Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG)
2025 Annual Report
The Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) is a consortium of individuals, members of environmental organizations, and affiliates of municipal and state agencies whose mission is to promote awareness of invasive plants and their non-invasive exotic and native alternatives. Formed in 1997 as an ad-hoc group, CIPWG is now in its 28th year of operation. The working group meets 1 to 2 times per year to collaborate and share information on the presence, distribution, ecological impacts, and management of invasive plants affecting Connecticut and the region and to promote uses of native or non-invasive alternatives. CIPWG members are affiliated with federal and state agencies, municipalities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), educational institutions, the green industry, and the general community. Rose Hiskes (Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station), Victoria Wallace (UConn Extension), and Emmett Varricchio serve as CIPWG Co-Chairs.
Ms. Wallace also serves as CIPWG’s liaison to UConn, which hosts CIPWG’s website (cipwg.uconn.edu). Alyssa Siegel-Miles serves as the CIPWG webmaster. The website provides information on invasive plant topics that include identification, management, various lists of invasive plants, photos of invasive plants, invasive alternatives, resources, legislative updates, and Connecticut Invasive Plants Council activities. In addition to the Connecticut List of Invasive and Potentially Invasive Plants determined by the Connecticut Invasive Plants Council in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes §22a-381a through §22a-381d, the website includes an Early Detection list and a Research List of plants for which more research is needed. The CIPWG website provides links to the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS, eddmaps.org) to submit reports of invasive plants. Additional features include a photo notebook with a gallery of Connecticut invasive plants and links to invasive plant fact sheets and management information. During the 2025 calendar year, there were 85,000 page views on the CIPWG website, and 46,000 users participated in 57,000 sessions. Users arrive at the site primarily (85%) through search results. The most visited pages are the Invasive Plant List (22,000) and the home page (7,200).
CIPWG’s news and events listserv has approximately 1460 members from Connecticut and other states in the region. Requests to subscribe to the listserv may be submitted online from the CIPWG website.
The Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group maintains the following subcommittees:
- Education and Outreach (educational outreach about invasive species and their alternatives)
- CIPWG display was used at 5 events around the state in 2025.
- Outdoor Educators held 6 free “Walk, Talk and Cut” events in 5 of Connecticut’s counties.
- Management (develop and disseminate information on invasive plant control options)
- Native Alternatives (explore and promote the use of native plant species as alternatives to invasives)
- Research List Review
- Reviewed plants to be added to the CIPWG Invasive Plant Research List.
- Researched sterile cultivars of invasive plants.
CIPWG provides a List of Speakers who are available to give presentations on many invasive plant-related topics, including identification, control, and non-invasive alternatives. CIPWG members and volunteers coordinated and presented numerous lectures, workshops, demonstrations, guided field walks, and invasive plant management events during 2025. CIPWG also maintains exhibits that feature invasive terrestrial plants and aquatic species that have been displayed at public events.
Since 2002, CIPWG has hosted biennial invasive plant symposia. The twelfth biennial symposium was held in Storrs, CT on October 29, 2024, with 390 people attending. Symposium 2024 handouts, powerpoints, and information are available on the CIPWG website (cipwg.uconn.edu).
2025 Educational Outreach and Management Activities
Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) exhibits were displayed, invasive plant talks were presented, invasive plant educational materials were provided, and/or invasive plant management activities occurred at local, statewide, and regional events during 2025. Activities occurred in over 75 CT towns, as well as several out-of-state. At least 7,372 citizens directly and actively participated in the activities. A minimum of 13,208 hours were directly invested in invasive plant management, during intensive invasive plant training sessions and management activities, as well as educational outreach. Many (at least 7,800) were reached indirectly through articles, YouTube videos, social media, fact sheets, signs, and other educational mediums. During the 2025 calendar year, there were 83,000 page views on the CIPWG website, and 46,000 users participated in 57,000 sessions. The most visited pages are the Invasive Plant List (22,000) and the home page (8,000).
| Location | Educator/ Leader/ Reporter | Program Title/Outreach Activity | # Partici-pants or Attendees | # Hours Contri-buted |
Direct Participation |
||||
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Guided Tour: Walk and talk at Pompey Hollow Park riverside trail. Invasive plant ID and management discussed: Oriental Bittersweet, Winged Euonymus, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry. Native plants noted: American Hazelnut, Arrowood, Red Osier Dogwood, Elderberry. 12/3/2025 | 7 | 8 |
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Public Symposium: Presentation sponsored by AIPWG together with Conservation Commission and Babcock Library. Featured speakers included local farmer battling water chestnut in a farm pond, a landowner clearing invasives from his family’s former farm, and a game club leader discussing the NRCS project on club property. 3/12/2025 | 25 | 50 |
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Pulling and cutting bittersweet, winged euonymus, barberry. April 4, May 5 | 5 | 11 |
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Knotweed cutting. April, May, August | 11 | 22 |
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Rosa multiflora suppression, Town Hall. April, July | 2 | 8 |
| Ashford | Joseph Hendrick | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Management on Joshua’s Trust property. Winged Euonymus, Bittersweet, Barberry. 10/26/2025 | 9 | 21 |
| Avon | Tom Kassan | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Community Meeting, Presentation, Guided Tour: Multiple invasive pulling events (barberry, bittersweet, burning bush) at several Avon Land Trust properties throughout the year involving members of the public, town council, and board members. We hosted a Japanese Knotweed presentation by Dr. Jatinder Aulakh (CAES), co-hosted by the Avon Library and Town. We have also done multiple native plantings on our land trust properties. We joined the Avon Garden Club to do a native plant seed collection event this fall. April, May, August, September, October, November |
22 | 250 |
| Avon | Jen Filer | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Workshop: Fisher Meadows Invasive Plant Removal – learned to identify and remove common invasives in CT while discovering how they harm the ecosystem and the Farmington River. Partnership with FRWA and Town of Avon. Bittersweet was the target species, but burning bush was also common in this area and removed. June 11 | 12 | 45 |
| Avon | Jen Filer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Fisher Meadows Invasive Plant Removal. FRWA, Avon Recreation and Parks, Avon Land Trust, and ESCU Botanist Dr. Bryan Connolly joined for an invasive plant removal workday. Sept 19 | 15 | 30 |
| Bethany | Ali Beres-Nork | Exhibit; Education: I hosted a booth at our town-wide Harvest Festival with samples of invasive plants and fact sheets and consulted with attendees on identification and removal/management strategies. 10/5/2025 | 500 | 10 |
| Branford | Patrick Sweeney, Lauren Brown | Invasive Plant Management Activity: managed winged euonymus, barberry, multiflora rose at Flax Mill Road, Branford Land Trust property | 10 | 65 |
| Branford | Patrick Sweeney, Lauren Brown | Invasive Plant Management Activity: managed mugwort at Van Wie Preserve, Branford Land Trust property | 4 | 10 |
| Branford | Lauren Brown, Patrick Sweeney | Invasive Plant Management Activity: managed mugwort at Red Hill Road, Branford Land Trust property | 15 | 38 |
| Branford | Lauren Brown | Invasive Plant Management Activity: figwort at Hammer Preserve, Branford Land Trust property | 5 | 13 |
| Bridgeport | Ali Beres-Nork | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Presentation: Took my 24 AP Env Sci students (from Amity High School) to work with 7th graders at Discovery Magnet School in Bridgeport. My students met with 7th graders in small groups to conduct lessons on invasive plant identification and removal, as well as the ecosystem services and benefits of native plants. All students then worked together outside in the campus pollinator garden to identify and remove invasive species and suggest pollinator-friendly replacement species. 5/25/2025 | 55 | 150 |
| Bridgeport | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species | Workshop: “Invasive Aquatic and Terrestrial Plants” to CT DEEP trainees at Montville American Jobs Training Center (March 18) | 10 | 3 |
| Bristol | Riley Doherty | Educational Event: Presented on the CT AIS Web App and US Army Corps of Engineers Aquatic Plant Control Cost Share program at the Connecticut Federation of Lakes Annual Meeting. (May 17) | 50 | 3 |
| Canaan | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management: Managed Japanese knotweed. | 2 | 4 |
| Canaan | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Rattlesnake Hill flag invasives. 8-14-25, 10-23-25 | 4 | 10 |
| Canton | Lisa Franklin | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Worked at the Collinsville Pollen Trail with other volunteers to eradicate invasives along the trail – knotweed, grapevine, buckthorn, garlic mustard, mugwort, etc. July, August, September | 6 | 35 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton, Theresa Barger | Educational Event: Represented CLCT, MG, CPT with displays and materials at Avon event for FV org. to educate and recruit citizens for removal of invasive plants in all towns. 3/29/25 | 55 | 165 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton, Michele Jenks | Earth Day Event: Dug up star-of-Bethlehem plants and bulbs at Collinsville Pollen Trail (CPT). 7 families, 11 children, and 5 mentors participated. 4/22/25 | 27 | 27 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Invasive Plant Management Activity: removed invasive plants at CLCT Pratt Property. 5/3/25 | 7 | 14 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Community Service: CHS Science Honor Soc. community service for students, vol. adults removed invasive plants at Mills Pond Recreation area. 5/3/25 | 11 | 22 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removed invasive plants at CLCT Pratt Preserve. 5/17/25 | 4 | 12 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Educational event: 120 fifth graders tour of CPT, arrived at staggered times, groups of 8-10 for ½ hr. hands on tour of Collinsville Pollen Trail led by 6 Master Gardeners covering 8 science topics from class curriculum. 5/19/25 | 142 | 150 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Educational event. Invasive, native plant and weed ID for Master Gardener interns at Canton Public Library. 6/26/25 and 6/30/25 | 21 | 21 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton, Michele Jenks | Community Service: 5 Canton Scouts did community service hours moving wood chips to mulch areas to protect native plantings. | 8 | 16 |
| Canton and Collinsville | Karen Berger, Holly Hambleton | Invasive Plant Management Activity. Approximately 40 days from March through October volunteers, interns & MGs work on municipal & land trust properties removing invasive plants | 50 | 200 |
| Cheshire | Karen Schnitzer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut and bagged up Japanese Knotweed stems and seeds. Cut and painted Autumn Olive. 11/1/2025 | 3 | 6 |
| Cheshire | Rose Hiskes | Invasive Plant Walk and Talk | 15 | 32 |
| Cheshire | Karen Schnitzer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Pulling Garlic Mustard – April 18 | 1 | 1 |
| Cheshire | Laura Monte | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting and bagging Japanese Knotweed. May 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Cheshire | Karen Schnitzer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Pulling and bagging Japanese Knotweed. May 25, June 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Cheshire | Laura Monte | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting and bagging Japanese Knotweed. June 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Cheshire | Laura Monte | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut and bag Japanese Knotweed, cut stilt grass and mugwort. August 7, 23 | 4 | 15 |
| Cheshire | Karen Schnitzer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut mugwort. Sept 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Cheshire | Laura Monte | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut and bag Japanese Knotweed. Sept 19 | 5 | 10 |
| Chester | Summer Weidman | Talk on drone techniques for mapping hydrilla in the Connecticut River at the Chester Harbor Alliance meeting. April 2 | 12 | 12 |
| Chester | Michael Cressman | Presentation: Chester Land Trust Annual Meeting – covered Japanese knotweed, Tree of Heaven and Multiflora Rose interventions at the Carini, Scudder and Rayner Preserves. No handouts provided. November | 21 | 29 |
| Clinton | Greg Bugbee | Talk entitled “Aquatic Plant Management Options for Lochwood Lake” at the Henry Carter Hull Public Library. May 12 | 30 | 2 |
| Colchester | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management: Managing Japanese knotweed | 2 | 4 |
| Colchester | Kathy Connolly | Presentation: Prepared and delivered a talk on “3 Ways to Fight Invasive Plants” for Colchester Garden Club. | 36 | 40 |
| Colchester | Lauren Gaudet | Invasive Plant Management: My husband and I have been working on hand removal of all Celastrus orbiculatus and Euonymus alatus that have been prolific on our 1.56-acre property in Colchester, CT since we purchased it in November 2023. To a lesser extent, we also have Rosa multiflora and Berberis thunbergii on our property and have been hand pulling both up and digging up their roots. We primarily work on this on weekends in early spring and late fall, when these species are easiest to access due to the dieback of other vegetation, as well as winter when there is no snow on the ground. We each spent about 20 hours on this endeavor in the past year. We regularly use CIPWG handouts and outreach material, especially those from the 2024 CIPWG Symposium that I attended. (February – April, October – December) |
2 | 40 |
| Colebrook | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management: Manage Japanese Knotweed | 2 | 6 |
| Coventry | Rose Hiskes | Invasive Plant Walk and Talk: Rose Hiskes, CIPWG Co-chair, led a 2 hour walk around the David Hayes Sculpture Fields and discussed identification and management techniques for each invasive species present. June 7 | 10 | 22 |
| Coventry | Eric Thomas | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive field woody vegetation removal at town of Coventry Williams Preserve (Cooper Lane) involved town of Coventry Protected Spaces Stewardship Committee members and trained volunteers hand mechanical removal of autumn olive, Japanese barberry, Asiatic bittersweet and multiflora rose from 1-acre old field, prior to annual mowing by Coventry DPW staff. August, September, October | 8 | 30 |
| Coventry. Mansfield | Eric Thomas | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Aquatic Water Chestnut on-water removal and upland disposal events (4x) on Upper Eagleville Lake in Coventry-Mansfield. All volunteers, with solicited volunteers trained for id and on-water removal methodology, using CIPWG (and other) outreach materials. Collected plant matter dewatered upland and after some days transported in town of Coventry vehicle to town-approved upland disposal location. All water chestnut planning and events overseen by Coventry Protected Spaces Stewardship Committee and in full coordination with Towns of Mansfield and Coventry Land Use office staffs with implementation steps contained in the Eagleville Lake aquatic plant management plan (2023). June, July, August | 40 | 98 |
| Cromwell | Lisa Franklin | Consultation: Met with community members of Arbor Meadows in Cromwell to assist them in identifying invasive plants that have come into some native plant meadows. | 6 | 10 |
| Cromwell | Rose Hiskes, Falco; J. Sicilia | CIPWG table display and educational booth. | 100 | 7 |
| Deep River | Lynne Ramage | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Japanese Knotweed cutting June, August, Sept, Oct | 3 | 12 |
| Deep River | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Spoke at a press conference hosted by Senator Richard Blumenthal on hydrilla in the Connecticut River (July 18) | 200 | 200 |
| East Haddam | Riley Doherty (OAIS) | Tabled at the Eightmile River Fest event at Devil’s Hopyard State Park (October 18) | 400 | 100 |
| East Haddam | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Provided testimony on the potential for wake boats to disrupt lake ecosystems at a town meeting held at the Hale Ray High School in Moodus (June 25) | 75 | 20 |
| East Haddam | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Bashan Lake Aquatic Plant Update” to the Bashan Lake Association at the East Haddam Grange (July 23) | 50 | 100 |
| East Haddam | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Tour of the Connecticut River hydrilla problem to staff from Senator Richard Blumenthal’s Office (August 14) | 4 | 12 |
| East Haddam | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Tour of the hydrilla in the CT River – Salmon Cove area – to officials from the Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (September 8) | 12 | 48 |
| East Lyme | Pollinator Pathway East Lyme Inc | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Training Workshop; Field Expeditions; Site Visits: Mugwort and Tree of Heaven are being manually removed and herbicide spraying at three of our garde/meadow sites. We train new volunteers and use the CIPWG chart and website. August, September, October | 6 | 42 |
| East Lyme | Lydia Pan | Lecture: How to Identify and Remove Invasive Plants. Part of East Lyme Conservation Commission Winter Lecture Series. Slides drew heavily from materials on CIPWG website (with attribution). Top 10 invasive terrestrial plants discussed with regard to identification and targeted control throughout the year. General guidelines for long-term management were provided as well as organic methods for preparation of invasive-infested sites for replanting with natives and a case study of mugwort removal for meadow restoration. Ended with a list of online resources highlighting information available on the CIPWG website, including popular downloads and 2024 Symposium handouts. 1/26/2025 | 40 | 50 |
| Essex | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Spoke at a meeting of the Lower Connecticut River Council Governments on CAES sponsorship of USACE cost share funds (March 26) | 25 | 50 |
| Essex and Old Saybrook | Peter Fleischer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Organized a senior group in Old Saybrook, students from the Haddam Killingsworth High School, and students from Valley Regional to cut invasive Oriental Bittersweet from mature trees in the Haddams Meadow State Park, Sunset Pond in Essex and four locations in Old Saybrook. I also cut vines on Essex Land Trust properties in Essex and on a private condo property. An estimated mature 500 trees have been saved through these efforts. (March and November) | 40 | 90 |
| Falls Village | Bill Ticineto | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal – Bittersweet, Buckthorn. | 6 | 14 |
| Falls Village | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: HVR High School Envirothon students flagging native plants before mowing. 2-25-25 | 8 | 16 |
| Falls Village | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Educational Event: 3 Classes demo Hack and Squirt Ailanthus. 11-6-25 | 25 | 40 |
| Farmington | Barbara J. Nicholson | Invasive Plant Management Activity: We conducted 2 invasive species pulls on Farmington Land Trust Lands. Targeted species were Japanese barberry and winged Euonymus. April | 6 | 20 |
| Farmington | Liz Bennett | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasives pull – focus was winged euonymus and barberry Community outreach volunteer event part of Farmington Land Trust October |
9 | 20 |
| Glastonbury | John Schuller | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal of invasive plants from Cotton Hollow Nature Preserve Glastonbury CT – Japanese Barberry, Stiltgrass, Garlic Mustard, Bittersweet, Winged Euonymus all year | 1 | 112 |
| Goshen | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Manage Japanese knotweed | 1 | 2 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Volunteers pulled hundreds of Euonymus in a forest understory infestation along the Red Trail at Holcomb Farm. March 8. | 6 | 12 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Action Day. Volunteers attacked mature Multiflora rose and Autumn/Russian olive along the gravel road leading up to the Holcomb Farm Tree Trail. April 19, May 17 | 9 | 18 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Action – Volunteers returned to 2 areas where invasives had been pulled in recent years and natives planted, weeding and mulching around the natives. June 14. | 4 | 8 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Action – Volunteers returned to the Red Trail Euonymus infestation at Holcomb Farm, pulling many hundreds more young plants and chopping mature plants to the ground, many for the 2nd or 3rd time; email setting up the day included CIPWG’s June 24th note on the new law banning 10 invasives’ sale or use. July 9. | 6 | 12 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Action – For the 3rd time, volunteers attacked Euonymus (and Barberry, MF Rose etc.) along the Red Trail; volunteers got free native plants grown from seed. August 9. | 5 | 10 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Action – Volunteers worked for the 4th time on the Red Trail Euonymus “garden”; several more worked on the project at different times. Sept. 13. | 5 | 10 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Presentation: Conservation Conversation: Jumping/Snake Worm, Oct. 21 6:30-8, at Granby Public Library, Powerpoint with live worms and discussion. https://granby.librarycalendar.com/event/conservation-conversation-worm-warning-why-these-wigglers-are-not-wanted-6139 | 26 | 45 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Japanese Knotweed removal along Salmon Brook Oct. 23. 2 volunteers cut hundreds of plants to the ground in anticipation of covering with black plastic before growth starts in the spring. | 2 | 7 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Changed Planning and Zoning Site Plan regulations to support natives, Jan. 28 meeting. Conservation Commission members requested a stronger measure banning invasive plants but won a more modest requirement for developers seeking P & Z approval. Site Plans, 4.2.5—“i. Site plans are encouraged to contain native species whenever possible. If a nonnative species is proposed and there is a native species similar in appearance and function, preference shall be given to native species. j. Cleared areas not being regularly mowed should be seeded with a mix of native grasses and pollinator friendly species whenever possible.”
https://www.granby-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/612/Zoning-Regulations-updated-92025-PDF p. 56, Site Plans |
3 | 13 |
| Griswold | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Pachaug Pond Survey Results- 2024” to the Pachaug Pond Weed Control Association at the Griswold Town Hall (March 26) | 30 | 60 |
| Groton, North Stonington | Sue Sutherland | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Training Workshop, Field Expedition, Site Visit: Continued training of stewards to use sponge method for basal oil/triclopyr herbicide treatment. Pathfinder II is very popular now due to its ease and effectiveness. Started an experiment treating a very large primarily common barberry infestation. Final Pathfinder II will be applied in winter. Already the released native winterberries, spicebush, high bush blueberries were enjoying not being smothered and the light it brought. Worked with a volunteer on a new Town of Groton property to clear very large bittersweet and Japanese barberry from a stream with high environmental values. Continued follow up to maintain invasive control on the 545 acre TriTown Ridgeline Forest Preserve in North Stonington, Griswold and Preston. January – December |
15 | 200 |
| Guilford | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Aquatic Plant Management Options for West Lake at the West Lake Clubhouse in Guilford (April 4) | 10 | 20 |
| Guilford | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Presentation/Workshop: An aquatic plant workshop to middle school students as part of the Guilford Women and Family Life Center’s EmpowHER women in STEM program (October 18) | 15 | 30 |
| Haddam | Heather Ferrer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Oriental bittersweet removal at Haddam Meadows State Park 11/15/2025 | 20 | 60 |
| Haddam | Heather Ferrer | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Oriental Bittersweet Removal at Haddam Meadows State Park 12/7/2024 | 25 | 75 |
| Hamden | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Performed invasives (mugwort) management on the Rt. 40 on-ramp (October) | 2 | 6 |
| Hartford | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasives management | 1 | 1 |
| Hartford | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Knotweed, Mugwort, Autum olive management | 2 | 6 |
| Hartford | Jim Sicilia, Kathy Beaty, Grace Jacobsen, Liz Bennett, Debra Hultgren, Allen Freeman, Bill Marshall, Louise Beecher | CIPWG table at CT Flower Show. Connecticut Flower and Garden Show. Answered questions regarding ID, control, etc. for invasive plant species, best practices for control and elimination. Passed out as many hand-outs and info as possible. | 315 | 36 |
| Kent | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Managed Japanese knotweed | 2 | 4 |
| Killingly | Wendy Fusco | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Presentation: Planned the year’s goals, communicated with town officials, and oversaw and worked with volunteers to beautify Cat Hollow Park, a somewhat neglected woodland area open to the public: removed numerous invasive plants with weed wrenches, saws, shovels, and arm strength; created and maintained eight pocket gardens and one large entrance garden; helped with ordering and picking up native pollinator plants to then plant in those gardens and maintained their health by watering, adding fertilizer, compost, and amendments when needed. Added wood chips to minimize unwanted weeds from growing back. Worked closely with the Town of Killingly Department of Public Works and Highway Division, Killingly Parks & Recreation, and Killingly Conservation Commission. Met with two town managers to discuss concerns about Cat Hollow Park; one such concern is the spreading of unchecked bamboo. Researched bamboo removal options and shared them with the town leaders. Researched, printed, emailed, and provided handouts (from UCONN) as well as taught various educational horticultural aspects to volunteers, including 20 Killingly Vo-Ag students who wanted to learn of invasive plants and remove them from Cat Hollow Park. Participated in an Earth Day activity with children from an elementary/middle home school. Discussed the importance of native plants and native pollinator plants for beneficial insects, native birds, small mammals, and the overall health of micro and macro environments. Co-created and presented to members of the Quiet Corner Garden Club and to the public a Google slide presentation on garden tips, favorite tools, and other garden pieces of wisdom. January – November 2025 |
49 | 820 |
| Killingworth | Emily Picard | Guided Tour: Invasive Plant Identification – CIPWG Invasive Management Calendar April | 15 | 16 |
| Lakeville | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Connecticut River Hydrilla: The Spread Continues” at the annual meeting of the Twin Lakes Association (August 2). | 75 | 150 |
| Lakeville | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Meeting/Interview: Attended the Twin Lakes Fall Coalition meeting and was interviewed by Debra Aleksinas of the Lakeville Journal on progress to control hydrilla in East Twin Lake (October 8) | 30 | 30 |
| Ledyard | Summer Weidman (OAIS) | Presentation/Workshop: An aquatic plant workshop to the Town of Ledyard Day Camp (July 3) | 25 | 50 |
| Lyme | Wendolyn Hill | Exhibits: The Lyme Pollinator Pathway produced an exhibit on invasive plants which includes a trifold poster, book drawings; Public events: April – Earth Day fair at Lyme Public Hall, Lyme CT August – Hamburg Fair, Lyme CT – 3 day Fair August Midsomer Festival, Old Lyme CT October- Riverfest, East Haddam CT- 3 hour public fair put on by Eightmile River Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee April, August, October |
500 | 250 |
| Lyme | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River and the CAES/USACE Partnership” at the Lyme Town Hall (April 23) | 30 | 45 |
| Lyme | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled an aquatic plant workshop at the Rogers Lake Clubhouse in Lyme (June 11) | 15 | 30 |
| Lyme | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Presentation/Workshop: Aquatic plant workshop for RiverCOG and members of the public at the Chester Town Hall (October 9) | 18 | 40 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting down and painting winged euonymus on several acres of an Audubon funded Land Trust preserve. November 10, 12 | 3 | 12 |
| Manchester | Donna Kaffenberger | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Training Workshop; Presentation; Site Visit: The Manchester Invasive Plant Working Group, a committee of the Manchester Conservation Commission, hosted a community education event focused on training residents to use the iNaturalist app as part of the Manchester Invasive Plant Project. Participants received a hands-on tutorial on how to download and set up the app, make accurate plant observations, and contribute to our town-wide invasive species data collection effort. The session highlighted common invasive plants found in Manchester, such as Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose, and oriental bittersweet. Following the indoor training, attendees practiced making real-time observations during a short field walk. CIPWG outreach materials were made available, including invasive plant identification guides and management information. 4/12/2025 | 12 | 48 |
| Manchester | Rachel Schnabel | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Exhibit; Field Expedition: The Manchester Invasive Plant Working Group, a committee of the Manchester Conservation Commission, hosted a guided invasive species field walk and volunteer pull along the Cheney Rail Trail. Participants learned how to identify several invasive plants common to the area, including Japanese knotweed, mugwort, garlic mustard, and oriental bittersweet. The walk provided hands-on experience in plant identification, discussion of best management practices, and a group effort to manually remove target species along the trail. CIPWG outreach materials were available to participants via web links. 4/13/2025 | 12 | 36 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Exhibit: Invasive plant display at earth day activity 4/22/2025 | 15 | 30 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: An acre of very old autumn olive were cut, pieced and the apple, cedar, cherry and other native trees freed from the very large, sometimes tree sized autumn olive. 4/1/2025 | 4 | 53 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Autumn olive removal at the Pavan Preserve 5/1/2025 | 2 | 12 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting down a stand of phragmites. August 5 2025 | 3 | 6 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Felling tree of heaven during a spotted lantern fly invasion. Piecing and putting into brush piles. Cutting down bittersweet. September (8 days total) | 3 | 48 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: On land trust property funded by the Audubon, cutting down and painting winged euonymus. | 3 | 12 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Three sessions of spot herbicide spraying of knotweed in two multi care fields on the MLCT Bush Hill Preserve using handheld sprayers. 9/1/2025 | 1 | 6 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: There were several work parties that worked on a Land Trust parcel to remove winged euonymus, bittersweet, and Norway maple. The primary method used battery powered chainsaws and painting of the stumps. Larger maple were girdled and herbicide applied to the girdled area. November 17, 19, 20 | 4 | 16 |
| Manchester | Frank Belknap | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Felling tree of heaven as spotted lantern fly were swarming in a grove of TOH. Fallen trees were pieced and placed in brush piles. August 25, 27 | 4 | 18 |
| Mansfield Center | Melissa Sheardwright | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Educational Event: Walk, Talk, & Do: sponsored by CIPWG, Mansfield IPWG, and Joshua’s Trust, at the Pond Lot Trail, Mansfield Center. Charlotte Pyle, Ph.D. and Cynthia Jones, Ph.D. demonstrated the ID of common invasives (Winged Euonymus, Japanese Barberry, Asiatic bittersweet, Invasive Honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, Mugwort, Cypress Spurge, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Knotweed). Four small groups removed Winged Euonymus, Japanese Barberry, Invasive Honeysuckle and Asiatic Bittersweet for about one hour. Participants received “Selected Links to Information on Invasive Plants,” “Connecticut Invasive Plant Management Calendar,” and “Invasive Plants in Your Backyard” brochure. April 27 2025 | 9 | 40 |
| Middlefield | Jen Huddleston | Invasive Plant Management Activity: We, the owner and select staff, at Indian Springs Golf Club are working toward eliminating invasive plant species from our grounds and woodlands. This is a huge ongoing effort, and we have a long way to go, but we made a lot of progress during 2025 and look forward to continuing next year. Specific invasive plants/insects are Asiatic bittersweet, barberry, bush honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle, privet, euonymus, Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose, Callery pear, garlic mustard, wine berry, goutweed, lesser celandine, dame’s rocket, tree of heaven, spotted lantern flies and Asian jumping worms. (2025 Golf Season) |
3 | 420 |
| Mystic | Lydia Pan | Educational Event: Identification and Management of Invasive Plants in the Spring. DESCRIPTION: This program was held twice, on 4/11/25 as a Garden Master Class and on 4/15/25 as a public program through Wild Ones, both at Coogan Farm in Mystic. The program started with an overview of CT’s regulatory framework for invasive plants, what makes them so harmful, how to identify many common species (first using cut/dug specimens. During the walk, managed and unmanaged areas were compared, with field IDs including still-dormant (leafless) woody species. Areas managed by solarization and smothering, then replanting with natives, were viewed and discussed. There was a focus on species best managed during springtime or starting in the spring: Ficaria verna, Aegopodium podagraria, Alliara petiolata, Artemisia vulgaris, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata, Berberis thunbergii, Euonymus alatus, Lonicera japonica, Rosa multiflora. Handouts included these CIPWG materials: Criteria for Invasive listing in CT, 2024 CT Invasive Plant List, Invasive Management Calendar, Guidelines for Disposal of Terrestrial Invasive Plants. I created two additional handouts: a list of common invasive plants and native look-alikes found at Coogan Farm and a list of additional resources for invasives in the Northeast (including link to CIPWG website) and native alternatives for home landscaping. April | 16 | 74 |
| New Britain | Summer Weidman (OAIS) | Workshop: Aquatic plant workshop to youth participants from New Britain ROOTS. September 18 | 10 | 12 |
| New Hartford | New Hartford Land Trust/ Madeline McClave, Board Member | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Grant writing/reporting, Planning, Organizing, Learning, Educating, Direct invasive mitigation/ eradication, Mapping: Many Thursday morning NHLT work parties on Land Trust and town open space parcels plus special work parties or small group efforts for mapping; invasive plants pulled or cut and painted: garlic mustard (pulled), mugwort (hand cut or mowed and solarized); J. knotweed (cut along river; mapped digitally on every road and the W Branch of Farmington River in New Hartford), cut and painted bittersweet, barberry, m. rose; pulled and bagged spotted knapweed; prepared site, including cutting and painting invasives as part of CLCC Climate-Smart grant, for forestry mowing as prelim phase to restore native meadow and edge ecotone at an NHLT preserve. 6/12/25 – With Carole Cheah of CT Ag Exp Station (if she is reporting separately), released 600 lady beetles to combat Hemlock Woolly Adelgid at three NHLT properties. More volunteers educated as some new helpers this year. Have released lady beetles for several years now on NHLT and town open space preserves. Provided CIPWG invasive plant lists and calendar at most public programs. Mapping Japanese Knotweed on all roads and W Branch of Farmington River in New Hartford, participating in regional collaborative mtgs re Japanese Knotweed Attended regional group of reps from five towns in NW CT (Norfolk, Colebrook, Winsted, Barkhamsted, New Hartford) to share info and collaborate re JKW eradication and strategies, etc. (May through November) |
20 | 450 |
| New Haven | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Workshop: “Invasive Aquatic and Terrestrial Plants” to the Work Force Alliance in New Haven (February 28) | 10 | 30 |
| New Haven | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Workshop: Office of Aquatic Invasive Species at CAES (March 1) | 50 | 50 |
| New Milford | Kathleen Nelson | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Mile-a-minute (MAM) Control, Northwest CT Land Conservancy. Carlson Road, New Milford is a property formerly covered with MAM. Around fifteen years ago, the State provided a grant to clear the rose and olive on the property. The land trust kept a few small islands of shrubby dogwoods. The field is usually – but not always – dry, but sometimes soggy – I think it is an official wetland. The main vegetation is a semi-endangered lime- loving sedge whose name escapes me right now. The site is mowed yearly just before MAM would be producing seeds.
We inspect and pull any MAM and are able to catch almost all of them before they produce seeds. In spite of the fact that the site is surrounded by properties with MAM, for the most part, this site is holding its own. However, the dogwood islands are starting to be invaded by multiflora rose, making inspection difficult. The yearly mowing here has also reduced the teasel population. The cost for this is the cost of the yearly mowing, plus a few donated worker hours. If the land trust is willing to spend money keeping the rose out of the dogwood islands, this meadow could possibly be kept essentially MAM free indefinitely. 8/15, 9/9, 10/7 |
6 | 8 |
| Newtown | Pamela Roman | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Led school in invasive plant talk and walk/removal. Greenwich Country Day School field trip to the Catherine Violet Hubbard sanctuary; after initial walk showing some invasive plants on site, we walked trails and removed garlic mustard, and any other offending plants visible (wineberry, +). 5/8/2025 | 100 | 200 |
| Norfolk | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Manage Japanese knotweed | 1 | 8 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto, Becky Eaton | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Removal Raffle – Multiflora Rose, Bittersweet, Buckthorn, etc. | 2 | 6 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto, Becky Eaton | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive Removal Raffle – Multiflora Rose, Bittersweet, Buckthorn, etc. | 2 | 6 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal – Japanese Stilt grass. | 6 | 18 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Education/Consultation: Educate property owner about invasive plants on their property and how to remove them. | 2 | 4 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal – Inject Japanese Knotweed. | 1 | 2 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Invasive Plant Management Activity. Removal – Inject Japanese Knotweed. | 1 | 4 |
| Norfolk | Becky Eaton | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal – Multiflora Rose, Bittersweet, Buckthorn, Mugwort, etc. | 8 | 32 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Education/Consultation: Educate property owner about invasive plants on their property and how to remove them. | 2 | 3 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Education/Consultation: Educate property owner about invasive plants on their property and how to remove them. | 1 | 4 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Education/Consultation: Educate property owner about invasive plants on their property and how to remove them. | 1 | 4 |
| Norfolk | Bill Ticineto | Educational event: Invasive removal talk. | 19 | 19 |
| North Stonington | Summer Weidman (OAIS) | Invasive Plant Workshop: to the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association (March 25) | 15 | 30 |
| Norwalk, Stamford, Westport, Weston, New Canaan | Laura Ferrera | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Educational video production: Wrenched out 400+ Euonymus alatus on properties in Weston, New Canaan, Stamford, Greenwich. Demonstrated wrench to new wrench users in Weston. Wrenched out 1/2 dozen large Autumn Olives (Elaeagnus umbellata) at Sherwood Island State Park, Weston. Removed 2,500 square feet of Invasive Wineberry at Mianus River Park, Stamford CT. Began preparing instructional video for present and future wrenching crews to disseminate best practices. April-October |
5 | 100 |
| Norwich | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Workshop: An invasive aquatic plant management and identification workshop as part of the Three Rivers Community College Environmental Issues Seminar Series (April 23) | 20 | 40 |
| Old Saybrook | Kathy Connolly | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Worked with Town of Old Saybrook on invasive plant planning at three town parks | 3 | 15 |
| Old Saybrook | Kathy Connolly | Planning Meeting: Lead a 90-minute planning meeting for Old Saybrook on revegetating two town parks where the group has been removing invasives for several years. (December 12) | 5 | 10 |
| Orange | Kevin Williams | Individual effort to combat invasive species succession in an approximately 1-acre yard. I have been educating family members and planning interventions for the following invasives: Tree of Heaven and the spotted lantern fly; Norway maple; Burning bush; Black locust; Oriental bittersweet; Japanese barberry; Border privet; Wild rose; Purple nut sedge; Mugwort; Ground ivy; Japanese stiltgrass. All year |
3 | 40 |
| Plainville | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Managed Japanese knotweed. | 2 | 2 |
| Plantsville | Lauren Kurtz, Dustyn Nelson. | Presentation: Invasive Plants Update. CNLA Winter Symposium, January 22 | 200 | 250 |
| Plymouth | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Managed Japanese knotweed. | 1 | 1 |
| Portland | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Workshop: Aquatic plant workshop to the Great Hill Pond Lake Association in Portland (September 11) | 18 | 55 |
| Redding | Summer Weidman (OAIS) | Workshop: An aquatic plant workshop to the Four Oakes Day Camp (July 24) | 15 | 45 |
| Ridgefield | Roberta Barbieri | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal of burning bush from local open space April-November | 46 | 92 |
| Rocky Hill | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Knotweed, Mugwort, Autum olive management. | 3 | 8 |
| Roxbury | Kathleen Nelson | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Roxbury Land Trust. These are hay fields with edges and hedgerows adjacent to properties with heavy Mile-a-minute (MAM) infestations. Our goal has been to keep MAM from becoming established. Access on most edges is possible when the farmers mow hay. Additional access is provided by the land trust mowing three small areas where MAM was spotted. We check these regularly during the season and, every year in the fall, check all the hedgerows and edges. Sadly, one large field has not been mowed at all for a few years. In 2004 and 2005 we discovered two small but well-established patches on the edges of this field. I suspect we will lose the battle there.
Due to weather issues, the hayfields were not mowed for a couple of years, making access very difficult. One year, rather than walk the edges, we surveyed with binoculars from the road. Not ideal! Another year we drove around the edges – better, but not as good as walking. This year, hay fields were mowed again, so we were able to do a better inspection. We found a very small patch in one hedgerow that is easily added to our usual method of “mow once before seed set, then inspect every 3-4 weeks.” However, on one of the fields we found a probably three-year-old patch of MAM in a native shrub area that will probably not be able to be mowed. I have been worried about this happening. I suspect we will not be able to stop the MAM at this location. Which means that after many years of keeping MAM from establishing on this property we now have two spots where we are unlikely to stop the spread. Discouraging. My conclusion remains the same: MAM is easy to control by pulling with repeats every three weeks if one can access the plants – “access” being the tricky part. 8/8, 8/29, 9/2, 9/17, 9/22, 10/15 |
13 | 31 |
| Salisbury | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Washinee Park treatments. 9-9-25 | 1 | 2 |
| Scotland | Rose Hiskes; Bart Laws | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Presentation; Field Expedition: Rose Hiskes led the group on a tour of the wooded area on the Scotland Public Library property, which includes recreational trails, and provided information about the invasive and indigenous species that were present. We then spent about 90 minutes removing invasive species, which unfortunately are pervasive on the property — including autumn olive, barberry, Asian bittersweet, burning bush and more. The town will now seek funding through the recreational trails RFP from DEEP to complete restoration of the property. August | 10 | 34 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Workshop | 60 | 3 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Garlic Mustard Management | 6 | 2 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Bittersweet Management | 11 | 6 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust Hamlin Preserve. Burn invasive debris, Documented. 3-11-25 | 2 | 16 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Mapping: Sharon Land Trust. Envirothon Student invasive mapping. 3-29-25 | 6 | 18 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Lecture: Sharon Land Trust. Defeating Bittersweet lecture Town Hall, plus site walk. 3-29-25 | 60 | 93 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Volunteers cut, treat, and pull Garlic mustard. 4-15-25, 5-20-25 | 10 | 20 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Spot spray herbaceous invasives. 5-29-25 | 1 | 3 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Foliar spot application. 6-13-25 | 1 | 2 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. 6-23-25 | 2 | 5 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. 6-20-25 | 2 | 6 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Cut and treat bittersweet. 9-9-25 | 6 | 12 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Volunteers cut and treat bittersweet. 10-21-25 | 6 | 12 |
| Sharon | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Sharon Land Trust. Volunteers manage invasives. 11-12-25, 11-19-25, 11-25-25 | 12 | 24 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Mowing for meadow management of a variety of invasive plants including bittersweet, porcelain-berry, a nuisance plant – Allegheny blackberry that showed up EVERYWHERE in the fields, autumn olive, among others. May-early December | 1 | 57 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Treatment of 52 American Beech trees across two properties. Early June and Early September | 2 | 8 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Invasive removal at the Nicholdale property near and around the main parking lot. Main invasive removed: mustard garlic, mugwort, Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose. 7/3/2025 | 3 | 11 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Working across 5 days during two months of the growing season two community volunteers worked to remove invasive plants along the Nicholdale Brook. Primary plant removed was multiflora rose, but bittersweet and winged euonymus were also present and removed. June, August | 2 | 28 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: A group of high school volunteers spent community service time in the meadows and forested areas at the Nicholdale Farm property removing winged euonymus, multiflora rose, bittersweet, barberry and garlic mustard. May | 3 | 33 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Meadow Invasive removal in the North field at Nicholdale Farm. The focus was porcelainberry, but plenty of bittersweet, and mugwort were removed. Additionally, the nuisance plant. Allegheny blackberry (non-fruit bearing this year) were plentiful and also removed. April and May | 1 | 145 |
| Shelton | Kris Nichols | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Work freeing meadow trees from vines (poison ivy and bittersweet). June | 1 | 6 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | All Habitat Services | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Pre-emergent stiltgrass and mugwort treatment. April 28, 2025, April 29, 2025, April 30, 2025, May 1, 2025 | 16 | 108 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Hand pulling garlic mustard. 5/5/2025 | 2 | 4 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, bittersweet, burning bush, mugwort, Asiatic bittersweet, garlic mustard, black locust, narrowleaf bittercress, crown vetch, winged euonymus, tree of heaven. 05/15/2025, 05/16/2025, 05/23/2025, 05/27/2025, 06/04/2025, 06/11/2025 | 8 | 18 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, bittersweet, burning bush. Cutting: Asiatic bittersweet, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose 05/16/2025, 06/13/2025 | 6 | 22 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, winged euonymus, tree of heaven, narrowleaf bittercress, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, garlic mustard (rosettes), Asiatic bittersweet, mugwort, bush honeysuckle, Burning bush, hay scented fern, wineberry, black locust and stems, Canada thistle, other invasive thistle spp. autumn olive. 06/13/2025, 06/16/2025, 06/24/2025, 06/25/2025, 06/30/2025, 07/01/2025, 07/02/2025, 07/16/2025, 07/21/2025, 07/22/2025, 07/30/2025 | 17 | 30 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting Asiatic bittersweet, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry 8/12/25, 8/13/25, 8/14/25, 8/15/25, 8/18/25, 8/19/25, 8/20/25, 8/27/25 | 8 | 61 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, black locust stems, Asiatic bittersweet, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, burning bush, mugwort, 08/04/2025, 08/07/2025, 08/08/2025 | 5 | 8 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Japanese stiltgrass and Japanese Knotweed, 08/11/2025 | 1 | 4 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Nick Smith/Northeast Nature Resource Management | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Japanese stiltgrass, Japanese barberry, burning bush, and Asiatic bittersweet 08/11/2025, 08/12/2025 | 3 | 18 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Purple Loosetrife; cutting flower heads off and black bagging, and foliar spraying plant stems, 08/15/2025 | 1 | 2 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | DPF Staff and Volunteers | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Hand pulling stiltgrass, 08/19/2025, 09/17/2025 | 2 | 9 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: All Habitat Services | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment, Stiltgrass, Mugwort, Canada Thistle, 08/26/2025, 08/27/2025 08/28/2025 08/29/2025 | 17 | 102 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Foliar treatment and spray, string trimming, burning bush, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, Hack, cut, paint, and squirt, Asiatic bittersweet, Black Locust, stiltgrass, Callery Pear. 09/03/2025, 09/04/2025, 09/10/2025, 09/15/2025 | 6 | 10 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting Asiatic bittersweet vines 9/18/25 | 1 | 8 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut and paint, Black Locust, Foliar spray, burning bush. 09/17/2025, 09/29/2025 | 3 | 6 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting Asiatic bittersweet vines on trees. 10/1/2025, 10/6/25, 10/7/25 | 3 | 24 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cut and paint, Black Locust sprouts, burning bush Multiflora Rose, Japanese barberry Asiatic bittersweet, Canada thistle. 5/30/25, 10/10/2025, 10/22/2025, 10/29/2025 | 4 | 12 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Vendor: Will Gawel Excavating | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting: Asiatic bittersweet, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, September 4 to 10/2 | 1 | 88 |
| Sherman, CT/Pawling, NY | Lori Lichtenauer – CT Audubon Society at Deer Pond Farm | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Hand pulling, Garlic Mustard, Foliar spray: Multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, Asiatic bittersweet, burning bush, mugwort, Canada thistle, 5/29/25, 6/3/25 | 4 | 8 |
| South Windsor | Bill Marshall | Invasive Plant Management Activity: SWIPWG is a partnership between the Town (Public Works Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and Environmental Planning), community residents, and SWHS students to manage invasive plants in a 4- acre Town owned wooded Open Space. Activity consisted of Work Parties to remove/manage invasive plants, mentor volunteers in invasive plant ID/management. Also, approx. 30 native plants were planted. Note: This is volunteer time only; it does not include numerous hours of Town staff. | 97 | 390 |
| South Windsor | Bill Marshall | Invasive plants educational presentation. | 2 | 24 |
| Sprague | Krystle Daniels | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Removal of bittersweet, burning bush, autumn olive, Japanese stiltgrass, and Japanese barberry from private land. May, June, July, Aug, Sept | 1 | 50 |
| Tolland | Jane Simao | Invasive Plant Management Activity: This is a collaborative activity between the Tolland Conservation Commission, the Tolland Conservation Corps and the sixth-grade teachers at Tolland Middle School. We have done this for three years. On each of two days in May, half of the 6th graders from Tolland Middle School were bused to Becker Conservation Area. Students were given a choice of activities, and one choice was barberry removal. Students were in teams of 10-12 with adult supervisors. Students were responsible for cutting the barberry while adults were in charge of spraying. In the three years that we have done this activity, we have made a huge dent in the barbery infestation in this particular conservation area. May | 90 | 120 |
| Trumbull | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Managing mugwort | 2 | 3 |
| Vernon | Rose Hiskes | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Pulling party – Oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, tree of heaven, Japanese knotweed | 1 | 7 |
| Virtual | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Presentation: Updated the CT DEEP/UCONN Aquatic Invasive Species Workgroup on CAES work on CT River hydrilla (January 13) | 10 | 10 |
| Virtual | Summer Weidman (OAIS) | Presentation: “Updated Techniques for Mapping Aquatic Plants” at the Annual Invasive Species Forum hosted virtually by the Invasive Species Centre (February 19) | 50 | 75 |
| Virtual | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Co-chair of meetings of the Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel (February 7 and 21) | 20 | 20 |
| Virtual | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Cochaired the spring virtual meeting of the Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel and provided a Connecticut update (April 29, 30) | 25 | 25 |
| Virtual | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Aquatic Plants” as part of the Federated Garden Club Environmental School (September 18) | 40 | 40 |
| Virtual | Victoria Wallace, UConn Extension | UConn Fundamentals of Home Gardening Master Gardener Course. Instructor. Developed module on turfgrass with coverage of invasive plants management for asynchronous class. | 15 | 115 |
| Virtual | Rose Hiskes, Vickie Wallace, Emmett Varicchio | CIPWG Steering Committee Meeting: Discussed report from CIPWG Invasive Plant Review Subcommittee and preparations for CIPWG Symposium 2026. | 15 | 30 |
| Virtual | Rose Hiskes, Vickie Wallace, Emmett Varicchio | CIPWG Symposium Planning Committee Meeting: Discussed beginning of preparations for CIPWG Symposium 2026. | 15 | 30 |
| Virtual | Vickie Wallace, Alyssa Siegel-Miles, Lauren Kurtz, Pete Picone, Bryan Connolly, Josh Tracy, Dave Laiuppa | CIPWG Invasive Plant Review Subcommittee: Reviewed plants to be added to the CIPWG Invasive Plant Research List. Researched sterile cultivars of invasive plants. | 7 | 70 |
| Wallingford | Maureen Terese McCarthy | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Japanese Knotweed management. May – November | 1 | 2 |
| Waterbury | Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) | Workshop: “Invasive Aquatic and Terrestrial Plants” to CT DEEP trainees at Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board in Waterbury (February 18) | 20 | 60 |
| West Hartford | Beth Ann Loveland Sennett | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Spicebush Swamp Park Invasive Removal Wkly. Party | 15 | 560 |
| West Hartford | Beth Ann Loveland Sennett | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Wolcott Park Children’s Forest | 4 | 42 |
| West Hartford | Beth Ann Loveland Sennett | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Wojan’s Woods | 6 | 23 |
| Weston | Lisa Brodlie | Consultation: Inquiries regarding aquatic & terrestrial invasives. Reporting locations of toxic invasives along with general invasives. CIPWG Infoline. Sent information via e mail, contacted various experts & organizations for specific replies. Referred large issues to professional businesses all of 2025 until present | 140 | 60 |
| Weston | Sarah Hutchison | Invasive Plant Management Activity, Training Workshops, Community Meeting, Presentations: 26 events total: 20 Workshops 3 Presentations 1 community Earth Day Event 2 Education Lectures (2025) |
486 | 500 |
| Westport | Faith N Novella | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Community Volunteer Day -we did invasive removal (porcelain berry and mugwort) Sept 6 2025 | 13 | 26 |
| Wilton | Joe Bear | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Allen’s Meadow Native Pollinator Meadow is taking hold with this year being its second growing season, first unmanaged as last year I mowed monthly. Some Mugwort is still present and in Sept we pulled/dug out plants with seed heads. Expectation is to have to manage the meadow this way each year but hoping there will be less and less of the mugwort to pull with each successive year. | 2 | 25 |
| Wilton | James Van Acker | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Controlling Euonymus, barberry, bittersweet, Rosa multiflora, privet, and mugwort in a public park trail system. February-April, Oct-Dec | 2 | 80 |
| Winchester | Tom Zetterstrom | Conservation Commission talk: Defeating Knotweed. 5-6-25 | 40 | 80 |
| Winchester | Tom Zetterstrom | Defeat Roadside invasives workshop and demonstration, DPW, 10 towns and CTDOT. 7-29-25 | 40 | 200 |
| Winsted | Sally Chesney | Consultation, Exhibit, Community Outdoor Event: Winchester Fall Foliage Festival – tent/booth sponsored by the Winchester Conservation Commission. Displayed a posterboard from the Torrington UCONN Master Gardeners office with photos of several invasive plant species. Provided live samples of Japanese knotweed, Bittersweet and mugwort. Displayed laminated copies of several common residential invasive plant factsheets, the CT Invasive Plant Management Calendar and Invasive plant criteria for CT. Handed out copies of “Invasive Plants in your Backyard (2025 ed.)”, Oct. 2024 Invasive Plant List for CT, and Guidelines for disposal of Aquatic and Terrestrial Invasive Plants. I made sure that the CIPWG website URL was on all handouts. 9/27/2025 | 40 | 202 |
| Winsted | Sally Chesney | Consultation; Exhibit; Transfer Station Pass Renewal: Conversed with people waiting in line to renew their annual Regional Transfer Station pass in Barkhamsted CT. A fellow Winchester Conservation Commission board member discussed new recycling opportunities. I displayed a posterboard from the Torrington UCONN Master Gardeners office with photos of several invasive plant species. I had live samples of Japanese knotweed, Bittersweet, Burning Bush and Mugwort. I displayed copies of several common residential invasive plant factsheets, the Oct 2024 CT Invasive Plant List and the Invasive Plants in your Backyard brochure (2020 ed.). June/July 2025 | 30 | 91 |
| Winsted | Tom Zetterstrom | Invasive Plant Management Activity: DPW document invasives. 3-24-25 | 1 | 2 |
| Winsted | Adam Boone – CTDOT Vegetation Management Unit | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Manage Japanese knotweed | 2 | 4 |
| Wolcott | Laura Monte | Invasive Plant Management Activity: Cutting and bagging invasive plants. May 30 | 4 | 8 |
| Woodbridge | Ali Beres-Nork | Exhibit: I hosted a booth at Woodbridge Earth Day with samples of invasive plants and fact sheets, and consulted with attendees on identification and removal/management strategies; I used CIPWG handouts on these invasives: knotweed, autumn olive, barberry, Asiatic bittersweet, tree of heaven, winged euonymus, multiflora rose, garlic mustard, phragmites, mugwort, stiltgrass 4/25/2025 | 800 | 8 |
| Woodbridge | Ali Beres-Nork | Invasive Plant Management Activity; Site Visit: Facilitated collaboration between my Amity High School AP Env Sci classes, the SWCD, and Woodbridge Land Trust to survey plant diversity (including identification of invasives) in an ongoing effort to create a pollinator meadow at 99 Center Rd (Woodbridge, CT). 5/25/2025 | 24 | 96 |
| Woodbury | Sandy Lee Carlson | Invasive Plant Management Activity: This was a summer-long removal of Invasives along the Botany Trail at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, Connecticut. Flanders handed out the CRCCD Invasives Plant Guide (2022) to the Eversource volunteers who participated on September 25. June-September 2025 | 25 | 136 |
| Woodbury | Rose Hiskes | Invasive Plants Talk | 22 | 25 |
| Connecticut (State-wide) | Victoria Wallace, UConn Extension | Instructor: UConn Master Gardener Course. Developed new modules on turfgrass with coverage of invasive plants management. Delivered in-person and virtual lectures. Vernon, New Haven, Torrington; Norwich; Stamford (March) | 212 | 1000 |
| Connecticut (State-wide) | Victoria Wallace, UConn Extension | Reviewed: 2025 ECSU SustainableCT Program. Review invasive plant submissions. | 1 | 16 |
| TOTAL DIRECT: | 6,892 | 12,558 | ||
Out of State Activity: |
||||
| Location | Educator/ Leader/ Reporter | Program Title/Outreach Activity | # Partici-pants or Attendees | # Hours Contri-buted |
| Saratoga Springs, NY | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Presentation: Talk entitled “Connecticut River Update: The Spread Continues” at the Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY (January 9) | 150 | 300 |
| Shutesbury, MA | Pam Ososky | Invasive Plant Management Activity: We worked on 5 different patches of knotweed, following the protocol set forth by the Mad River Valley of VT. We cut and dug out what we could at each site with the intention of checking in every 3 weeks to cut any new growth. This is the first of our attempts at managing the knotweed patches in Shutesbury. It has been a long haul of working with the town to do this. Our first attempt was to get the Town to use Glyphosate to spray the infestations but that was not successful. Now we are trying this. The Subduing Knotweed Coalition of Shutesbury is leading the charge. Wish us luck and success! September | 5 | 10 |
| Falmouth, MA | Summer Weidman | Presented a poster titled “Detecting Northern Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata subsp. lithuanica) in the Connecticut River using Satellite Imagery” at the Northeast Arc Users Group annual conference | 200 | 206 |
| Myrtle Beach, SC | Greg Bugbee | Presentation: Talk entitled “Connecticut River Hydrilla the Spread Continues” at the North American Lake Management Society Conference | 50 | 54 |
| Providence, RI | Greg Bugbee | Presentation: Talk entitled “Connecticut River Hydrilla: The Spread Continues” at the Aquatic Plant Society Meetings (July 15) | 75 | 80 |
| TOTAL (OUT-OF-STATE): | 480 | 650 | ||
Indirect Participation (e.g., Articles, Interviews, Podcasts) |
||||
| Location | Educator/ Author/ Reporter | Program Title/Outreach Activity | # Participants | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed by Ed Mahoney of the Hartford Courant on hydrilla in the Connecticut River (January 1) | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed by Mariana Durafour of the Chronicle on CT Aquatic Invasive Species Grants (February 19) | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed By Ed Mahoney of the Hartford Courant on “Hydrilla in the CT River.” (May 2) | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed by Kevin Gaiss of NBC CT TV on “Hydrilla in the CT River.” (May 12) | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Annabel Hofmann CT Examiner (July 9) | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” Luke Hajdasz WFSB TV3 (July 18) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Brian Smith CT Examiner (July 18) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Brian and Company WTIC (July 23) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Reese in the Afternoon WTIC (July 23, July 24) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Brian Smith podcast (July 28) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “Hydrilla in the Connecticut River” by Ed Mahoney Hartford Courant (July 30) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed on “CAES CT River hydrilla harvesting trials” by Reese in the Afternoon WTIC Radio (August 28) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Greg Bugbee (OAIS) | Interviewed by Ed Mahoney of the Hartford Courant on hydrilla in the CT River (September 26) |
500 | |
| Connecticut | Becky Royce; Todd Mervosh | Article: Interest in Invasive Plants Spreads to Recent Garden Talk at Bellamy-Ferriday House (June 26, 2025) | 100 | |
| Connecticut | Lauren Kurtz, Alyssa Siegel-Miles, and Victoria Wallace | Developed an invasive plant survey that replicated a 2007 survey of the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association (CNLA) membership to assess changes in knowledge, practices, and policy preferences regarding invasive ornamental plants. The results of this survey were published in the journal HortTechnology at Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Industry: Evolving Viewpoints on the Sale and Use of Invasive Plants. Results revealed an increase in self-reported knowledge about invasive plants and substantial declines in sales of prominent invasive plants. Industry support grew for native plant promotion, point-of-sale invasive plant labels, and voluntary removal of invasive plants from inventories, with openness to statewide bans and allowing for the development and sale of sterile cultivars. These findings signify a substantial shift toward proactive invasive plant management in Connecticut’s green industry. | 500 | |
| Connecticut | Lauren Kurtz, Alyssa Siegel-Miles, and Victoria Wallace, UConn Extension | Developed an invasive plant certificate course to equip stakeholder groups of varied experiential backgrounds with the information needed to evaluate, manage, and mitigate populations of invasive species in Connecticut. This program will consist of seven asynchronous modules. The audience for this program includes land managers, conservation commission members, green industry professionals, municipal staff, advanced volunteers and homeowners interested in learning more about invasive plants and effective management strategies. Registration for this certificate program began in late 2025 and the program will launch in February 2026. ipm.cahnr.uconn.edu/invasive-plant-certificate | 50 | |
| Connecticut | Victoria Wallace, UConn Extension | Served as the UConn CAHNR Dean Representative and Chair of the Invasive Plants Council (IPC), a state-legislated committee mandated by the CT Legislative Environment Committee, for the 2025 term. In response to recommendations made in the 2024 IPC annual report, the CT Legislative Environment Committee in 2024 submitted HB 5013 to include nine additional invasive plants to be prohibited from sale: Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum L.) was immediately prohibited from sale when the bill became PA 25-126 in October 2025. • Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus), Glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), European privet (Ligustrum vulgare), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), and miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis) will be prohibited from sale with a 3-year phase out period; these species will be prohibited from sale as of October 1st 2028. • Norway maple (Acer platanoides) will be prohibited from sale with a 5-year phase out period; it will be prohibited from sale as of October 1st 2030. |
50 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Jumping/Snake Worm PSA on Granby Cable TV, September 4, aired repeatedly on Channel 16 and available on the station’s YouTube channel here: https://gctv16.org/viewshows/publicaccessshows/worm-warning-why-these-wigglers-are-not-wanted/ | 100 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | NOT WANTED column in Granby Drummer: “Heaven’s End,” about the Tree of Heaven eradication / Spotted Lanternfly prevention project at Holcomb Farm, February 2025: https://granbyinvasiveplants.weebly.com/heavens-end—february-2025.html | 100 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | NOT WANTED column in Granby Drummer: “Mays, Shoulds and Musts,” about what not to plant, how to control invasives, and planting native alternatives, May 2025: https://granbyinvasiveplants.weebly.com/mays-shoulds-and-musts—-may-2025.html | 100 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | NOT WANTED column in Granby Drummer: “Dr. Doug’s Daily Donts and Dos,” about Dr. Tallamy’s latest book “How Can I Help?,” September 2025: https://granbyinvasiveplants.weebly.com/dr-dougrsquos-daily-donrsquots-and-dos—september-2025.html | 100 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | NOT WANTED column in Granby Drummer: “Grow Your Own Native Plants,” about outdoors and indoors strategies for seeding natives, December 2025: https://granbyinvasiveplants.weebly.com/grow-your-own-native-plants—december-2025.html | 100 |
| Granby | David Desiderato | Management of Granby Invasive Plants website, including about 40 past NOT WANTED columns, news about invasive action days, photos, resources, contact form, etc.: https://granbyinvasiveplants.weebly.com/ | 100 |
| TOTAL INDIRECT: | 7,800 | ||
December 2025