Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge Project

Name: Stephen Koch  Organization: FWS  Phone: (978) 579-4036

Site location:
South Side of ARNWR

Basic property description:

Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge is a 2291 acre conservation and recreation area. The site is a mix of upland woods, damp woods, upland fields, wetlands, and edge habitat. It is 70% forested with over 470 acres of diverse wetland habitat including an Atlantic White Cedar Swamp.

Management area description:

The management site is 300 acres of scrub oak and pitch pine habitat in the south side of the refuge.

Acres in the management area: 300  Listed on EDDMaps? Yes

Habitat type: Field/forest edge, Fields, Floodplain forest, Pitch pine forest, Shrub wetland, Upland/wetland edge

Was this Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR)? No

Initial Overall Invasive Distribution Description:

Initial Overall Percent Cover of Invasives:

Target species:

Management objectives:

Erradicate the parcel of invasive to improve rare wildlife habitat

Approximate project start date: April 15, 2012

Years this project has been ongoing:

Project summary:

Pathfinder II herbicide treatment and manual pulling and cutting were used to control invasive species across the management area over the course of one year with planned follow-up monitoring.

Control method: Chemical, Manual

Disposal method: Incineration, Bagging

Detailed project timeline:

May 2012- Handpulled spotted knapweed, bagged and baked in sun, then incinerated

Aug 8 and 16 - Cut an paint of 3.32 acres of Glossy Buckthorn with Pathfinder II 13.6% solution

Aug 30- cut and paint/ spray bottle of 5.17 acres of Glossy Buckthorn with Pathfinder II 13.6% solution; spray bottle of 0.0124 acres of Oriental Bittersweet and White Poplar with Pathfinder II 13.6% solution

Sept 6- cut and paint, handpull, and weedwrenching of 10.13 acres of Glossy Buckthorn and Japanese Barberry using Pathfinder II 13.6% solution

Potential follow-up herbicide treatment in May-Sept 2013

Funding sources: NFWF Grant

Final acres in management: 300

Open to the public: Yes

Able to Provide Tours: No

Success Rate:

Current Overall Percent Cover of Invasives:

Comments / Takeaways
Last Updated: May 4, 2012