Whether you spend time outside in your woods, or just enjoy the beauty of your trees and wildlife from your window, you likely love your woods and want to keep them healthy.
Invasive forest pests and pathogens can devastate your forests. Changing climate puts stressors on trees and can worsen the impacts of invasive species while also hindering the ability of the nation’s forests to capture and store climate-changing carbon dioxide.
Actions you take today can help your forest to be resilient, healthy, and productive in the face of climate change and invasive species.
Agreeing to take these actions awards you this Forests Protectors Badge.
Download this image and share it on social media to show how you’re a Forests Protector! To download, right-click the image and select “save as” to save it to your device. Then upload it on social media – tag @sleloprisminvasives or use hashtag #iPledgeToProtect.
Learn to recognize invasive species you may encounter in your forests.
The resources below provide general management techniques that can be used to control invasive species.
Report invasives found in forests and assist early detection efforts.
Searching for invasive species populations in an effort to detect their presence before their populations become too large to manage is vital to reducing the impacts of invasive species on our natural ecosystems.
Click the link below to learn more about the species we’re enhancing early detection efforts for and to join our invasive species Volunteer Surveillance Network to aid this effort (training will be provided).
NYiMapInvasives is an online, collaborative, GIS-based database and mapping tool that serves as the official invasive species database for New York State.
Click the links below to become familiar with iMap
Join a statewide early detection effort for spotted lanternfly and tree of heaven by adopting a grid square to survey for these species through iMapInvasives.
Watch webinars, view brochures and other resources to help you protect your lands and trails from invasive species.
New York State Hemlock Initiative
The NYSHI integrates research, management, and outreach to conserve New York State’s hemlock resources in the face of multiple threats, particularly the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an invasive insect. Additionally, they help coordinate state-wide efforts of landowners, state and federal agencies, government officials, and concerned citizens to partner in hemlock tree conservation throughout New York state.
Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) is a comprehensive framework that can be applied at any stage of an emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation to achieve ash species conservation and EAB mitigation. The program also leverages community science to locate stands of ash stands that survive EAB (lingering ash) to be used in selective breeding research.
NYiMapInvasives.org is the official invasive species database for New York State. Professionals and community scientists alike can utilize this platform to report and obtain distribution data for invasives across the state.
An easy-to-use mobile app that helps you identify native and invasive plants and animals.
SLELO PRISM’s Urban Forest Sustainability Guide. An initiative to help our communities sustain urban forest health by maintaining diverse, climate adaptable, and invasive species resistant trees.
A tool to assess the resilience, health, and productivity of your forest. This assessment identifies 16 characteristics that may increase or decrease the risk of harm to a forest in a changing climate, which can then be discussed with a professional to plan forest management activities.
A community science-based platform where you can share observations of plants and animals with a community of naturalists and discuss your findings.
The Invasive Plant Management Decision Analysis Tool (IPMDAT) helps natural resource managers to determine if an invasive plant control project is likely to be successful and if it warrants an investment of their agency’s or organizations resources.
Check out this YouTube playlist with a variety of invasive forest pests to keep an eye out for in your forests.
This playlist was developed by our partners at the Lower Hudson PRISM.