As June came to an end last month, the highly invasive plant pepperweed was not planning a summer vacation. Pepperweed is native to the Black Sea and Mediterranean yet has found its way to our shores in Ipswich Massachusetts. It was first discovered in the US throughout the Ipswich River estuary yet has since quickly expanded north to Maine and south to Long Island. Pepperweed is very harmful to marsh ecosystems which are key in areas like the Ipswich estuary. They outcompete the native plants and if left alone they would turn the marshes into a monoculture – an army of pepperweed. A myriad of animals, fish, and aquatic invertebrates rely on the native plants for survival and this invasion threatens them.
For many consecutive years now IRWA has partnered with the Mass Audubon to manually remove this alien invader. The spread can be controlled by hand pulling and application of herbicide in the late spring and early summer before the plants can produce seeds. Last week Liz Duff and Wayne Castonguay led the charge with the help of volunteers at Treadwell AKA Perkins island. The group departed the island victorious with a mountain of trash bags filled to the brim with pepperweed.
While this resilient plant seems engineered to wreak havoc, there has been good success with targeted removal. Our efforts have been highly successful with significant reductions in the population. Research shows that in the second year of removal, three-fourths of the pepperweed doesn’t return. The invasion has gone from a crisis to a maintenance issue in our estuary but that does not mean that we can celebrate yet. It is the hard work of dedicated scientists and volunteers that has turned the tide on pepperweed but you can help too. We are thankful to MAS for leading this effort but they can’t do it alone. Be #4ourRiver and join us at our next pull.