Invasion Threatens the Beauty of Our Southern Blue Ridge Mountains

The Conservancy Identifies the Top 10 Invasive Threats to the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment

Greenville, S.C.—May 5, 2005—Invasive species are sweeping across the three-state Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment region, with potential to permanently alter the natural beauty and diversity of this globally important region. Often introduced for their aesthetic qualities, invasive species are animals, plants and diseases introduced into the environment that damage land and waters on which we all depend. Only development poses a greater threat to habitat loss on the planet.

"Protecting the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment is a global priority for The Nature Conservancy," said Kristen Austin, SC Southern Blue Ridge Project Director for The Nature Conservancy. "With intentional and unintentional assistance from people, these problematic invasive plants, animals and diseases are spreading at an alarming rate, infecting natural areas across the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment. The Nature Conservancy, working with our partners, is committed to working with the Upstate community to understand invasive species so we can all address this problem."

In the United States alone, more than 4,500 foreign species have gained a permanent foothold or taken root over the past century. All told, invasive species are estimated to cost $137 billion annually in losses to agriculture, forestry, fisheries and the maintenance of open waterways in the United States. To raise awareness about this issue, The Nature Conservancy has identified the top 10 most prevalent invasive plants, animals and diseases threatening the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment.

Among the Top 10 list are two non-plant invasive species, the Hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect, and Sudden oak death, a fungus. The Hemlock woolly adelgid, believed to be native to Asia, is the leading threat to our land, water and quality of life in the mountains of South Carolina. This insect drains sap from hemlock shoots, causing premature defoliation, decreased tree vigor and then more than likely, death. This will lead to the loss of our Hemlock forests, which will have detrimental effects to our trout streams, recreational opportunities and neotropical migrant bird habitat. Sudden oak death is a disease that has been killing oaks in central California, poses a significant threat to our Southern Blue Ridge forests.

Other species on the list are Chinese privet, Japanese stilt grass, Japanese honeysuckle, Russian olive, mimosa, tree of heaven, princess tree and oriental bittersweet.

"When invasive species are introduced to a region, they wreck havoc on the native plants and animals," said Dr. John Randall, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Invasive Species Program. "Invasions are occurring around the world at an unprecedented rate and scale. We need to be active now to ensure that the natural diversity of the Southern Blue Ridge remains for future generations."

To provide information to the community about this issue, The Nature Conservancy’s Dr. John Randall, director of the Invasive Species Initiative and one of the world’s leading experts on the impacts of invasive species, and Rob Sutter, Southern Conservation Ecologist for the Conservancy and expert on the flora of the Southern Blue Ridge, will be in the Upstate May 17-18, 2005.

Dr. Randall and Rob Sutter will be the keynote speakers at the Native Plant Society’s May meeting on May 17 at 7 p.m. The presentation is open to the public and will address what you can do everyday to help with this issue.

About the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment

Spanning three states and encompassing 859,000 acres, the Southern Blue Ridge escarpment, contains some of the highest natural diversity of rare plant and animals species found anywhere in the world. More than 300 rare plant and animal species have been identified in the escarpment, and the escarpment contains more tree species than can be found in all of Europe. Though relatively small in size - the escarpment stretches only 85 miles long and 15 mile wide - the escarpment’s abrupt wall of mountains captures moist Gulf air, giving the region the highest rainfall east of the Pacific Cascades. Created more than a billion years ago, the escarpment contains more than fifty significant waterfalls - the greatest concentration of scenic waterfalls in the eastern United States, including four with drop-offs of several hundred feet.

The Nature Conservancy has helped to protect more than 38,000 acres in the South Carolina portion of the Southern Blue Ridge escarpment, including Caesar’s Head and the Blue Wall Preserve near Landrum. In addition, The Nature Conservancy holds a conservation easement on the City of Greenville’s 26,000 acres of watershed lands, which includes 9,000 acres in the Table Rock Reservoir and 19,000 acres in the North Saluda Reservoir.