The month of June has had a little bit of everything for the LIISMA team – surveying conservation areas, responding to emerging species, and helping partners along the way.
Early Detection and Rapid Response
The LIISMA team started their emerging invasive species work in Queens, as they met up with NYC Parks Natural Resources Training Coordinator, Naiyiri-Blu Brooker. The team followed up on reports of emerging invasive species within Kissena Park Corridor, including chaff flower (Achryanthes japonica) and nodding star-of-bethlehem (Ornithogalum nutans). Upon arriving at the site, they noticed chaff flower growing along the outside of a fence line and scattered along the edges of a community garden. While this plant did not yet bear its distinctive flowers or seeds, the opposite leaf arrangement, deep veins, reddish petioles, and plant form was notable. Because this is likely a first-in-state observation, Emma and Kassidy collected two individuals to press and send to the New York Natural Heritage Program.
Elsewhere in Kissena Park Corridor, the team found that most of the reported star-of-bethlehem population had senesced by the time of the visit. However, some evidence of stems, leaves, and seedpods remained on the ground in about 30 scattered clumps. A follow-up visit earlier next year will help the team assess the population.
Later in the month, the team assisted Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District (NCSWCD) in identifying and delineating sapphire berry (Symplocos paniculata) at Muttontown Preserve. This shrub seemed to prefer wetter areas in the northern part of the preserve, occurring trailside as mature and immature individuals. The NCSWCD staff later worked to remove the individuals, and continued their work targeting small, priority populations of knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) and fuzzy deutzia (Deutzia scabra) within the preserve.
Lastly, the team helped with water chestnut (Trapa natans) removals hosted by NYSDEC in Nassau County. Hand pulling water chestnut, in conjunction with using harvester machinery, can make a big difference in reducing these aquatic invasive species populations over time. Thank you to all who learned about water chestnut this month through our webinar, and participated in the volunteer pull day through Community Science Long Island!
Conservation Areas
Visits to Brookhaven State Park and Robert Cushman Murphy County Park had the team exploring the wonders of the pine barrens. The team visited priority coastal plain ponds in these areas to see if phragmites (Phragmites australis) had spread significantly in any ponds, or if it had emerged at any new ponds. Aside from the known populations at Grassy Pond and Tarkill Pond, no new phragmites populations were not detected at any of the coastal plain ponds surveyed (Southern Woodchoppers Pond, Duck Pond, Sandy Pond, and Jones Pond). Apart from searching for phragmites, the team was delighted to find coastal barrens buckmoth caterpillars (Hemileuca maia), 17-year brood pharaoh cicadas (Magicicada septendecim), and numerous rare plants that inhabit the coastal plain pondshore.
Later in the month, the team met up with DEC Region 1 Fisheries and Boat Stewards to continue management of phragmites at Sears Bellows County Park. There, the crew used a hula hoop to record the percent cover of native and non-native species on the shores of Bellows Pond. After collecting that biodiversity data, they used spades to remove approximately 430 stems of phragmites – down from 530 stems in August of 2024. Abby and Emma split off the crew to follow up on even smaller populations of phragmites at Sears Pond, cutting and removing 25 stems. Many thanks to DEC and Suffolk County Parks for their help in protecting these significant ecological communities!
