The Oregon Invasive Species Council—10 Years Old and Going Strong

The June 2012 meeting of the Oregon Invasive Species Council (OISC) in Madras brought back memories of the Council’s June 2002 meeting in Prineville. I dusted off the folder from that earlier meeting, the Council’s second after its creation, and compared the two agendas. It is amazing how similar they were. The Council has come a long way, but many of the thorny invasive species issues are still the same. Take a look: 

June 2002 OISC Agenda	June 2012 OISC Agenda
Day 1 8:30   Welcome & Introductions, Review of Agenda	Day 1 10:00   Introductions and Review Agenda
9:00   General Business, finances/bylaws committee	10:15   Committee Reports
10:00  Members’ Time, updates, concerns, reports	Finance, Legislative, Science, Tunicate, Outreach
12:00  Lunch/Informal Discussion	12:00   Working Lunch – Hot Topics (Tsunami Debris,
1:00   Invasive Spp Calendar, should we do it?	Alyssum, Giant Hogweed, Sudden Oak Death,
2:00   Video Time (Alien Invaders, etc, bring your favorite)	Gypsy Moth, Firewood Regulation)
4:00   Book/References, show & tell 4:30   Misc Business, pencils, aliens-l, logo, etc. Day 2 8:30   Hot Topics       Noxious Weeds in Central OR       Aquatic Nusiance Spp. Mgmt Plan       Wildlife Integrity Rules       Monk Parakeets at PDX       Raising Funds for Inv. Spp. Emergency Fund       Sudden Oak Death 11:00   Public Input 11:30   Final Business 12:00   Tour/Box Lunches       Feral Swine Damage (Crooked River NGL)       Biological Control of Canada Thistle 5:00   Return and Adjourn	1:00-5:00 Feral Swine Tour (New Life Ranch) Day 2 8:00   Council Housekeeping 8:15   Invasive Spp & Seaplanes 9:00   Biofouling Threats from Coastal Vessels 9:30   Ongoing Aquatic Inv. Spp. Projects 10:15 GMOs – Bentgrass in OR Noon   Working Lunch – Hot Topics 1:00   Invasive Spp. Control Account – Request for Japanese                 Beetle Eradication 1:30   Other Council Business 2:00   Adjourn

Lots of topics that were discussed in 2002 are still current: e.g., feral swine, sudden oak death, and funding for emergency programs. In fact, only two major topics from that earlier meeting are truly out-of-date: the monk parakeet colonies at Portland International Airport have gone extinct and so haveVHS videos!

There are several new issues on the table in 2012, including biofouled tsnami debris, alyssum in Jackson County, seaplanes and firewood as invasive species vectors, and genetically modified organisms (GMO) bentgrass. All of these issues require interagency cooperation, so the four-part mission of the Council remains as relevant today as it was at the Council’s creation:

1) facilitate reporting of invasive species

2) educate the public

3) develop a coordinated statewide approach, and

4) raise funds and make grants for invasive species response programs.

The people involved have turned over quicker than the topics. Only three of us at the first meeting were also present at the second: Mark Systma (Portland State University), Kev Alexanian (Crook County Weed Department), and myself.

The enduring nature of the Council can provide continuity to long-term projects. Feral swine is a good example: Mark Systma raised the alarm on feral pigs 10 years ago. The Council then contracted with Dr. Bruce Coblenz (Oregon State University) to do a risk assessment. Justin Stevenson (US Department of Agriculture) took the warnings in the risk assessment to heart and started trapping and shooting. When Justin left, Jim Gores (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), picked up the baton, and kept the control program going. Rick Boatner took over from Jim, and with a fundraising assist from Lisa DeBruyckere (OISC), we’re about to turn up the pressure on these porcine invaders.

Big projects like this require more than one person or one agency acting alone. The difficulty of the feral swine eradication project was highlighted for me by the rugged and remote terrain we saw on the field trip and the information that there have been four recent sightings of feral swine in the Willamette Valley (pig paradise).

True, we still have a feral swine problem a decade after the OISC first took up the topic, but there is reason for hope. We didn’t see feral swine on either the 2002 or 2012 field trip, just their damage. On the first tour, the drive was short and the damage was fresh. This year we drove a long way to see damage that was months old. That is a good sign. Pigs reproduce quickly, and Oregon provides excellent habitat, yet the populations are still small and isolated. Until recently, control efforts were local, but sufficient to keep the statewide population from getting out-of-hand. The upcoming tri-state Squeal on Pigs outreach campaign, facilitated by the OISC in Oregon, should provide the coordinated push needed to see this project over the finish line.

Happy 10^th Birthday, OISC, you’re lookin’ good and going strong!  Keep up the good work, and let’s hope feral swine aren’t on the agenda for the 2022 OISC meeting.

Dan Hilburn

Close-up view of the parasitic dodder (Cuscuta) vine-bearing an insect induced gall.

Chinese Soybeans, Weed Seeds, and Probability

         I have a two-part story to share. The first part began here in Oregon about two weeks ago. The second part takes place in the future—I created it to illustrate a point. The story starts with the arrival of a shipment of organic soybeans from China at the Port of Portland. The soybeans were destined for a processing plant in Rickreall where they would have been turned into organic chicken feed. They didn’t get there.

         Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors took samples at the dock and found two species of noxious weed seeds contaminating the soybeans—dodder (Cuscuta sp.) and Benghal dayflower (Commelina benghalensis)—both are on the federal noxious weed list. CBP issued an emergency action notice stopping the soybeans from entering the country.

         The importers had a lot of money tied up in the shipment and customers waiting; they pleaded for leniency or some special process to allow the soybeans to enter the United States. Officials at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) discussed options for a rescue treatment and other forms of mitigation. Fumigation is sometimes an option in situations like this, but not with weed seeds—seeds are not on the available herbicide labels, and there is no data indicating they would effectively kill the seed without greatly reducing the organic nature of the soybeans.

         Sealing the containers and allowing them to proceed to destination was considered. Making chicken feed out of soybeans involves several steps including grinding and exposure to high heat. The processed chicken feed itself would probably be low risk, so why not seal the containers and let the soybeans proceed to the manufacturing plant? An inspector could be present to make sure everything was processed accordingly. The importer was willing to pay for the inspector’s time. Would you have allowed that?

         ODA said “No.” Our reason for not allowing the contaminated soybeans into Oregon is illustrated by the following fictional account of what could have happened. Numbers have been rounded for ease of calculation.

         Assume 20 containers each with 50,000 lbs of soybeans for a total of 1 million lbs. CBP took several samples of about two gallons each and found 10 dodder and 10 Benghal dayflower seeds per sample. Let’s estimate that two gallons of soybeans weighs 10 lbs so that we’re dealing with 2 weed seeds per lb, one of each species.

         Dodder seeds are hard and small, somewhere between a speck of dust and a grain of sand in size. Benghal dayflower seeds are also hard, but larger, about the size of a grain of rice. Thus our fictional account begins with 2 million weed seeds mixed in to 500 tons of soybeans on the dock in Portland. In this scenario, ODA says “Yes” to allowing the shipment to enter the state and proceed to Rickreall. Being cautious, they require the containers be sealed first so that the chance of weed seeds dribbling out along the highway is minimized. The system works and all the soybeans and the weed seeds arrive at their destination.

         Next the containers are dumped into a hopper in a covered breezeway. Everyone is careful and 99.99% of the weed seeds make it directly into the hopper. In spite of the care taken, two hundred weed seeds remain in the bottoms of the containers and on the unloading dock. A conscientious inspector vacuums out the containers and verifies that everything went according to plan. She sweeps the small quantity of soybeans from the edge of the concrete slab into the hopper. She is good—in fact, she is 99% effective. Now only two weed seeds remain, plus several more in the vacuum bag. Months later, the vacuum bag becomes full and is thrown in the trash. On garbage day, it is picked up and hauled to the landfill where it is buried. After a couple of decades, all those seeds are dead.

         Meanwhile there are still two viable weed seeds in play. One of them is lodged in the hinge of a container; the other was on the concrete slab surrounding the grain hopper before it stuck briefly to a trailer tire and got moved to the processing plant driveway. It remains for a month until it is washed into the ditch during a rain shower.

         The other seed is lodged in the container door hinge. It travels the world but remains stuck under some rust. Sometime later the container is sandblasted and the seed dies. Now there is only one seed left. After being washed downstream, it settles out where the water collects when the ditch dries up. Weeds grow up in the ditch, and the dodder seed germinates. It is a parasitic plant that latches on to other plants and gets its nutrients from them. It looks like a stand of spaghetti. Nobody notices it twined around its host. That year the dodder plant flowers and produces 200 seeds. Some of them are washed further downstream the next winter. Earthworms and other little critters eat some and poop them out where they wander. After a few years, there is a small patch of dodder plus a couple of satellite patches some distance away. The total dodder seed bank is now up to 10,000 seeds each capable of remaining viable for a decade or more.

         A road maintenance employee sees the weeds and sprays over the patch. Almost all (99%) of the dodder plants are killed. But because of the seed bank, dodder returns next year and the year after that, and each year there is more, and it spreads. Some years later, a farmer notices the unfamiliar weed in his field and calls in an expert from Oregon State University. They identify it immediately as Cuscuta sp., and take a sample for further analysis. Everyone is baffled when it is identified as a species from China never before seen in the United States. ODA is notified, and conducts an investigation and a weed risk assessment. Agency staff debates attempting to eradicate this new threat to Oregon’s agriculture and natural resources. The long lived-seed is a problem, and chances of successful eradication are low. No one involved makes the connection to the contaminated soybean shipment that arrived 15 years ago. A new weed has established in Oregon.

         This scenario is not going to play out this time, at least not in Oregon. We don’t think it is possible to contain 2 million specks of dust in 500 tons of soybeans.

         As I write this, the containers are still sitting on the dock in Portland, and the importer is trying to find another state that will accept them and a transportation/processing procedure USDA will approve. Fifty-two more containers of organic soybeans are en route from China.

         If you’re wondering why the United States, the largest producer and a major exporter of soybeans, is importing soybeans, you’re not alone. Ships containing soybeans must pass each other on the oceans going opposite directions. Globalization makes for crazy trade patterns—and efficient transport of invasive species. This story is getting depressing, I think I’ll go eat something—maybe I’ll BBQ those organic chicken breasts.

Dan Hilburn

Asian Docks and Philosophy

Photograph courtesy of Oregon Parks and Recreation (OPRD) shows a team of about a dozen staff and volunteers organized by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to remove marine organisms from the dock which landed on Agate Beach, Oregon.

There have been two big invasive species stories this week. One of them was flashy and received national news coverage; the other was just as important but under the radar. Both connected Oregon to Asia. I’ll concentrate on the flashy one this week and tell you about the organic Chinese soybean saga in my next article.

The big splash was a dock that washed ashore at Agate Beach. It was traced back to Japan where it was dislodged by the March 2011 tsunami. Since then it has been drifting east. Similar to the types of living creatures found on most docks, this particular dock was host to various seaweeds, barnacles, and other sea creatures. Many of these hitchhikers were not native to Oregon, and some probably could have established here. There was a real possibility of introducing one or more invasive species.

Thankfully, the right people were notified, and they recognized the risk immediately. Personnel from Oregon State University, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Parks and Recreation, and Oregon Marine Board worked cooperatively to collect samples, scrape off all the living material, and scorch the dock with torches. Two tons of living material were removed and buried without delay. Good work, team, you did the right thing! Your quick action helped preserve the health of Oregon’s marine environment.

Several of the people involved have pointed out that the work is really just beginning; there will be a lot more tsunami debris arriving in the months ahead. Much of it is likely to be heavily fouled. Oregon needs to be ready to locate and deal with tsunami debris, including cases where less noticeable debris washes up in less convenient places. It is going to be a challenge.

There is an interesting philosophical question related to this challenge. What if the drifting debris at Agate Beach had been a tree that was uprooted and washed out to sea by the tsunami? By the time it washed ashore in North America, it could have been well colonized by a variety of seaweeds and sea critters. Because of where it started and the extended period on the water, some of these would likely be species not native to our corner of the world. Should we treat a drifting tree and it’s associated flora and fauna the same as a drifting dock?

The battle against invasive species is all about slowing down human-aided, non-natural spread. One could make the argument that the tsunami is a natural event and so are the winds and currents that move driftwood around the ocean. Trees dislodged by tsunamis were presumably drifting around the oceans with their hitchhiking marine organisms long before humans appeared on the earth. It’s Mother Nature’s plan. I agree non-native seaweed arriving on a dock is worth cleaning up, but what about non-native seaweed on driftwood? If a chunk of lumber washes up, should we treat it differently than a tree trunk? What do you think?

Dan Hilburn