Events archive

Archive: Knotweed Forum

Presented by Ramsey Co. Soil and Water Conservation Division

*Note: This event is not about the activities that Pesky Plants volunteers do. Rather, this event provides more context on the topic of knotweed management.

Date: February 28, 2022

Time: 4 to 5:30 pm

Topics included:

 

• What are knotweed species and why are they harmful
• How to identify knotweeds
• The life cycle of knotweeds
• Chemical and non-chemical treatment methods
• Time for open questions and discussion with guest speakers and other experts

 

• March 15, 2022 at 3 pm Central: Feeling down about the state of our environment? Join us as Jan Mitchell, River Bend Volunteer Naturalist, tells us about some environmental success stories. (Byju Govindan's talk on science findings was postponed.)

• February 15, 2022 at 3 pm Central: Elizabeth Spinney shares news from Vermont on the importance of phenology in weed management.

• January 18, 2022 at 3 pm Central: USA-NPN Outreach Coordinator Erin Posthumus presents on using Nature's Notebook as a tool for observing phenology.

• December 14, 2021 at 3 pm Central: MITPPC Researcher Amy Morey shares their expertise on risk assessments and distribution modeling of invasive species.

• November 16, 2021 at 3 pm Central: Artist Chris Bell shares photos and reflections from his 3-part workshops that connected creative practice with phenology.

In 2021, Pesky Plants folks teamed up with artists to present a series of in-person events at Franconia Sculpture Park.

• July 10: Storytelling and Citizen Science
• July 31: Movement and Citizen Science
• August 29: Performing Phenology

These workshops were made possible by the Institute for Advanced Study. Additional support from the College of Liberal Arts.

• March 16, 2021: Field Experiments
  • As a volunteer with Pesky Plant Trackers, your activities run parallel to experiments run by Pesky Plants researchers. Get a behind-the-scenes peak at how staff is using growth chamber and field experiments to learn more about the focal pesky plants.
• February 16, 2021: Special guests Mari Hardel & Christina Basch
  • Whether your passion is art, graphic design, biology, or putting weed management principles into practice, this presentation brings it all together. Special guests Christina Basch and Mari Hardel walk us through the illustrated lifecycles of wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed. These detailed posters are part of a series of graphics showing how weed phenology and management are intricately linked. Basch and Hardel, who are Noxious Weed Specialists with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, give a behind-the-scenes look into developing these posters.
• January 19, 2021: Guest presentation by Christine Lee
  • The Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center (MITPPC) is a hub of world-class research, working across all areas of the University of Minnesota. Their researchers are dedicated to finding science-based solutions to protect Minnesota’s prairies, forests, wetlands, and agricultural resources. At this Tea Tuesday, MITPPC Communications Specialist Christine Lee will highlight some big wins that MITPPC has had and show how Pesky Plant Trackers fit in and help MITPPC's overall mission.
• December 15, 2020: Exploring StoryMaps
  • Dive into the stories of wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed across Minnesota landscapes using StoryMaps developed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. (ArcGIS StoryMaps is a web-based platform that combines geographic information with photos, text, and other media to tell a place-based narrative.)
• November 17, 2020: Guest presentation by Erin Posthumus
  • Pesky Plant Trackers is one of many important data collection campaigns in Nature's Notebook. USA-NPN Outreach Coordinator Erin Posthumus will describe some of these other efforts, and share how all observations tracked through Nature's Notebook are used by researchers and decision-makers. Learn how you can visualize the data that you collect and compare them to observations from across the country.