Volunteers Raising Beetles to Deal with Troublesome Plant
There are so many ways that people are helping out our waters. People are picking up trash, planting rain gardens, and growing cover crops in their farm fields (just to name a few). This time of year, Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is starting up the annual Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Program. But without our fantastic volunteers,
we wouldn’t be able to succeed in our invasive plant control efforts!
Native to Europe and Asia, purple loosestrife was introduced into the United States in the early 1800s as an ornamental plant due to its beautiful purple flowers. But soon the plant escaped these gardens and started growing in wild places. With each plant capable of producing over 2.5 million seeds, large populations of plants can quickly dominate wetlands and roadside ditches.
A biological control is the use of one organism to control another. In the case of Purple loosestrife, there are two beetles (Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla) that feed solely on the invasive loosestrife. In fact, Galerucella 
beetles are unable to complete their lifecycle on any other plant. After years of research, it was determined that the beetles would cause no harm to native plants or animals and was approved for use as a biological control to reduce purple loosestrife’s impact and spread to other locations. In Wisconsin, this biological control process is the best long-term control for loosestrife, reducing the need for other more costly and disruptive controls.
This is where Fox-Wolf’s amazing volunteers come in. These folks help by raising Galerucella beetles on caged, potted purple loosestrife plants. Once the beetles are large enough, our invasive species coordinator Chris works with the volunteers to place the beetles in wetlands with purple loosestrife. Help us give a big shout-out to our Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol volunteers Al, Cena, Kelly, Stephanie, and Pauline! Thanks for all you’re doing to help out our waters and our watershed!
Photo Credit: Chris Acy, Town of Natick
Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!
Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance on our Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance Facebook page or @fox_wolf_watershed_alliance on Instagram! You can also sign-up for email updates at fwwa.org.
The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization that identifies and advocates effective policies and actions that protect, restore, and sustain water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.
Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.
