Exotic Plant Management in the Bear Brook and the Tarn Wetlands Acadia National Park, Maine: Annual Report of Accomplishments to Friends of Acadia Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport 2010

McKeage, Aleta; Connery, Judith

From the Executive Summary: "In 2010, the National Park Service (NPS) at Acadia National Park initiated an intensive campaign to manage invasive exotic plants threatening the ecological viability of the Bear Brook and Tarn wetlands, near Bar Harbor, Maine. This work is being conducted under a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding between NPS, Friends of Acadia (FOA) and the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport. During the 2010 field season, four NPS staff managed glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), exotic honeysuckle (Lonicera, spp.) and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) in the Bear Brook and Tarn wetlands. During all management work, NPS staff conducted baseline mapping to determine the extent of each invasive species using global positioning systems (GPS) and computer mapping (GIS). During this survey, glossy buckthorn was found to be much more extensively distributed than originally thought. Transects established for monitoring purple loosestrife were sampled in 2010, and no plants were found. An extensive search of each wetland located 21 purple loosestrife plants, which were treated with hand application of herbicide. In addition to the purple loosestrife transects, monitoring protocols will be developed to provide effective long term monitoring and response plans for other targeted invasive plants in this area. Treatment methods used were based on methods effectively used in the Great Meadow watershed, including pulling, applying herbicides to cut stems of each species and foliar herbicide application. In all, NPS staff managed over 92 acres of the Bear Brook and Tarn watersheds, treating over 133 glossy buckthorn stands composed of over 10,000 plants. In addition to a full inventory of invasive plants, control treatment of invasives was applied to the entire lowland area of the watersheds (Figure 1). In addition to glossy buckthorn, two species of highly invasive plants were targeted: Japanese barberry and exotic honeysuckle. The report highlights the park’s exotic plant management work and funding from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. This is the first year of exotic plant management in the Bear Brook and the Tarn watersheds, made possible by the funding provided under the inter-agency agreement. This year approximately $29,000 from the donated compensatory mitigation funds administered by FOA was used in combination with other NPS project funding to support invasive exotic plant management work in this area. While exotic plant management efforts spanned many acres within Acadia, this report focuses only on the management work conducted in the Bear Brook and Tarn wetlands." /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /ACADIA NATIONAL PARK/ /Bear Brook/Tarn/ GIS CATEGROY 2; general map of glossy buckthorn infestation area provided.