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Knotweed, bittersweet major issues in town, according to Harrow

Ed Harrow shows off the traits of a bittersweet vine that was growing on the Marathon School property on Hayden Rowe Street. PHOTO/NICK SCHOFIELD

Open Space Preservation Commission chair Ed Harrow wants residents to be more aware of the pervasiveness of invasive plants in town.

“It’s a huge, under-the-radar problem,” said Harrow.

While Hopkinton residents may not understand or immediately care about the impact of invasive plant species, they can have a real, detrimental impact, according to Harrow.

“[Japanese] knotweed … can get into stone foundations of old buildings and literally start to knock the foundation apart,” he said.

He also noted that invasive plants like knotweed and bittersweet can have a negative impact on native flora and fauna. He noted that the bittersweet vine will choke out trees it climbs, and both plants can create brush so thick that “critters can’t get through it.”

Harrow recently showed the Independent town-controlled areas where the plants are growing, including the police station, the fire station and the driveway of Marathon School. However, he noted that “it’s all over town … There are places where it crowds the street.”

According to MassAudubon, the most effective methods of eliminating knotweed are removal or cutting of the plants and the application of herbicides in the stalks of newly cut plants. Harrow echoed this approach, claiming he had undertaken a similar approach in the Whitehall Conservation Area.

That treatment, he noted, now is in its fourth year.

The town has worked to control invasive plants, most recently through releasing a vegetation management plan (VMP) late last year. Despite objections about the plan’s proposed use of herbicides, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources approved it in April.

“Herbicides are the most effective method of treatment for many invasive plants because they kill the root system of the plant, allowing for eradication over time,” the VMP states. “Mechanical methods are rarely effective at eradicating the plants when there is a large infestation.”

The plan also lays out the ways in which the Department of Public Works will limit its use of herbicides and the criteria for when herbicides must be applied.

DPW Director Kerry Reed, in a brief conversation with the Independent, noted that her department had shied away from previous herbicide treatment plans due to public pushback. However, she said the DPW is about to begin weed treatments on public sidewalks this summer.

“Hopefully we use the lessons learned to roll out a pilot plan to see what we can do about knotweed,” said Reed.

In the meantime, Harrow hopes residents understand the risks of these invasive plants and pay attention so that progress can be made on curbing the issue.

“People look at this and say it’s not a big deal,” Harrow said, but “you don’t get a mass expansion overnight. It happens over time.”

Latest News

The Select Board on Tuesday reviewed the status of the ongoing MWRA connection project with Southborough and heard from the Department of Public Works about the need for residents to heed water conservation restrictions.

The Conservation Commission approved a renovation plan for life science company Revvity’s Elm Street facility and voted in favor of a boardwalk project at Berry Acres at its meeting Tuesday night.

Following its annual meeting in May, the Lake Maspenock Preservation Association is hoping to focus on the goals of preservation, safety and community in the year to come.

This week’s Police Log features three arrests, along with reports of an erratic motorcyclist, smashed windows at a home on Beach Street and black bears.

The Hopkinton Trails Club will hold its next monthly meeting next Wednesday at the Hopkinton Public Library.

Photo of the Day

The evening sky over Legacy Farms North glows purple following a storm on Tuesday.

PHOTO/AMIT JAGDALE