None The Nature Conservancy in Arizona Press Releases Search All Press Releases Tamera Skrovan, The Nature Conservancy Phone: (602) 322-6996 E-Mail: tskrovan@tnc.org Sonoran Institute Nina Chambers Phone: (520) 290-0828

Beware: There May Be Bad Plants In Your Tucson Backyard

The First Day of Spring Offers Everyone an Opportunity to Help Stop the Spread of Arizona's Worst Weeds

Fountain grass © Steve Phillips/ASDM

TUCSON, AZ - March 20, 2002 - On the first day of spring, The Nature Conservancy, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and the Sonoran Institute are asking Arizonans to check their yards and gardens for plants that can escape cultivation and cause tremendous damage to the natural environment and the economy.

In the Sonoran Desert, our organizations have identified prime culprits including, buffelgrass (and its ornamental relative, fountain grass), tamarisk, Sahara mustard, and Malta star thistle. These plants have been used widely for agricultural forage, horticulture, landscaping and erosion control, and can be found in backyards, business lots and on public lands throughout our area. At first glance these plants may look pretty, but their beauty is deceptive.

Known as invasive species, plants like these are typically transplants from distant places. Once free from the natural checks and balances that had kept them under control in their native realms, these alien plant invaders are able to establish themselves in new areas to the detriment of native species. They often hoard light, water and nutrients, and can even alter entire ecosystems by changing soil chemistry, fire regimes or hydrological processes. As a result, invasive plants can overtake native plants and, in turn, displace the animals that had relied on the native plants for food and shelter. With intentional and unintentional assistance from people, these problematic plants are spreading at an alarming rate, infecting natural areas across the Sonoran Desert. Some can choke waterways and cause flooding. Others burn easily and result in more frequent wildfires that threaten buildings and native plants.

"Keeping invasive plants out of Arizona's backyards helps the environment and the economy," said Pat Graham, state director of The Nature Conservancy's Arizona chapter. "Taking the time to remove the most dangerous invasive plants and replace them with native varieties is a great example of bringing new energy to the old adage: think globally, act locally." Please see the attached information sheet on local activities and opportunities for the public to get involved.

American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA), the national trade association of the nursery and landscape industry, is working with the Conservancy and other organizations to develop codes of conduct to help stop the spread of invasive plants. "Nursery growers, landscape designers and others who make their career in horticulture have become increasingly concerned with the issue of invasive plants," said Wayne Mezitt, vice president of the (ANLA), and chair of that organization's Invasive Species Task Force. "Consumers look for plants that establish quickly, withstand environmental stresses and generally grow without much care. Unfortunately, these characteristics can also be the features that make plants invasive."

Plants that escape from yards and gardens are an example of the larger problem that intentional and accidental introductions of invasive plants and animals pose to the environment and the economy. In the Sonoran Desert, experts have estimated that more than 70 percent of the key conservation areas studied are threatened by invasive plants or animals. Invasive species, taken as a whole, are now a threat to the survival of native plants and animals that is exceeded only by the threat of habitat loss. Invasive species are contributing to the decline of 46 percent of the species (57 percent of the plants and 39 percent of the animals) listed as imperiled or endangered in the United States. And, unfortunately, the cost of invasive species does not stop with the damage done to plants and animals. In fact, the cost to the national economy has been estimated as high as $137 billion per year and increasing, due primarily to losses in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as the cost of clearing invasive-clogged waterways and fighting invasive-fueled fires.

Across the Sonoran Desert, five plants stand out as examples of how serious the situation can be when a plant intended for limited use escapes its intended purpose:

Buffelgrass (pennisetum ciliare)
ORIGIN: Native to eastern Africa's Great Rift Valley

DESCRIPTION: Buffelgrass was introduced by government and private agencies in Sonora and Arizona during the last four decades as a forage crop for lower elevation areas. It has become a scourge from Hermosillo, Sonora to central Arizona, reducing the diversity of life by outcompeting native plants and by fueling fires that cacti and other natives are not adapted to withstand.

Fountain grass (pennsitum setaceum)
ORIGIN: Africa

DESCRIPTION: This robust perennial clumping grass is a common landscape ornamental in southern Arizona, where it is slowly spreading into natural habitats, including the Tucson Mountains, especially in washes. A few plants found in 1986 in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument suggest that it may be spreading southward into Sonora, Mexico.

Tamarisk also called salt cedar (tamarix ramoisissima)
ORIGIN: India

DESCRIPTION: This deep-rooted shrub or small tree consumes a great amount of water, thus leaving some areas high and dry. Its ability to out-compete willow, cottonwood and other native riparian plants has a dramatic effect on wildlife as well. During the winter, for instance, tamarisk have only 39 percent of the density of birds as other vegetative communities. Only a few native species use tamarisk.

Sahara mustard (brassica tournifortii)
ORIGIN: Probably native to North Africa and central Asia

DESCRIPTION: Pernicious weed with no natural controls in North America. Known here for less than half a century, it now dominates thousands of square miles of sandy, low elevation desert, often to the nearly complete exclusion of native animals.

Malta starthistle (centaurea melitensis)
ORIGIN: Europe

DESCRIPTION: Malta starthistle perhaps was introduced to the Southwest as a contaminant in grain seed. In California it grows as a winter annual. Humans, animals or wind can transport seeds. Dense infestations displace nativeplants and animals and degrade rangelands. The scale of infestation in Arizona may be relatively low at present, which enables an early effective response.

"Stopping the spread of invasive species is a war we must win. We can only win by working together as organizations and individuals," said Graham.

The Nature Conservancy is a private, international, nonprofit organization established in 1951 to preserve plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 12 million acres in the United States, and have helped through partnerships to preserve more than 80 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the Asia Pacific.

The Nature Conservancy of Arizona has been actively engaged in saving our state's last great places for wildlife and for people for nearly 40 years. Together with communities, private citizens, businesses and public agencies, it has helped to protect more than 1 million acres of significant habitat statewide. The Conservancy also owns and manages fourteen nature preserves in Arizona. Of these, six are open to the public for bird watching, hiking and nature studies. For more information on The Nature Conservancy of Arizona and how to visit its preserves, visit our website at nature.org/arizona or call our Tucson Conservation Center at (520) 622-3861.

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is the nation's leading outdoor living museum, featuring more than 300 species of native wildlife and 1,300 varieties of desert plants. Established in 1952, the museum is ranked among the world's Top Ten Zoological Sites. The Raptor Free Flight Program is featured daily at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. through April. The new Coati Exhibit, Pollinator Gardens, Mountain Lion Exhibit, Hummingbird Aviary and many other exhibits instruct and entertain all ages. On-site restaurants offer everything from refreshments and snacks to fine dining. The museum, located at 2021 N. Kinney Road, is open every day of the year from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. October through February, and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. March through September. Admission is free for members and children under 6, $9.95 for adults November through April ($8.95 for adults May through October), and $1.75 for ages 6 to 12.

Call (520) 883-2702 or visit the website at www.desertmuseum.org for more information.

The Sonoran Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with communities to conserve and restore important natural landscapes in western North America, including the wildlife and cultural values of these lands. The collaborative approach of the Sonoran Institute creates lasting benefits including healthy landscapes and vibrant, livable communities that embrace conservation as an integral element of their economies and quality of life.

BEWARE: THERE MAY BE BAD PLANTS IN YOUR BACKYARD

What Can You Do?

At Home
Begin with your own yard. Landscape with native species or non-invasive plants and keep your property free of invasive weeds.

Patronize nurseries specializing in native plant alternatives.

If you have invasive plants in your yard watch carefully for signs of aggressive spread; take appropriate action if it is observed.

Avoid disturbing natural areas-disturbed ground favors exotics.

Be careful to clean your travel gear and clothing before returning home to avoid inadvertently carrying seeds to areas where they could disturb or displace native vegetation

Be careful not to send or receive invasives potentially harmful plants or animals through the mail

In the Community

Adopt a local roadside, trail, park area or riparian area. Volunteer for weed control volunteer days on The Nature Conservancy preserves and with other local groups like the Weed Wackers that detect and control noxious weeds.

Tucson Mountain Weed Wackers: Volunteers gather at Gilbert Ray Campground the second Friday and third Saturday of every month. For more information call Barb Skye or Doug Siegel at (520) 740-1981.

The Nature Conservancy: The Ramsey Canyon Preserve is looking for restoration volunteers to help remove myrtle vinca major (also called periwinkle). Regular volunteer workdays are held throughout the year. For information, please contact Jim Mack, at (520) 378-2785, ext. 111 or e-mail jmack@tnc.org.

Hassayampa River Preserve is looking for volunteers to help control fan palm. Volunteer days are scheduled for Saturday, March 23 and Saturday, March 30. For more information, please contact Bernadine McCollum at (928) 684-2772 or e-mail bmccollum@tnc.org.

Arizona Native Plants Society: www.aznps.org.

Native Plants are beautiful! Prove it to your community by starting a native plants demonstration garden. Visit the native plant gardens at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, the Nature Conservancy's Tucson Conservation Center for ideas and inspiration.