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Little Plant Causes Big Problems

Crews Work to Remove Baby’s Breath From Great Lakes Shoreline

FRANKFORT, MICHIGAN — July 28, 2008 — Despite its innocent-sounding name, baby’s breath is a ferocious invasive plant that volunteer crews and conservation staff have been working to control from taking root within the world’s largest freshwater dune system along Lake Michigan shoreline.

A new report by The Nature Conservancy says that while much work has been done to identify, manage and monitor the spread of the invasive plant, crews will need to work aggressively over the next 10 years to remove the plant for the health and viability of the dunes. Crews removed an estimated 1.8 million plants over 229 acres at six sites in 2007 and plan to continue at this rate as funding allows.

Meijer Inc. donated more than $400,000 to The Nature Conservancy for the Lake Michigan Dune Restoration Project, providing funding for 2007 through 2009. The goal of the project is to remove baby’s breath from coastal dune areas so that future maintenance involves minimal upkeep.

According to scientists, baby’s breath is one of the most aggressive threats to this unique natural system. The roots of the plants can extend more than 15 feet, establishing itself within the sand and inhibiting the natural flow of wind and sand movement. As a result, the plant draws water and nutrients from native vegetation and can overtake an area.

 

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Invasive baby's breath surrounds rare, native plants at Pt. Betsie.
Photo © TNC Archives

“You can tell the difference once you walk on a dune with baby’s breath – it doesn’t look or feel right,” said Carol Navarro, a Frankfort resident who enjoys frequent visits to The Nature Conservancy’s Zetterberg Preserve at Point Betsie. “It’s hard to believe this little plant does so much damage to these big dunes. We’re lucky to have such gorgous dunes here, and we should protect them.”

Nature Conservancy staff started managing baby’s breath about 10 years ago when they noticed how far an infestation had spread. Since then, scientists and land managers have worked with partners through the Michigan Dune Alliance, a coastal conservation coalition whose members include organizations such as Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and the National Park Service, to control the plant and monitor its spread. In 2007, Conservancy staff worked with scientists from Michigan State University on remote sensing techniques to map the spread of the infestation.

The plant can be found along Lake Michigan shoreline from “just south of Frankfort to just north of Harbor Springs,” said Matt Kleitch, The Nature Conservancy’s northern lower peninsula project director, who has led stewardship crews in this area for two years.

Kleitch said the worst infestation can be found on protected lands, including the Conservancy’s Zetterberg Preserve at Point Betsie and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

“The good news is that these places are protected by governments and nonprofits that are actively working to get rid of invasives,” Kleitch said. “The bad news is that the seed knows no boundaries and spreads with the wind.”

Kleitch said a major objective this year is contacting private landowners in priority areas to offer management assistance. The plant can be removed by severing the taproot with a steel spade shovel. Once the plants dry out, they decompose naturally.

“There are areas you can go to like Point Betsie where it’s solid baby’s breath up to your waist. You look at that, and you think there’s no way we can ever get rid of this, and some people think we’re crazy for even trying,” Kleitch said. “But, when you look at the techniques, it’s labor-intensive, but we know from monitoring that it works.”

“The promising thing for me is that we worked with Sleeping Bear Dunes and set up a research project with four different herbicides,” Kleitch continued. “We found one that works, is reasonably priced and has low environmental risks. I’m optimistic this will speed up our rate of success. Most other invasive plants that threaten the dunes have spread much more widely, so we have an unusual opportunity to cut-off the threat of baby’s breath if we act now.”

Kleitch said that crews are out in full force this year and plan to clear an additional 220 acres. He said private landowners who believe they have baby’s breath on their property should contact him at (616) 450-9455 or by email at mkleitch@tnc.org

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.