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Elise Desjarlais

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Posts posted by Elise Desjarlais

  1. Hi Megan,

    For me I think this falls into two different categories:
    1. Books I love using for my own ID, protocols, etc.

    2. Books for the public

    For myself, some of the USFS reference guides, as well as DNR pocket guides are my go-to's, especially since many are small enough to put into my field pack to take with on our field days. Others I have recommended to the typical office visitor/outreach attendee include "Bringing Nature Home" by Tallamy, "Attracting Native Pollinators" put out by the Xerces Society, and "Landscaping with Native Plants of Michigan" by Steiner.

    I'd be happy to give some more recommendations if you want to directly chat, otherwise happy book hunting!

    Elise

  2. Hey Nor,

    Neat project idea! Just for my two cents, I'd say option 1 and 2 look like they'd give you the most accurate data returned to you. I also like that there is a great learning opportunity in Plan 1. 

    We're currently not very active in Eyes on the Forest, but this is a good reminder to include that program in my outreach. I hope you have good feedback from your monitoring!

  3. Many of our injection sites even the following year were too small for the needle to be of much use. We were able to switch to foliar, and the landowners generally are happy enough that we were coming back to continue treating they didn't seem to mind the change in application. We did do a pretty thorough explanation of why we had to switch, though. Hope you find a similar scenario!

  4. Has anyone else seen what appears to be a variegated variety of Phragmites? This is the second occurrence I've personally run into, but I'm not sure if its 100% genetically Phragmites, or a hybrid with another species to produce the variegation. The first patch found was about two years ago growing around a landscaping water feature, and this population is in a planter bed near the Lake Michigan shoreline where we are treating invasive Phragmites for the adjacent landowner. 

    I've noticed with both occurrences the variegated variety tends to max out at about 3 feet tall, and I've yet to see tassels on it. 

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  5. We have a small infestation in Marquette city limits, though for being small it got incredibly dense incredibly quick - like within a year after discovering. Ours was in a riparian area at a road dead-end. We were able to do a chemical treatment last year, as our first year we were miserably unprepared with PPE for manual removal. While ingestion is the most common way for poisoning, we were lucky enough to time our manual efforts with its full-blown-pollen stage, which can apparently be anywhere from irritating to deadly depending on how much you inhale. So it does pose a significant risk, and if you have a small patch and can get on it quickly, I'd definitely recommend prioritizing it so it stays small!

  6. I'm not sure that this stand would follow some of the necessary conditions for a "retreat" - though that's something I actually hadn't heard of yet! We have no record of treatment here through the CISMA, and she still maintains that she's never given any permission for treatment to another entity. I hope there's not rogue treatments happening, that's not cool!

    I've let her know to keep me posted and if/when any sprouts come up to give me a ring, so we're keeping an eye on it. Still fascinating to see!

  7. Hi all,

    Well this is new. I was called to conduct a site visit for initial treatment by a woman in the city of Marquette who has knotweed. She has last year's growth still standing, so we were going to look at it this year to determine the next steps for first-time treatment for her. Upon arriving at the site, there's definitely knotweed, but nothing new growing this year. I'm stumped. I've never seen knotweed take care of itself, but she's been living in the house for 35 years, with the knotweed there for only about 4-5 years until she had someone ID it for her last year - so this year would have been the first treatment. Other knotweed sites in the UP are already at 4 feet of growth, if not more dependent on the site location, and this doesn't even have sprouts.

    Any ideas? Other than aliens or divine intervention? Has anyone else encountered knotweed that limited its own growth somehow?

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  8. Hi all,

    I was recently called out to a site in our CISMA that was ID'd by the caller as giant hogweed. This far into the season, I've really started to sift out what is mis-identified cow parsnip, and what might actually be a valid sighting of hogweed. Getting to the site, I'm having a really difficult time deciding, so I figured I'd post my pictures here for some input. The only in-person viewing I've had of hogweed was at last year's CISMA field trip near Grand Haven, and from my pictures as well as online comparisons I'm still having difficulties! Its not helping the plant is on its way out for the season, so input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!

    For reference: the plants are topping out at 4' tall, seedheads were 9" across at best. Not sure if hogweed can grow smaller than usually reported? The hairy stems and matching seeds are stumping me.

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  9. Hi all!

    I'm reaching out regarding the treatment of black swallowwort. Its still in the EDRR stages up here in the U.P., and in my CISMA area we only have one known infestation. We've been helping to treat it for multiple years now, but we're wondering if perhaps we're not using some of the best management practices on it.

    My questions are:

    1. If you've treated it, what chemical did you find worked best? Or did you find a non-chemical solution worked well, too?

    2. What time of year/phenology of the plant did you treat it?

    3. Any other advice?

     

    Thanks everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend!

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