By Matthew Hersh
Invasive species in New Jersey cause massive ecological and economic damage by outcompeting native plants, disrupting food webs, harming agriculture (like with the spotted lanternfly), degrading water quality, increasing wildfire risk, impacting recreation, and costing millions in management and lost revenue.
Signed into law last month by Gov. Phil Murphy on his final day in office, the Invasive Species Management Act, sponsored by State Sen. Linda Greenstein, prohibits “the sale, distribution, import, export, and propagation” of designated invasive plant species without a permit. It also requires the creation of a permanent, 19-member New Jersey Invasive Species Council to manage, educate, and establish a database of native alternatives, aiming to protect biodiversity and ecosystems.
“Invasive plant species pose a real danger to New Jersey’s agricultural industry and the wider ecosystem,” said Greenstein. “We were one of the only states not to have a list of prohibited species, which resulted in around 50 invasive plants becoming widespread across the state. These invasive plants have wreaked havoc on native species for decades, but I am glad we were able to take action to mitigate the threat before irreparable damage was done.”
Environmentalists say that invasive species, including the common tree species of Bradford pear, Norway maple, Japanese barberry, winged euonymus, and autumn olive, present a major threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. Local efforts to combat invasive species are often in response to displaced native vegetation that pollinators and wildlife depend on, degraded soils and forest regeneration, clogged waterways and wetlands, and monocultures that increase wildfire risk while reducing ecosystem resilience.
Advocates from the environmental community laud the law as the culmination of decades of advocacy.
“The discussion about why native plants are important is one we’ve been leading for quite some time,” said Anne Soos, chair of the Princeton Environmental Commission (PEC), whose newsletter includes a native plant of the month. The Commission maintains an annual list of invasive and native species on its website at princetonnj.gov.
That educational process has paid off, said Soos. “One of the main things I’ve noticed is the change in industry practice. When we do site plan review, we’re seeing an increasing number of developers right up front say they will plant natives. So that public knowledge about the damage invasives can cause is essential any time anything new is planted or built.”
Soos said she had hoped the law’s implementation would have been more aggressive: “I wish the bill that passed had faster implementation,” she said.
Under the law, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) will begin a formal rulemaking process and establish a New Jersey Invasive Species Council. The two agencies will then have one year to adopt implementation procedures, rules, and regulations. Once appointed, the New Jersey Invasive Species Council will create the Council’s rules of order, operating procedures, and priorities to guide coordination and implementation.
In the meantime, the PEC maintains a green development checklist, a “do not plant list,” and resources on invasive species management on its website.
The new law is “a great first step,” said Mark Gallagher, vice president and founding principal at Princeton Hydro, a Mercer County-based environmental consulting firm specializing in water resource management, ecological restoration, and geotechnical engineering. “This is an issue that many states have worked on much earlier, and many of our native species are under stress,” he added.
Statewide education on how communities manage natural areas and steward them will be essential moving forward, Gallagher said.
“We have to do the best we can to maintain those areas in the healthiest possible way with a diversity of species,” he said. “When we have a lot of non-native species that are usurping space from non-natives, those areas are just less valuable. And then we have areas where we don’t even find native species in disturbed landscapes, which opens them up to invasion, and invasives don’t provide the benefits or services that our native plant communities provide.”
Locally, there will be additional opportunities to learn more about the new state law and how to best manage a local garden or green area with native species leading the way. The Princeton Adult School, with the support of Sustainable Princeton, will host an in-person course, Invasive Species: Getting to the Root of the Issue, starting March 24. The course will be led by botanist Eric Williams, joined by Madeline Stahl, program associate at Sustainable Princeton, who has been leading an effort to revitalize the Monument Park garden beds with New Jersey native plants.