Invasive Plants and Native Alternatives A Primer for Gardeners ( )

This class is offered as a fundraiser to support our Invasives Strike Force conservation corps crew that works to remove invasive plants throughout northern New Jersey and southern New York on public lands. This is a broad-based information-packed session that will teach you the basics about invasive plants and native alternatives. Learn about the issue of invasive plants. What an invasive species is and is not and issues that invasive species cause. Understand characteristics many invasive species share. Understand how they get introduced and spread into our environment. Learn several theories of invasion. Recognize signs that a plant might become invasive. Learn about some of the common invasive plants in the region. Learn about some of the newer invaders. Know about New York’s invasive species regulations and New Jersey’s Do Not Plant list. Discuss other concerns about invasive species that gardeners should be aware of and commonly encountered misunderstandings about invasives. Understand why native plants are so important. Learn some native alternatives to invasive plants. Learn what native plants are best for supporting different types of wildlife. Plus leave armed with references and information sheets to allow you to take what you’ve learned to the next level. REGISTRATION FEE: $20 About the Instructor: Dr. Linda Rohleder is Director of Land Stewardship at the New York – New Jersey Trail Conference. She built the Trail Conference’s Invasives Strike Force volunteer program over the last 5 years. The program currently has trained over 400 invasives-mapping volunteers who have collectively surveyed more than 1,000 miles of hiking trails for invasive plants. She has organized dozens of invasives-removal workdays and runs a seasonal conservation corps crew that removes invasive plants in parks across southern New York and northern New Jersey. Dr. Rohleder is also the coordinator of the New York State Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) in the Lower Hudson Valley, a partnership of more than 40 organizations and agencies, which plans and conducts a regional strategy for invasive species management in the Lower Hudson. In 2013, Dr. Rohleder received her PhD in Ecology from Rutgers University, where she studied the effects of deer on forest understories. While attending graduate school she worked as a park ranger in Monmouth County, NJ, and taught beginning Biology labs at Rutgers and Wetland Plant ID for Rutgers’ Wetland Delineation certification series. Dr. Rohleder also has spent more than 10 years creating a native plant wildlife habitat in her backyard.