Flowering Rush Management in the Columbia Basin

Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org

Flowering rush is an aggressive, invasive aquatic weed that has been documented in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Montana. This plant has the potential to invade and disrupt native marshlands in the Columbia River Basin and the impact of flowering rush on spawning habitat for native salmonid species is a growing concern. 

Achieving sufficient herbicide-plant contact time for successful plant control is one challenge when using aquatic herbicides to manage vegetation growing in flowing water systems. The US Army Corps of Engineers recently released a video that summarizes a unique approach to overcome this challenge by utilizing a bubble barrier system to curtail water flow, confine herbicide treatment, improve weed control, all while reducing impacts to non-target species: "Flowering Rush: Controlling an Invasive Species through Innovation and Partnership with the Walla Walla District".

Also related to flowering rush management in the Pacific Northwest is the Columbia Basin Flowering Rush Management Plan, which was recently released by the Columbia Basin Cooperative Weed Management Area. The Management Plan addresses the following topics:

• Ecological Impacts

• Distribution on the Columbia Basin

• Policy

• Management Options

• Implementation Strategies

• and more!

You can view/download the Management Plan here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58740d57579fb3b4fa5ce66f/t/5d800aea42bf0e112f156daf/1568672496264/2019-ISAN_Flowering-Rush_Report-FINAL-Low-Res-082019-1.pdf

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Citations: 

Columbia Basin Cooperative Weed Management Area. 2019. Columbia Basin Flowering Rush Management Plan: A regional strategy to address Butomus umbellatus throughout the Columbia Basin. pp 67

https://www.oregon.gov/ODA/shared/Documents/Publications/Weeds/FloweringRushProfile.pdf

Emerging Insect Pest Threats Webinar on New OISC Webpage

The OISC has a new webpage, “Invasive Species Videos” which can be found under the “Resources” tab. The Invasive Species Videos webpage will be used as a place to share important invasive species videos from the Council and our partners. If you have any invasive species videos you’d like to share, or know of any YouTube channels that post invasive species videos, please email us a link so we can share it!

Our first video on the new page is a recording of the webinar we hosted on January 17th titled “Emerging Insect Pests: Threats to Oregon’s Agriculture, Forests, and Plant Trade.” This webinar focused on key emerging invasive insect threats that could cause significant, lasting impact to the state. The webinar included the current status of these insects in Oregon, how they get here, the efforts being made to address the issues, and what you personally can do. There were short presentations from the following experts:

Chris Hedstrom, Oregon Department of Agriculture

Wyatt Williams, Oregon Department of Forestry

Meg Raabe, USDA-APHIS-PPQ

1st slide of Emerging Pest webinar outlining the agenda.

Opening slide for of Emerging Pests webinar.

Check out the the new page “Invasive Species Videos ” to watch a full recording of the webinar, along with a handy Q&A sheet with questions (and answers) that were discussed during the webinar. Let’s stop these pests in their tracks!