By: Heidi Braunreiter, KNPS Director
The Kentucky Invasive Plant Council (KY-IPC) hosted their annual conference on November 2, 2023 at Kentucky State University’s Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY. This was the first time KY-IPC hosted an in-person conference since the event started virtually in 2021, with over 150 people in attendance. The conference was a great opportunity for land management professionals, private landowners, natural area volunteers/stewards, researchers, and nonprofits from across Kentucky to get together to discuss the latest news and emerging threats here in the state and to earn continuing education units (CEU’s) for their pesticide license.
2023 KY-IPC Conference at KSU’s Research & Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY
This year’s conference was split into indoor presentations and outdoor demonstrations. Some of the topics discussed included managing invasives when installing native grasslands, biological controls of invasive plants (garlic mustard aphid and honeysuckle leaf blight), invasive species to watch for (spotted lanternfly, Japanese chaff flower, amur cork tree, and overlooked invasive plants along fire breaks), and a case study of aerial spraying of bush honeysuckle at Clay WMA. Demonstrations included using drones for invasive plant monitoring and management, research plots of invasive plant management at KSU Farm, and invasive plant management with goats.
Another highlight of the annual event was to recognize people and places that are doing great work towards invasive species eradication in the state. KY-IPC solicited nominations for three categories to recognize a professional land manager, a nonprofessional individual, and a natural area or organization.
The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a professional land management practitioner in invasive species management went to Ryan Fortenberry, the Cumberland Plateau Land Manager for Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP). Ryan is an excellent steward of the nature preserves under his watch. He is charged with protecting many sensitive sites with high quality natural communities and rare species, which he maintains through his vigilance of looking for and eradicating invasive species before they become a problem. He also has multiple sites where the invasives were already a problem, and he has worked to eradicate those populations through his hard work and dedication.
The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a nonprofessional individual went to Terri Koontz, a volunteer at several natural areas in Kentucky. When she learns of a new emerging invasive plant, she is not satisfied simply to know it exists; she goes out of her way to learn all she can about it, including why it is in invasive, how to correctly identify it, and what she can do to manage it. Terri recently learned to recognize Japanese chaff flower and took it upon herself to remove a large population behind the Gladie Visitor Center at the Red River Gorge. By sharing her passion, knowledge, and willingness to get down on the ground and work with friends and other volunteers, Terri stewards Kentucky natural areas wherever she goes.
The 2023 KY-IPC award recognizing a natural area or organization dedicated to invasive species eradication went to Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife Resources’s (KDFWR) Clay Wildlife Management Area. Clay WMA is one of the most intensively managed areas for wildlife habitat in Kentucky through invasive species eradication and prescribed fire. The current land manager, Jimmy Woods, wrote a three-year management plan to treat the entire WMA for bush honeysuckle, which included a 2022 aerial herbicide spraying of large tracts of the forest in collaboration with UK researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. Clay WMA has also hosted several educational field days for various groups to view and learn about large-scale management operations of invasive species.
The final highlight of KY-IPC’s 2023 annual conference was the announcement of this year’s winner of funding for a natural area boot brush station, which was awarded to Kentucky Natural Land Trust for their Blanton West Preserve near Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve in Harlan County. A boot brush station will help fight the spread of invasive species and signage will educate the public about invasive species.
To learn more and stay in tune with KY-IPC’s news and events, follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KYIPC/