Strange things happen to guys who wear pants - plant seed transport article

"Birds, bats and bees might be the most famous plant pollinators, but seeds like to hitchhike on clothing, making us surprisingly good seed carriers."

National Public Radio has a very interesting article on the ability of humans to move seeds around. Complete with video clips. You can read the article at:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/12/136211607/strange-things-happen-to-guys-who-wear-pants?sc=fb&cc=fp

Guest Article - The Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases

Illinois is full of dedicated people and innovative ideas for addressing invasive species. From time to time, this blog is going to host guest articles in which the stories about some of these people, projects, or ideas are told. The next article in this series comes from Andi Dierich, Illinois Forest Pest Outreach Coordinator, with the Morton Arboretum. Andi writes here about a huge collaborative effort on invasive insects and diseases that she is involved in.  All of the guest articles can be viewed HERE.

The Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases
by Andi Dierich, Illinois Forest Pest Outreach Coordinator, ADierich@mortonarb.org.

The Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases is a collaborative effort to pursue change in policies and practices around non-native forest pests and pathogens. Recognizing that invasive pests threaten our valuable urban and rural forest, the Dialogue holds meetings among stakeholders to discuss issues and ideas and brainstorm solutions.

The urban and rural forest is an important green feature of our landscape employing more than 1.6 million people and adding $231.5 billion to the national economy. The environmental and aesthetic benefit of urban trees is significant in our ever changing landscape but continues to be threatened by the introduction of non-native forest insects and diseases. This byproduct of a globalized market continues to pose hurdles for managers and users of urban and rural forest alike, impacting several trades and stakeholder groups along the way. The Dialogue is a platform to seek and leverage opportunities to change policies and practices revolving around non-native forest pests and pathogens. The Dialogue collaborates with many partners across the U.S. These meetings have brought together many stakeholders, including The Nature Conservancy; the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; the US Forest Service; the American Nursery & Landscape Association; the Arbor Day Foundation; the National Association of State Foresters; the Society of American Foresters; the Society of Municipal Arborists; and The Morton Arboretum. A number of initiatives have resulted.

The Don’t Move Firewood campaign, aimed at educating the public not to transport firewood that may carry eggs or larvae of tree pests such as the emerald ash borer, came out of Dialogue meetings in 2006 and 2007. The multimedia campaign, which continues to grow, began with the launch of a website in 2008. It has now has reached nearly 6,000 people throughout the US through its Facebook and Twitter feeds alone.

Videos on the website have been recognized for their detail and presentation. Lurking in the Trees is a 2010 documentary that follows the city of Worcester, Mass., in its response to an infestation by the Asian longhorned beetle. It continues to be used in the campaign for awareness of the beetle’s threat. Trees, Pests & People is a section of the website featuring short videos that tell the stories of walnut, ash and avocado trees and their pests.

Recently, the Dialogue has contributed to the Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities initiative. Now being implemented in Los Angeles, Tennessee, Philadelphia, and Boston, this Nature Conservancy program seeks to create environmental stewards to provide a first line of defense against invasive plants and animals as well as maintaining and caring for the trees that make up our urban forest.

The Dialogue also has created tools such as A Decision-making Guide for Invasive Species Program Managers and an outreach document for woodworkers and wood-turners on how to avoid spreading invasive pests in the wood they use.

The 2013 Continental Dialogue took place November 4 and 5 in Pittsburg in conjunction with the Arbor Day Foundation Partners in Community Forestry Conference. The Dialogue welcomed new partners including Davey Tree and the American Public Gardens Association Sentinel Plant Network.

Among the presentations two are especially worth noting:

The American Firewood Producers and Distributors Association will soon announce a new certification program for sanitation of wood products above the current level required by the International Standards of Phytosanitary Measures No. 15. This means that the clients of AFPDA—big box home centers and other retailers—stores will now play a critical role in preventing the spread of pests and diseases through firewood. It also will require changing the messaging of the Don’t Move Firewood campaign to include “buying certified” wood.

The second presentation, focused on nurseries. The National Plant Board is drafting and organizing a voluntary certification process for the nursery trade. This certification, which takes a system approach, ideally would allow for greater pest and pathogen control by increasing checkpoints in the pathways by which infected plants move. By harmonizing international and national best practices and regulations, it likely would make the transfer of nursery stock from one area to another more seamless.

The Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases still is seeking new ideas and partnerships to continue efforts to control invasive pests and pathogens. Sign up to receive alerts and other information about the dialogue’s activities.

The Hunt for Invasive Species Slogans 6th Edition - Movie Invaders and Moving Invaders

We are continuing our series of posts to highlight some of the more memorable and fun slogans on invasive species that you can find on publications, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. This series on invasive species slogans includes occasional posts covering different aspects of the topic. So far, we've covered the following categories: Play-off, Alliteration, Rhyming, Mascots, and Illustrations. For this post, we are going with Movie Invaders and Moving Invaders.
If you know of some invasive species-related items that you think would be good additions to this series,  please send them to rivertoriver@gmail.com.

Movie Invaders

So I need to start off by giving credit where credit is due, the idea behind this topic came from my good friend Steve Shults.  He even came up with an impressive list of actual moveis that deal with the subject of invasive species.  I'll likely use that list sometime in the near future to come up with a post of real invasive species movies.  For now, in this first section we are focusing on educational posters, drawings, etc. that highlight invaders as part of fictional movie posters.  This is a match made in heaven.  Movie posters are sensational pieces of advertising.  Meant to grab your attention and make you NEED to see that movie, these posters are often over the top, splashy, and packed with action and cool word art!  Similarly, invasive species educational efforts often use sensationalism to make you pay attention to that species and feel you NEED to kill that invader!  So naturally, this theme is just right for adding to our slogan series.

"Invader from the Black Lagoon"
h/t Michael Keys

If any place deserves this cool of an invasive poster, it is St. Mark's NWR!

This is the perfect poster to start off this section!  From the Invasive Species Management Program at St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge, it has got it all:  based upon a movie filmed in Florida, part of the creature is made from the leaves of an invader, and the poster itself looks remarkedly like the original 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' movie poster.  Best of all, if you look closely you can see that St. Mark's NWR refuge is marked on the shape of Florida, just underneath the deadly claws of the invader that is putting the state into a death grip!  St. Marks is perhaps one of my favorite places to bird watch.  I've lost track of how many lifers I've found there over the years. 

"Invasion of the Flying Fish"

Why is she so scared if the fish is jumping away from her?

Here is another near perfect invader movie poster.  The frightened black and white lady holding her hands up in mid-scream, the dripping font leaning as if it is coming towards you, and the oversaturated colors give the whole thing a 1940's technicolor feel to it.  This poster comes to us from the website http://eattheinvaders.org/, a great site to peruse if you've got some extra time.  I'll add in the site's logo here as well, simply because I love their tagline:

"Attack of the 6.5 mm Flowers"

Cheesy?  Yes, but that's the attraction!

The Alien Plant Working Group, under the Plant Conservation Alliance and the National Park Service, is one of the originators of creating funny, over-the-top educational material about invasive species.  For quite a few years they produced invasive species calendars, with each year having a different quirky theme.  One year (2008 I believe) the calendar spoofed movie posters.  With so many to choose from (roughly 12 since it was a calendar!), I had a hard time settling in on this one of the invasive forget-me-not!  Keep an eye out for this plant; though you may have to look hard, afterall it is only 6.5 mm.

"Lionfish: the Pirate of the Carribbean"


Venomous spines and now swords!  That is one gnarly pirate!

This poster, pulled off of the World Lionfish Hunters Association Facebook Page, is a great drawing.  Better yet was the tagline added in "Lionfish: the REAL Pirate of the Caribbean Plundering our Reefs".  Check out all of the cool information and fun pictures that they have at http://lionfish.co/.  Yes, I really like this poster, but honestly I added this to the post mainly to confess that I am extremely interested in hunting lionfish and really do want to plan to do this sometime soon.  So if any of you hardcore lionfish hunters are reading this blog and wouldn't mind an easily sunburnt, prone to sea-sickness, midwesterner tagging along, I'm your man!

"Invasive Art"
h/t Lori Taylor

I got these two drawings from Lori Taylor.  She did them for an invasive poster and sent them over to me, thinking they would be good additions to the slogan series.  She was definitely right about that.  This is impressive work.  If I had to choose a cartoon character for Garlic Mustard, then I would definitely go with the Grinch.  The face is spot-on!  I love how the 'marsh vader' is holding a Phrag stem as a light saber.  Nice work Lori!

Moving Invaders

Changing gears here from invasive species in movies to getting people to stop moving invasive species.  We all know that prevention is the cheapest, easiest, and most successful method of invasive species management; so it should come as no surprise that many educational slogans focus on getting people to stop moving these things around!  We are all guilty of forgetting to clean our boots or not getting every piece of milfoil that's hanging off of our boat trailer.  I am ashamed to say that I have been responsible for introducing several bad invaders onto my land through carelessness or simple laziness.  At least I can also say that I am responsible for eradicating several of these same bad invaders from my land that were introduced by some careless and lazy oaf (not mentioning any names).

"Blow the Whistle on Canada Thistle"
h/t Amy Ferriter

PlayCleanGo.org - a great resource for clever slogans and art!

The folks up in Minnesota really started a great trend when they developed the Play Clean Go program.  This effort is kind of like the "Protect Your Waters' campaign only for terrestrial habitats as well.  Just like Prairie Home Companion and the Emerald Ash Borer, the Play Clean Go program started from humble beginnings in the upper midwest and is spreading throughout the nation.  Let's hope that it becomes as successful and well-known as Prairie Home Companion and not nearly as destructive and hated as Emerald Ash Borer!

Here's another one from the Play Clean Go portfolio, this time from Idaho (h/t Amy Ferriter)

There's that yellow star-thistle rearing its ugly head again.

Boots, Boots, and more Boots

Boots are a unviersal piece of equipment for outdoor recreationists and definitely serve as the vehicle for many-a-wandering invader looking to hang its hat elsewhere.  As such, the boots (or actually their owners) are the target of intensive outreach efforts to get people to clean those clod-hoppers once in a while!
I've found a ton of boot-related invasive species slogans and material.  Here is just a smattering:

"Clean Drain Dry Your Gear"

Based upon the number of educational material produced, Idaho really does not want you to move invasive species around

The above one is another example of Idaho's great educational material.  Wading boots can move aquatic species around, especially if those boots have felt soles.  I've had the privledge of spending some time in Idaho in the past and I really love the state.  However, I must say that the last time I drove through there I got a speeding ticket (unjustly I feel, Darn you tourist speed trap!), so that left a bad taste in my mouth for the state.  Instead of thinking of the beautiful mountains and lovely forests when I hear about Idaho, now all I can think of is the $45 I had to mail in!  So please do visit the great state of Idaho, just slow down a bit when you are coming into Coeur d'Alene.

"Look Before You Leave"


Those little knotweeds sure do look happy!

Our neighbors-to-the-north with the Ontario Invasive Plant Council have really been excelling when it comes to getting the word out about invasive species.  Recently on their Facebook page, they displayed a series of cartoons centered around the "Look Before You Leave" slogan.  Each of these drawings features a different invader along with a scenario where they might be spread around.  It is no surprise that boots made it into their series.  Keep up the good work Ontario IPC!  I do not know the artist for these, but if someone does, please send me their name so that I can properly tip my hat to them for putting their talent to good use.

**UPDATE:  I was contacted by OIPC with further information on their "Look Before You Leave" Cartoons. These are the work of the artist Maureen Shelleau from Off the Dock Cartoons (http://www.offthedocktoons.com/).  Great job Marueen and thanks OIPC for the update!


"Stop Invasive Species in Your Tracks: Give Invasive Species the Brush Off"

This dog looks very concerned about the state of those hiking boots. 
I wonder if you can train dogs to sniff out garlic mustard seeds?

Yet another slogan from the Play Clean Go program.  I really like the dual play off slogans at use here in this flyer.  First, changing 'its' with 'your' is a clever switch to an old saying, but it's the double-meaning of 'Brush-off' that sets off this slogan as worthy of addition to the post.

I'm Getting in on the Act

Hey, I recognize that boot!

Just to prove that I can jump on the bandwagon with the best of them, here is a shot of a boot owned and used by yours truly in mid-brush!  I use this shot in presentations about invasive species spread.  Also, below is a screenshot and link to a short story on the local PBS station I did on boot brush stations.  I expect notification of my academy award nomination anyday now!

http://rtrcwma.blogspot.com/2012/05/video-on-cwmas-boot-brush-project.html

"Squeal on Pigs"
h/t Shawna Bautista

Call the 'Swine Line'!

This is one of my all-time favorite invasive species slogans.  I was so glad when Shawna Bautista, from the USFS, told me about this program from Oregon.  Best of all, the number used is named 'The Swine Line'.  It doesn't get any better than this!  Feral hogs are a major problem throughout the United States.  We need to do anything we can to get people aware of this issue and willing to help out and report sightings.  Oregon is definitely on the right track here with their Squeal on Pigs Program.

"Malicious but Delicious"
h/t Karen Tharp


Now this is my type of invasive species control!

Speaking of feral swine, The Nature Conservancy has teamed up with a local resturant down in Austin Texas to raise awareness about some 'Malicious but Delicious' invasive species.  This effort, called 'Texas is Tasty' includes an awesome looking meal cooked with known Texas invaders.  Be sure to check out more about this innovative program at nature.org/texasistasty.  As their flyer says, the answer to the question "How Can We Fight Back?" should always be "Let's Eat Them"!

"Carpy-Swine or Swiny-carp"

You can't believe what modern science can do these days

One last pig-related item before I end this post.  This is not a slogan nor is it being used in advertisting (as far as I know).  I included it here in this post simply because it made me laugh!  Can you think of a worse invasive species than a wild swine / carp cross?

I was forwarded this by several other people so I am not sure who I should rightfully acknowledge as my source, but if you deal with aquatic invasive species, you'll likely get this in your inbox sometime soon as well.



These slogan posts were originally intended to be a three-part series.  However, I've had so much fun writing these and have gotten so many great slogans and pictures sent to me that we just keep going.  This was our sixth post.  I'm definitely planning on continuing this series, so look for another slogan post in a few months.  As always, if you see something that you think would be good to include, send it to me at rivertoriver@gmail.com.

Please do check out the other entries in this series This series on invasive species slogans with posts on Play-off, Alliteration, Rhyming, Mascots, and Illustrations. Also, check out all of the FUN posts we've put up on this blog. To follow the Illinois ISAM news blog, 'like' us at www.facebook.com/illinoisisam.

Kid Craft: Asian Longhorned Beetle Ring

With a hat tip over to the Illinois CAPS program, here is a neat kids craft from the Massachusetts Introduced Pest Outreach Blog.

http://massnrc.org/pests/blog/2013/04/crafts-for-kids-asian-longhorned-beetle-ring.html

 

The Hunt for Invasive Species Slogans 5th Edition - Illustrations

We are developing a series of posts to highlight some of the more memorable and fun slogans on invasive species that you can find on publications, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. This series on invasive species slogans will include occasional posts covering different aspects of the topic. So far, we've covered the following categories: Play-off, Alliteration, Rhyming, and Mascots.  For this post, we are going to focus more on the visual side of things and cover different examples of invasive species illustrations.

If you know of some slogans, invasive species illustrations or mascots that haven’t yet been posted in this series, please send them to rivertoriver@gmail.com.

Illustrations   

Like it or not, we humans are visual learners.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this principle holds true with invasive species education.  You can expound upon the negative impacts of an invasive species for hours, but often a picture of a heavily invaded area can bring the message home better than the best crafted speech.  Because of this, we often use pictures, graphics, cartoons, and videos to get the message out about invasive species.  We'll explore some of the fun, interesting, creative, and sometimes frankly strange approaches to invasive species illustrations.  

Conference T-shirts and Logos

Conferences are a time for creative people to shine!  I love the T-shirts and other swag you get when you attend a conference.  It also saves me from having to actually go out and buy shirts!  I would estimate that 70% of my attire is made up of conference T-shirts (with the other 30% being a mix of flannel and camoflauge).


"Plant Wars: The EPPCs Strike Back"

In this case, would the force actually just be Garlon?

This conference hasn't happened yet, but I hope they have T-shirts.  I saw an advertisement for this FL-EPPC/SE-EPPC joint conference in the latest copy of Wildland Weeds.  FL-EPPC and SE-EPPC stands for the Florida and Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Councils resp. in case you are unfamiliar with these organizations.  I have to admit that I am not a big Star Wars fan, but still I can appreciate the nice parody on display here with this logo and conference title.

"You can put lipstick on a feral pig, but it will still be a feral pig"

I've received some strange comments while wearing
this T-shirt around

This gem of a T-shirt came to me as a give-away during the 2008 Natural Areas Conference.  During the heat of the '08 presidential battle, politicians were throwing around the "You can put lipstick on a pig..." line like it was going out of style.  Luckily the good folks over at Invasive Plant Control Inc. seized the opportunity to create this shirt.  If you know the IPC guys, you know that they 1.) do great invasive species work, 2.) have well-developed senses of humor and 3). have a flair for creative advertising.  The last two are on display here with this shirt.

"The Mooski"

This creature is a legend in my household

This is easily my favorite T-shirt.  Half cow, half muskie, all awesome.  This was the conference t-shirt for a Forest Resource Program Leaders meeting way back in 2003 in Superior, Wisconsin.  That conference was very memorable for me because 1.) it was the site of my first 'professional presentation', 2.) it was the first time I saw Lake Superior, 3.) my swag take-homes included a cheesecake cookbook for some reason, and 4.) I got my Mooski T-shirt and a matching tote!  If anyone else attended this meeting, I would love to find out if you still have this t-shirt (or the cookbook!) and I would especially love to know who designed it.  If you  have any leads, please email me at rivertoriver@gmail.com.  Also, if anyone has cool conference t-shirts that they would like to share send me a picture of them, though I doubt that they will top the Mooski!

"Tuning into Climate Change and Biological Invasions"

A great conference with great artwork

I've attended a scary amount of conferences during the last ten years.  If I counted up all of the days I spent at conferences I am sure it would stretch into several months.  Of all of the conferences, the 2008 Natural Areas Association/NA-EPPC joint conference in Nashville ranks up there as one of my favorites.  The creativity of the conference organizers was on high gear for this conference.  The conference built upon the Nashville culture by echoing a gospel revival in its artwork, design, and motto.  Best of all was the great live music included throughout the week.  I really love the artwork used as well.  Each attendee was given a conference poster.  Sadly mine is either missing or lost somewhere in the bowels of my filing cabinets.  Still I was able to grab an example of the artwork online.

Videos

"Invaders of the Natural Parks"

Dealing with Invasive Species can be like a adventure movie, minus Harrison Ford

I stumbled across this DVD when I moved offices here recently.  It was literally stuffed in the back of one of the filing cabinets.  When I saw this cover, I nearly wept with joy.  "Invaders of the National Parks" as a title is just asking to be a parody of "Raiders of Lost Ark".  Obviously the designer thought so based upon the font and graphics used here on the cover.  I couldn't wait to get this DVD into my computer and bask in the pun-filled video that I was sure would follow.  The DVD from the National Park Service turned out to be a well done and informative video about dealing with saltcedar in western Parks, but sadly not even one mention of Indiana Jones anywhere.  Nobody was even wearing the hat!  A missed opportunity.

"You Wouldn't Take Firewood to Graceland"

I'm honestly not really sure what is going on here in this picture

This video comes from the Don't Move Firewood Campaign.  They have a series of videos available online about the threats of invasive pests.  These videos are always well done and often very humorous. I could easily spend a whole post here just hitting the highlights from some of these videos.   I've got to say that the "You Wouldn't Take Firewood to Graceland" one confuses me quite a bit.  It gives a good message in an 'unusual' way.  

"Super Rangers and the Legions of Bugs"

h/t Troy Evans

Another great video from the
Don't Move Firewood Campaign

Another one from the Don't Move Firewood Campaign.  Above are some screen-grabs from an entertaining short video about the Super Rangers battling the evil Legion of Bugs, comprised of baddies so devious that they have their own acronyms such as EAB, ALB, and SOD.   I am glad the Super Rangers are on our side to defeat these pests that shall not be named .

"Slow The Onward Movement of Pests - S.T.O.M.P."

http://www.afha.us

Since we're talking about battling forest pests and acronyms, this is a great time to highlight this cool program from the American Forest Heritage Area program in West Virginia.  I love the STOMP acronym and the graphic is pretty cool.

For the Kiddos

"The SooperYooper"

h/t Marilyn Shy

Now that is how you get rid of Invasive Lampreys!
- www.sooperyooper.com 

The Sooper Yooper Billy Cooper, along with his trusty dog, battles invasive species in a great book by Mark Heckman and Mark Newman.  For those of you uninformed, a Yooper is someone from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the U.P.), a term I was unfamiliar with until I watched Escanaba in Da Moonlight. The drawings in this book are fantastic and it carries a great message: 'When it comes to the environment, everyone can be a superhero'.

"Baby's First Book of Weeds"

The angry frog disapproves of spotted knapweed

This very adorable little book comes from Ryan Pierce.  The rhyming lines and drawings of invasive plants next to animals glaring angrily (or in one case lying there dead) make it a fun read for folks of any age.

"Idaho in Under Attack!"

h/t Amy Ferriter

The Department of Agriculture in Idaho came out with a neat Activity Book on invasive species.  This book has lots of fun things kids can do to learn about invasive species.  One good example is poor Rascal who is covered in cheatgrass seeds.  He certainly looks like he is not having any fun.

Not for the Kiddos

"Weeds are a Pain in the Grass"

h/t Anna Lyon

A truer statement has never been said

I stuck this in the "not for the kiddos" section simply because of the saying this statement is playing off of.  Weeds are a pain and many of them do grow in the grass so it is a true statement.    This cool billboard is part of the Weed Cross Borders program up in the Northwest.  International cooperation on invasive species!!  I like this message because it instantly grabs your attention and makes you think.

"Nightmare Lurking in the Lake"

h/t Kim Bogenschutz

I didn't know carp were carnivores?

This fun little graphic is being sold on a T-shirt at http://www.shopboblake.com/ There are a ton of different T-shirts available about invasive species, but I am warning you that some are a bit 'racy'.  I give that website a solid PG-13 rating so viewers beware.

What was originally meant to be a 3-part series continues to expand and is now sitting at five posts. I really enjoyed digging up all of these illustrations and sharing them with everyone.

Please do check out the other entries in this series on Play-off, Alliteration, Rhyming, and Mascots and all of the FUN posts we've put up on this blog.  I am sure we'll continue this series so please,  if you see something that you think would be good to include, send it to me at rivertoriver@gmail.com. To follow the Illinois ISAM news blog, 'like' us at www.facebook.com/illinoisisam.

The Hunt for Invasive Species Slogans 4th Edition - Mascots

We are developing a series of posts to highlight some of the more memorable and fun slogans on invasive species that you can find on publications, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. This series on invasive species slogans will include occasional posts covering different aspects of the topic. These slogans seem to fit into three broad categories: Play-off, Alliteration, and Rhyming.  This series has proven to be very popular so we are expanding it with this post on Invasive Species Mascots.

If you know of some slogans, invasive species illustrations or mascots that haven’t yet been posted in this series, please send them to rivertoriver@gmail.com.

Mascots  

Previous to this post, this series of invasive species slogans has focused more on the written aspect of slogans.  Now we want to shift our lens to zoom in on some great illustrations.  Mascots have long been used in advertising and marketing (think of the Pillsbury Doughboy for example).  The same has been true for conservation as well (Hello Smokey the Bear!).  Below are some highlights of mascots being used in invasive species outreach programs.  I've added in a few "not exactly mascots' at the end because I really liked them and needed to find a way to share them with everyone.

  The ‘not quite official’ State Seal of Virginia
h/t Tim Farmer

One of the best things about doing this series of invasive species slogans has been the emails and entries that I’ve received from folks across the country. This is perhaps my favorite of the bunch. I got an email from Tim Farmer down in Virginia with the official and ‘not quite official’ state seals for their great state. I’ll copy in Tim’s description here before showing you the seals

“Here at the State Arboretum of Virginia, Ailanthus is a real problem. So I modified the state seal to show the way we feel. The REAL state seal features a woman in a tunic ("Virtue") standing over a fallen tyrant, her foot on his chest. She is holding a spear in one hand and a sword in the other, with the words "Sic Semper Tyrannus" (Thus Always to Tyrants) beneath.

Our modified version has Virtue standing with her foot on a tree stump, with Ailanthus leaves on either side. She is holding a chain saw and a shovel, and the tag line reads "Sic Semper Ailanthus."

Doesn't she know you can't operate a chainsaw without the proper PPE?



Great work Tim! Consider this a challenge to all of you other states to see if you can modify your seals to top this.

Tropical Soda Apple, the Plant from Hell



That is one devilish plant



This is one mascot that a horror movie could be made about. That term “Plant from Hell” has been used on about 100 different invasive species, but the first time I heard it was for Tropical Soda Apple so, to me, this is the original demonic photosynthesizer. This mascot from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services really utilizes that nickname well. From the blood-red eyes to the flames licking up around the plant, this guy does look like he’s straight out of the fiery pit.

Didymo Monster

"Noone nose better than me to snot make fun of invasive species
but instead to cough up the location by reporting phlegm to the proper
authorities so that they can hack them out of the system and
blow away their chances to flu the coop and spread" - Anonymucus

This cartoon is right, Didymo, aka 'rock snot', is ‘snot’ a joke! This nasty aquatic invasive algae can be a terror on streams. As a somewhat avid fly fisherman, this is one I definitely do not want spreading around. I wish I knew the original source of this cartoon, I first saw it in a presentation on Didymo at an invasive species conference in Missouri. If you know the source, please let me know (rivertoriver@gmail.com) and I’ll be sure to give proper credit.

The Many Faces of Yellow Starthistle

Many of you likely know yellow starthistle as a serious invader of western rangelands. This plant is a major bad actor, but its appearance must just invite people to animate it. Over the years, I’ve ran across several different ‘versions’ of starthistle, each with their own personality.

The ‘Evil’ Starthistle

So that's how they outcompete the natives

These are a couple of screen shots from a YouTube video posted by the BLM. This version of starthistle is 100% pure evil and comes equipped with death ray eyes (and I thought the spiny bracts were bad enough)! The bloodshot eyes and Bart Simpson-like hair really do round out this starthistle as being the toughest on the block. This picture also has the honor of being the only slogan in this entire series that has earned a place up on my wall.

The “Sinister” Starthistle

To be truly sinister, this guy needs a pointy beard

If you’ve followed this series of posts, then you may recognize this picture as coming from the Forest Service’s ‘Give a Hoot, Gives Weed the Boot’ campaign that was posted about earlier. This version of the starthistle would make a great villain on a Saturday morning cartoon. Extra credit goes to the illustrator for utilizing spines for angry eyebrows!

The ‘Happy’ Starthistle

Don't let his looks fool you, this happy
little fellow is actually a terror

This fun drawing is by Gary Raymond from a delightful book titled “Weeds on the Move” by Donna and Shawna Vaughn. While the other caricatures of this invader aim to give off negative vibes, this one goes for more of a ‘pleasant’ tone. While there is definitely nothing pleasant about an infestation of starthistle, Gary’s drawings certainly do make this book a fun read.

Murry the Squirrel

I’ve got to admit, this one confused me quite a bit when I first looked at it. I didn’t know why Murry the Squirrel was stomping out invasive plants, but I was glad he was and was willing to help out! This comes out of Murrysville PA (hence the name Murry for our furry little plant stomper) and their Friends of Murrysville Parks. This pamphlet details information on a handful of invasive species and what can be done to manage them. Peppered throughout the trifold are pictures of Murry apparently distraught over invasives.   I really love it when local organzations or agencies take invasive species seriously and are willing to let people know about it.  Great work Murrysville!



Emmie the Emerald Ash Borer
h/t Jim Kirkland and Gae Morris

Becoming "Emmie" shows true dedication to outdoor education!

This great mascot was an invention of the Illinois Forest Resource Center to be used during Stewardship Week, which is a huge event to teach thousands of school children about many different aspects of stewardship and conservation (on a side note, I’ve been honored to take part in this event now for the past five years). Emmie has been partnering with mere humans to teach kids about the threat of Emerald Ash Borer and why they need to “Burn It Where You Buy It”.  I remember sitting beside Emmie the Emerald Ash Borer at lunch during Stewardship Week and while yes they are very fond of Ash Trees, I can say conclusively that emerald ash borers also take a liking to BBQ sandwiches!



Vin Vasive

Words cannot described how freaked out I am by this picture

This is one mascot that gives me nightmares. Vin Vasive is the spokesperson (can you call a compilation of insects formed into a human shape a person?) for hungrypests.com, a USDA-APHIS website. If the USDA-APHIS was aiming to scare people into worrying about invasive pests, then they succeeded!

Commander Ben, Invasive Hunter

Ben, on the attack

While not technically a ‘mascot’, Commander Ben has developed into a great champion for invasive species. His videos, interviews, and articles on his website - http://commanderben.com/, are wonderful and very entertaining. He’s been getting some much deserved attention for his efforts. Keep it up Ben!  From his website, here is a cartoon of Ben from the cover of Science Weekly.

Ben's battles making the cover of Science Weekly

"Little MO", The New Zealand Mudsnail

Hey, that is not where a snail's eyes are located?

This little mascot comes from a great kids’ website from the Illinois-Indiana Seagrant about Nabbing Aquatic Invaders - http://www.iiseagrant.org/NabInvader/index.html. There are so many great things on this website, it was hard to choose just one to highlight. One of my favorites was ‘Little MO’. This snail just looks like trouble. I especially like the little ‘NZ’ sticker on his shell! Please check this website out, I especially appreciated the ‘Car Talk Credits- like’ names of the officers. I think it is just great that the officer for the Gulf is named “Louie Z Anna”!



The “Not Exactly Mascots” Section

RRIP-IT-UP
h/t Teresa Grout

I really do wish I was creative enough to come up with as cool as an acronym as this

I know this one isn’t a mascot but I wanted to include it here. This is perhaps the best acronym I’ve ever seen. The “Rapid Response Invasive Plant Intervention Team of the UP” Or RRIP-IT-UP comes to us from the Upper Peninsula Conservation & Development Area, Inc. This response team manages a lot of garlic mustard by, you guessed it, ripping it up!

CactoBlastis or Cacto Blast Us?
h/t Joel Floyd

A beautiful drawing of an ugly problem

Here’s another great illustration that was sent to me. Joel Floyd, with USDA-APHIS, designed this for use on a T-shirt for the Cactoblastis program. If you know about this moth, it has been used as a biocontrol for invasive prickly pear in parts of the world, but has spread to the southeast United States and is attacking out native prickly pear species. Aphis has been leading the charge on the management of this insect, including coming up with great T-shirt designs.

Garlic Mustard Wine
h/t Troy Evans

Mmmm, tasty

Yes, you read that correctly, Garlic Mustard wine. I can think of few plants less appropriate to make wine from than Garlic Mustard. Seriously, maybe poison ivy or jimsonweed wine would be worse but it is debatable. I do however really like their slogan “Eliminating Invasive Plants one bottle at a time”. I think this bottle has remained firmly unopened for fear of what’s inside. If you’ve ever tried such a concoction, please let me know what it tasted like (and please do not offer to share it with me!). Just a quick note, if this posts gets back to the folks that actually produce this Garlic Mustard wine, my sincere apologies for disparaging your product but, honestly, you had it coming!

What was originally meant to be a 3-part series has now been expanded to at least four.  This 'Mascot' edition has probably been my favorite one to make so far.  I keep getting impressed with the creativity and talent on display with these slogans and illustrations and, best of all, they are  all for a good cause - increasing awareness about invasive species.  So, to all of you conservationists out there, I say keep up the good work and please do use your talents to bring some humor and entertainment into a field that is honestly often somewhat depressing.
Please do check out the other entries in this series on Play-off, Alliteration, and Rhyming and all of the FUN posts we've put up on this blog.  I am predicting that this will not be the last post in this series, as new slogans and illustrations are being made every day.  As always, if you see something that you think would be good to include, please send it to me at rivertoriver@gmail.com. To follow the Illinois ISAM news blog, 'like' us at www.facebook.com/illinoisisam.