Managing Invasive Plants

What is an "Invasive"?

These plants threaten our open space with extremely aggressive behavior, and considerable negative ecological impacts. The Plant Conservation Alliance describes an invasive species as “ ... one that displays rapid growth and spreads, allowing it to establish over large areas.” Strong vegetative growth, rapid maturation, high volume seed production, rapid germination rate, and long-lived seeds allow invasives to out-compete existing vegetation and form dense one-species stands.

How Invasives Damage Our Roadsides:
Invasive plants can become a problem due to their rapid and persistent growth. They can quickly become overwhelming, covering stonewalls, obstructing views or overtaking the roadway safety infrastructure. Roadsides are corridors for the spread of invasives as windblown seeds scatter up and down roadways, establishing new populations which can spread and move into other areas of town. Cars and plows disengage dirt, transporting seed contaminated soil along road corridors.

Controlling and Removing Roadside Invasives:
Roadsides with less established invasives should be cleaned up before the plants spread into less controllable areas. Other invasive species are already established in Lincoln, deteriorating stone walls, blocking views and smothering native plants. Controlling invasive plants is an ongoing commitment. Each plant can have a different control method and timing depending upon its biology and where it is growing. See Appendix B of the Full Report for detail.


THESE INVASIVE SPECIES SHOULD BE TARGETED EARLY due to their relatively small numbers locally, aggressive behavior, and negative ecological impacts. For pictures, issues and control methods, refer to the list below.

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		Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) pdf file - (244 KB)
		Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) (pdf file - 292 KB)
		Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculata) (pdf file - 180 KB)
		Black Swallow-Wort (Cynanchum louiseae) (pdf file - 168 KB)

But many more invasive species have set root in Lincoln, smothering native plants and deteriorating stone walls. These include:

		Tree-of-Heaven (Alianthus altissima)
		Glossy Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
		Exotic bush honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.)

For extensive invasive plant identification and detail on how to remove, dispose of and prevent them, see the Lincoln Conservation Department's website at www.lincolntown.org/Invasives.htm

This page is adapted from Invasive Identification and Removal by Anna Wilkins, May 2008, for the Conservation Commission.