever and is 3.5 years old now. Dia is truly the face of our Conservation Dogs team, representing us at public demonstrations and in media articles about our program. Her current repertoire includes Scotch broom, slender false brome, sticky sage, kudzu, oak wilt, and spotted lanternfly. Fagen's working career began as an urban search and rescue canine with FEMA and New Jersey Task Force One. He brought his amazing work ethic and search strategies to the Conservation Dogs Program in the summer of 2019. He is a 7.5 year old Malinois and currently specializes in locating sticky sage, oak wilt, and spotted lanternfly. Fagen is a very busy dog, working to save the forests with Dia and out searching for trapped victims after natural disasters!

A huge shout-out to our pioneer spotted lanternfly surveyors who not only were trained in SLF and tree of heaven ID, but also learned how to ID SLF's secondary hosts and adhere to a stricter survey protocol including tree marking in high priority areas. These trailblazing volunteers were: Evan Masten, Michael Lawless, Daric Rich, Sue Lent, Ann and Jerry Barry, Kristen Ossman, Chris McArdle, Dylan Medici, John Thompson, and Dan Snider. Thank you very much for your patience and dedication as we ironed out a survey protocol to get ready to officially open our Spot the Spotted Lanternfly survey campaign. The program's launch would not have been as successful without your feedback and perseverance. 

We also wanted to congratulate all of the awardees that are associated with our Invasives Strike Force Program in last month's Volunteer Appreciation Event. Martha Rabson, a longtime ISF Survey volunteer, won a Dedicated Service Award for those who have demonstrated exemplary service to the trails and natural areas that surround them. Michael Lawless, a first-time ISF surveyor in 2020, won a Hit the Ground Running Award which honors those who have made a strong impact within their first two years of service. Maxwell and Nathalie Chow, first time surveyors in 2020, were awarded a Next Generation Award which honors volunteers under 25 years of age who have enthusiastically and passionately made contributions serving the Trail Conference's mission. Rich Rockwell, an ISF surveyor and ISF Crew Volunteer Leader, won a Rising Leader Award. Carole Baligh, a Habitat Helpers volunteer and ISF surveyor, won a Paul Leiken Award for Going the Extra Mile. Congratulations to all award winners! You deserve it!  

Curly leaf pondweed can be identified by its oblong leaves (4-10 cm. long) that are wavy and serrated- they look a bit like skinny lasagna noodles! Photo credit: thepondshop.com

Does your idea of the perfect spring day outdoors involve a nature walk along a stream? Enjoy picnicking with your family on the shore of a lake or pond in your community? Then you are all primed and ready to participate in this month's EcoQuest Challenge called Water Walk which will focus on two invasive species that are associated with water: the aquatic invasive species, curly leaf pondweed, and black alder, a tree typically found nearby a water source. 

To participate in this month's challenge, take a look at the plant life submerged close to shore the next time you are out in a park with a water body close by. If you see a submerged aquatic plant with leaves that look a bit like lasagna noodles or bacon, then it's likely you are seeing curly leaf pondweed which typically gets a  jumpstart on the growing season over native aquatic plants. As you walk along the shore of this water body, also be on the lookout for a single-stemmed tree or multi-stemmed shrub (it can grow as both!) that has both male and female catkins (flowering spikes, see picture below) and lots of raised, white bumps called lenticels. It may be an emerging invasive plant, black alder. To be fully sure it is black alder and not another type of alder, we recommend looking at the leaves that have fallen beneath the alder - if the fallen leaves are roundish, have toothed margins and have a stunted, notched tip (see photo below), then it's most likely black alder and not one of its native lookalikes like speckled alder which has pointed leaf tips (Note: look at multiple fallen leaves, not every black alder leaf has the notched tips so look around!). The catkins of black alder also tend to grow on longer stalks than native alders.

To help build your ID confidence, check out this field ID video created by Invasives Species Citizen Science Coordinator, Brent Boscarino. If you think you might have come across one of the invaders during your Water Walk, let us know by posting a photo to iNaturalist and help us map the distribution of these species in our region. Are you from New York City? In addition to the LH-PRISM EcoQuest Challenge, you could also participate in New York Botanical Garden’s EcoQuest which this month focuses on non-native cherries.

Black, or European/common alder, can be identified at this time of year by its distinctive catkins (male and female flowering structures) that can persist over winter as well as by looking for bumpy lenticels on the bark (look in the background of the photo of the hand holding the leaf). While the leaves won't be out this month, you can look for the presence of last year's leaves that have fallen off the tree and see if at least some of them are notched at the tip. This notch helps distinguish black alder from other alders (pictured here is an example of the notched leaf during the growing season). Black alder catkins tend to grow on longer stalks than native alders as well. Photo credits: Brent Boscarino and landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu