OBSERVATIONS ON INVASIVE PLANT PROPAGULES WASHED FROM FORESTRY VEHICLES AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

摘要

Vehicles and mobile equipment are recognized pathways for the spread of invasive plants in forests; yet washing them is not in common use today, despite its being a cost-effective preventive tactic. We report on the operational practice of washing, the development of best management practices, and observations on intercepted plant species in the managed forests of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. A commercially available vehicle undercarriage wash system was used to wash street-legal vehicles, and pressure washers were used to wash mobile equipment. The soil washed from street-legal vehicles was collected and placed in raised beds and left for one year to permit the seeds to germinate and emerge for identification. A total of 48 species of plants from 18 families were intercepted via vehicle washing, 42% were non-native plants and 11% were invasive plants. Best management practices were developed for several user groups with the goal of minimizing the unintentional spread of invasive plants.