Rutgers Enviro-Notes
Current environmental research, news, and activities from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and the Rutgers communityContents
On-line Summary of Highlands bill
CCA Treated Lumber update from the EPA
On-Line Summary of NJ
Highlands bill from RCE
Paul D. Gottlieb, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
in Public Policy, has released a summary of the NJ Highlands Bill on
the Rutgers Cooperative Extension web site. The address is
http://www.rce.rutgers.edu/Highlands.
This resource is a Cooperative Extension fact sheet in electronic
form. It is designed to introduce the main features of the bill to
all interested citizens.
Paul says to check back in a month or so, when he plans to post more
specialized information on some of the regulations in the bill.
If you have questions or comments he can be contacted at
gottlieb@aesop.rutgers.edu. -P. Gottlieb
Invasive plant of the Month:
MICROSTEGIUM
Japanese
Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) takes a hill in the Delaware
Water Gap National Recreation Area, near Flatbrookville, NJ.
An excellent web site has been created by Dr. Joe
Neal at NC State University that provides the abstracts and
PowerPoint presentations of the Microstegium symposium that was
recently held at the North East Weed Science Society annual meeting.
This site is now located at newss.org. The direct link is
http://www.newss.org/default/publication/microstegium/index.htm
.
Dr.
Steve Hart, Extension Specialist in Weed Control, deals death
and destruction with to Japanese stiltgrass on cooperative
Rutgers/Nature Conservancy demonstration plots in Greendell, NJ.
National Agricultural Library hosts environmental discussion list
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National Agricultural Library at jmakuch@nal.usda.gov.
In the summer of 1953 the NJ Department of
Agriculture gave John M. Keller a road map and a promise of mileage.
On the map of New Jersey they placed dots on secondary roads 3 to 5
miles apart in each direction. A list of 15 species was given to Mr.
Keller and he spent his summer working his way from Cape May to
Sussex County. Stopping at
every
dot and assessing the prevalence of the 15 species within 100 paces
to each spot in the road at which he stopped his car. Circular 392
of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture states, "This survey was
undertaken so that there might be available to persons concerned
with the weed problem a record of the distribution of various weeds
of economic importance in New Jersey." The author goes on to explain
that the 15 weeds were selected with the help of the NJ Dept of
Health, the NJDA, the NJ Ag Experiment Station and the NJ Ag
Extension Service.
Polygonum cuspidatum or Japanese Knotweed was the only species on the list currently considered strongly invasive. The map at left shows the distribution observed by Keller in 1953. It was less common, in his travels, than everything else except cypress spurge (Euphobia cyparissias), Dodder and field bindweed. His notes, "..spreading slowly, perhaps, but surely...in all instances observed along roadsides near towns or in yards near houses. "Not unpleasant to look at...(but one who adds it to his garden) may wish in later years that he had never seen it."
Thanks to Dr. John Meade for alerting us to this gem. Other species mapped include ragweed, giant ragweed, poison ivy, Canada thistle, wild onion, quackgrass, bull thistle, horse nettle, bedstraw, curly dock, hedge and filed bindweeds. -B. Barbour
An "Invasive Species Seminar and Discussion" on July 8 drew approximately 35 faculty, staff and students to the seminar room of the Department of Ecology Evolution and Natural Resources on the Cook College Campus in New Brunswick. The audience included representatives from the Nature Conservancy, an Environmental consulting service and faculty from Rutgers Newark campus. Joanne Steinhardt of the Delaware River Invasive Plant Partnership (DRIPP) outlined that collaborative group's ground strategy for addressing invasives. Top priorities for DRIPP are Japanese Knotweed in the upper Delaware. She told the group, "Japanese knotweed lines the river in the Upper Delaware, and many of the tributaries as well. It is a significant threat to riparian areas where it forms dense, monotypic stands and chokes out all other vegetation. Knotweed is not easy to control – a combination of cutting and spraying with herbicide works best but is not always an option, and while many non-herbicide approaches have been tested, few have proven practical. Knotweed is linked to erosion of the steam or riverbank and resulting sedimentation. The Upper Delaware river supports important fish and mussel habitat which is possibly being impacted." She added, "We’d also like to encourage research into the use of herbicide in such a sensitive area – we want to learn more about potential hazards to federally endangered freshwater mussels and important fish species."
She further outlined,"
The next potential project for DRIPP should focus on wetlands that
are invaded by purple loosestrife and phragmites. There
are a number of known impacts
from loosestrife and phrag – they change water quality, light
levels, vegetation structure
(think bog turtle hummocks), and food such as nectar sources
for butterflies.
There’s even a new study about potential impacts on
amphibians such as salamanders and frogs. So there’s a wealth of
impacts to be further understood.
There’s also a lot of control options
including herbicide, manual removal, flooding and grazing – all of
which could be analyzed in terms of the conservation targets…which
control method supports which target, and do we create more problems
in sensitive wetlands when we try to control weeds.
Drs. Joan Ehrenfeld and Steven Handel followed with and update on the initial meeting of the Governor's Council on Invasive Species which occurred a week earlier. The council has one year to formulate a list of recommendations for the Governor on managing invasive species in New Jersey.
The meeting concluded with a general discussion of invasives and the on-going work and interests of those present related to the subject. There was general interest in continuing to meet periodically to share information and discuss collaboration across departmental and institutional lines. Perhaps one of the great discoveries of the meeting for some of us who work with ponds and lakes was the presence of Marija Arsenovic at the IR-4 headquarters. Marija is an aquatic weed biologist...the first on the campus since Don Riemer retired neigh on to 20 years ago! -B. Barbour
Flooding and Mold
Be aware that after the initial trauma and cleanup, concerns
will grow in the weeks to come concerning mold and health issues. We
saw this in sometimes dramatic form in our work in Bound Brook
following Hurricane Floyd. (Perhaps one of the most compelling
issues there involved rebuilding interior walls before the interior
had a chance to dry out: sealing up a wet wall cavity promotes mold
growth that later involved a second demolition to address.) We have
a series of Disaster response publications, including a series on
Flood Cleanup, Fact sheet #s 959-968 available
here. -
J. Ponessa, Extension Specialist in Housing and Energy
Some other related new, free Documents from EPA's
Office of Air and Radiation include :
402F03029 FACT SHEET: MOLD IN SCHOOLS
402F03030 ASTHMA HOME ENVIRONMENT {CHECKLIST}
As part of a Regional Water Quality Project for EPA Region 2, Dr. Christopher Obropta, RCE Water Quality Specialist, is working closely with Deborah Grantham, Assistant Director for Natural Resources and Environment at Cornell University, to develop a “train-the-trainer” program to help county extension offices engage local homeowners, businesses, and public entities in better managing stormwater through the implementation of rain gardens. Together they have planned a demonstration project at a community center in downtown Syracuse. It will involve constructing a demonstration rain garden at the community center while enabling the local county extension offices to design and construct rain gardens for stormwater management throughout the region. Similar efforts are on-going in New Jersey. These projects are evolving from the curriculum that Dr. Obropta and Ms. Evrard developed entitled “Stormwater Management in Your Own Backyard”, which is designed as an advanced program to the Master Gardeners Program. - C. Obropta
CCA Treated Lumber update from the EPA
EPA has released new guidance for revised copper
chromate arsenate (CCA) labeling that clarifies allowed uses since
the December 31, 2003 voluntary cancellation of uses by registrants.
The guidance document is intended for treaters, building code
inspectors, and others responsible for working with CCA and
CCA-treated wood (builders, construction companies, roads and public
works departments, farmers, EPA Regional offices, consumers, public
interest groups, and registrants). There are 2 parts: the guidance,
and a very helpful table of some of the allowed and disallowed uses
keyed into American Wood-Preservers Association (AWPA) Standard
language used on the label.
1. Guidance Document for Revised CCA Label:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/cca_awpa_june.pdf
and Table: Guidance for Uses of CCA Referencing AWPA Commodity
Standards -
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/awpa_table.htm
.
2. Questions & Answers: Guidance Document for Revised CCA Label -
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/cca_guidance_q_a.htm
.
3. Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) Compliance Strategy,
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/cca_strategy5.pdf
.
Wood intended to be used in residential settings can no longer be treated
with CCA. This is the result of a voluntary cancellation of these
uses by the registrants. Existing stocks of the wood may be sold by
retailers until such stocks are exhausted, and consumers may
continue to buy and use the wood for as long as it is available.
Things that are of note in the revised labeling:
Use of CCA treated materials is not acceptable in marine settings
unless it is subject to immersion or splashing of salt or brackish
water. Effective December 31,
2004. Disallowed construction of CCA-treated retaining walls
in residential settings
Under agricultural uses-- poles are clarified to include round
agriculture poles and posts (including farm-fence rails). But, CCA
treatment is disallowed for wooden tomato stakes and wooden grape
stakes.
Certain shingle and shake uses are allowed.
EPA says they are working on alternatives to CCA-treated wood with
the industry, including other wood preservatives, such as ACQ and
copper azole,
as well as durable woods such as western red cedar, yellow cypress,
eastern white cedar, and redwood, and alternatives to lumber, such
as synthetic materials and wood
composites. This web site
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/1file.htm
will be used to disseminate that information. -Pat Hastings
New Publications from Cooperative Extension
Mike Stanghellini's MAAREC (Mid-Atlantic Apiulture Research and Extension Consortium) newsletter, BeeAware. Within the PDF are the results of our region's winter honey bee colony losses, as well as other reports, including a brief update from my own bee program at Rutgers.
Now available on the web @ www.rce.rutgers.edu are
the following info sheet
updates:
FS041 - "Endamame: the Vegetable Soybean", authored
by Dr. William J.
Sciarappa, Monmouth County Agricultural Agent, and Vivian Quinn,
Monmouth
County Program Assistant. This is a 4 page fact sheet.
FS042 - "Tomatillos", authored by Dr. William J. Sciarappa, Monmouth
County
Agricultural Agent, and Vivian Quinn, Monmouth County Program
Assistant.
This is a 2 page fact sheet.
FS683 - "Organic Certification of Farms and Farm Products", authored
by
Daniel Kluchinski, Chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource
Management
Agents, and Dr. William Sciarappa, Monmouth County Agricultural
Agent.
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Rutgers Enviro-Notes is a publication of Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
Bruce Barbour, Editor. Contact: Barbour@rce.rutgers.edu.
Use of items from this newsletter is freely permitted but attribution to Rutgers Cooperative Extension is requested.
