by Ray Chattin

Invasive species are non-native plants and animals that cause economic and environmental damage due to their ability to outcompete native species. The result is forests that can’t regenerate and loss of habitat due to crowding out of beneficial species by invaders that are useless as food sources for wildlife.

The overwhelming majority of non-native plants are not harmful, but there are more than 50 species — such as Asian bush honeysuckle, Callery pear and autumn olive — that are having a devastating impact, and new ones are showing up in Indiana every year. Imagine 50 plant species as noxious as johnsongrass. Your only tools are a knapsack sprayer or a chainsaw and spray bottle to treat cut surfaces. That is reality for woodland owners. Becoming aware and treating these pests before they gain a foothold is key. Unfortunately, many woodland owners are facing a full-scale reclamation project.

In 2018, State of Indiana Cooperative Invasives Management launched the Indiana Invasives Initiative with help from a Natural Resources Conservation Service grant. Today, seven SICIM employees, along with a handful of soil and water conservation district invasive species specialists and dedicated volunteers from over 40 local Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas (CISMAs), have joined forces to wage war against a natural resource disaster.

At risk are Indiana’s public and private woodlands, natural areas, wetlands, and biodiversity. Much more state and local funding is needed to raise awareness, educate and provide technical assistance to private landowners. Today the only state funding for the Indiana Invasives Initiative is a $50,000 Clean Water Indiana grant to support SICIM staff, and a handful of Clean Water Indiana grants to districts and CISMAs.

SICIM has joined forces with the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in backing the Next Level Conservation on Indiana’s Working Lands proposal. It calls for an $8.6 million annual increase to the Clean Water Indiana fund. About a quarter of this funding will go toward invasive species efforts, including a network of invasive species specialists employed by SWCDs, each serving three to four counties.

Growing threat

Invasive species are a malignancy on our ecosystems that is metastasizing. SICIM currently is providing invasives training for all Indiana Conservation Partnership employees while working to organize functional CISMAs in all 92 counties. SICIM has also provided more than 1,200 landowner surveys and sponsored more than 1,000 outreach events. The staff is absolutely underwater with demand from landowners. Indiana has a growing number of motivated people who understand the magnitude of the problem and want to help. But unless the SWCD delivery system can be ramped up, there is little hope for a meaningful impact.

When it comes to providing service to private landowners for battling invasive species, SICIM is carrying the load for Indiana. It is tragic that Indiana must depend on a not-for-profit group like SICIM to preserve the productivity and biodiversity of its private lands.

Chattin is chairman of the Indiana Soil Conservation Board. He is a longtime crop and timber producer near Vincennes, Ind. His efforts helped CISMAs begin to form in more regions within Indiana.