Untying the Knot: Community-Based Scientific Management of Knotweed in The Mad River Valley

Increasingly common flood events are dispersing introduced highly competitive species, such as knotweed, across the landscape. Managing this spread and limiting the harm that knotweed causes is a tall task, but the Conservation Commissions from the towns of Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston in the Mad River Valley have developed a management approach that is yielding results. Thanks to scientific monitoring, robust community engagement, creative solutions, a new GIS system, and good old-fashioned persistence and determination, the group is making headway: not only keeping knotweed in check, but reducing its prevalence within their watershed and restoring habitat previously dominated by knotweed.

In this webinar we’ll hear from the leaders of this program, along with a few of the partners who have helped bring their expertise to bear on the problem. They’ll cover the specific steps they’ve taken to build and sustain this community effort and pass along advice for those interested in getting similar efforts going in their communities.

Presenters will include:

• Walt Poleman, director of UVM’s Field Naturalist Program and Ecological Planning Laboratory
• Jito Coleman, chair, Warren Conservation Commission
• Andrea Henderson, co-chair, Fayston Conservation Commission
• David Moroney, Field Naturalist Program graduate and our GIS coordinator
• Curt Lindberg, chair, Waitsfield Conservation Commission

Please note: this offering is eligible for pesticide applicator credits through the Vermont Department of Agriculture.