Wild Boar Moving North

March 31, 2012

Wild boars caught on a camera trap in New York State.

Wily, Elusive Foragers Invade Upstate New York
By Lisa W. Foderaro
Feral pigs, known as eating machines in the South and West, are now troubling farms in New York’s Champlain Valley, devouring crops and prey.

“There’s a real sense of urgency. Once the pigs get established, they are very difficult to eradicate completely.”
– Ed Reed, wildlife biologist for New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

Read the full article in The New York Times here.

Read Eat the Invaders’ profile on wild boar here.

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Land

Blue Plate Special: Prickly Pear

Fall is here, and the “cactus fig” is in season. Time to plate-up another widespread invader.

Blue Plate Special: Sow Thistle

It’s spring and time to weed. Sow thistle is a delicious invader found throughout the continent.

Lamb’s Quarters

Lamb’s quarters was a popular spring tonic in the South—an early season edible green—but its leaves are good throughout the summer. Chenopodium album Native range: Described by Linnaeus in 1753, this European native has been transferred throughout much of the world. Because its spread was rarely recorded, C. album‘s native and invasive [...]

Wild Fennel

Foeniculum vulgare Native range: Mediterranean, from Turkey west to Spain and Morocco Invasive range: Much of North and South America, South Africa, and parts of Oceania and the British Isles. Check out the USDA Plants Database to see if it’s found near you. Habitat: Roadsides, pastures, along the edge of wild habitats. Rocky shores [...]

GarlicMustard1

Garlic Mustard

Alliaria petiolata Native range: Europe, Asia, Northwest Africa Invasive range: Much of the Lower 48, Alaska, and Canada. (See map.) Habitat: Moist, shaded soil of floodplains, forests, roadsides, edges of woods, and forest openings. Often dominant in disturbed areas. Description: Biennial herb. First-year plant has a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. [...]

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Sea

Lionfish

Some say it started in 1992 in Miami when Hurricane Andrew smashed an aquarium tank. Don’t blame the weather, others say; in the mid-nineties, disappointed yet softhearted hobbyists…

Wakame

Undaria pinnatifida Native range: Japan Sea Invasive range: Southern California, San Francisco Bay, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Argentina Habitat: Opportunistic seaweed, can be found on hard substrates including rocky reefs, pylons, buoys, boat hulls, and abalone and bivalve shells. Description: Golden brown seaweed, growing up to nine feet. Forms thick canopy. Reproductive sporophyll in [...]

Asian Shore Crab

The first sighting of the Asian shore crab in the United States was at Townsend Inlet, Cape May County, New Jersey, in 1988. Though the source is unknown . . .

Periwinkle

The common periwinkle, which first appeared in New England in the 1860s, is now found along the coast wherever there’s hard substrate–rocks, riprap, broken concrete, or docks–from Labrador to . . .

Green Crab

Since the green crab was first recorded off southern Massachusetts in 1817, it has been hard to ignore. A few minutes of rock-flipping in Maine can turn up dozens of them, brandishing their claws as they retreat…

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Fresh

Crayfish

There are numerous invasive crayfish. We include details for the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the rusty crayfish (Orenectes rusticus). The same recipes can be used for both species–and many other invasive crayfish. Red Swamp Crayfish Native range: Known as Louisiana crayfish, crawdad, and mudbug, Procambarus clarkii is native to the south central [...]

Northern Snakehead

His sister was ailing, and the man in Maryland remembered that, back home in Hong Kong, there was a fish that was considered a delicacy and a restorative. He would make a fish soup…

Bullfrog

“They live in a wide variety of habitats, colonize new ones readily, and eat everything that fits into their mouths,” says Dr. Peter Moyle of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC-Davis…

Nutria

Nutria, also known as coypu and river rat, is native to temperate and subtropical South America. It has been introduced to Europe, Asia, and Africa, mainly for fur farming. These voracious. . .

Common Carp

For a bottom-feeder, what is the good life? The common carp isn’t very demanding: any body of water that’s sluggish and murky will do. One catching sewage or…

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Field Notes

National Invasive Species Awareness Week

February 22-28, 2015 Participate in events across the nation to raise awareness and identify solutions to invasive species issues at local, state, tribal, regional and national scales. Locate an invasive species event in your state or county. Read more about National Invasive Species Awareness Week here.

Striking a Deal with the Weed from Hell

After eradicating the water hyacinth from Florida’s Crystal River, managers are slowly starting to bring the notorious aquatic weed back to the famed manatee winter ground. Read more in Conservation Magazine.

The Boatman’s Flute

Is that the silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, in its native country described in the last two lines? The Boatman’s Flute Today there is no wind on the Yangtze; the water is calm and green with no waves or ripples. All around the boat light floats in the air [...]

11 Steps to Harvesting Invaders

A couple of months ago we wrote about a new paper in Management of Biological Invasions reiviewing harvest incentives for managing invasives. The folks over at invasivore.org did a bang-up job of parsing these out in 11 recommendations for effective harvest. Read them here.

The 800 Pound Grouper in the Room

Aquarium fish, sold as juveniles in the pet trade but able to outgrow their tanks, are at a high risk of becoming invasive. See the new paper in Marine Policy.

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“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

—Andy Warhol

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