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The
Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, established in
1986 to protect wetlands and to provide habitat for migrating
waterfowl, is currently at 63,000 acres in size. (The refuge
has been in the news lately, as a possible habitat for Ivory-billed
Woodpecker, a species that was until recently feared to be
extinct.) The refuge has been growing, with yearly boundary
increases. Unfortunately, invasive plants in the refuge have
also been growing.
Principle
among invasive plants at Cache River is kudzu, also known
as "the vine that ate the south." Kudzu, an invasive
plant native to Japan and China, was first introduced to the
United States at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
It was soon introduced widely in the South — with government
support. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil
Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(now known as the NRCS — Natural Resources Conservation
Service of the USDA) promoted kudzu as an erosion-control
vine. Through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), hundreds
of young men were given work planting kudzu in the South,
and farmers were paid as much as $8 per acre to plant fields
of this vine in the 1940s.
Kudzu
was eventually recognized by the USDA as a pest weed in 1953,
but the proverbial genie could not be put back into the bottle.
To get rid of kudzu, labor intensive eradication has to take
place.
At
Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, the invasive volunteer
program has been designed to track the presence and growth
of kudzu in and around the refuge. Plans are in place to identify
infestations, research the most viable treatment alternatives,
and engage in appropriate control measures.
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