The New Forest Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme provides funding towards the work co-ordinated by Catherine Chatters in her role as project officer for the New Forest Non-Native Plants Project.
Hosted by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, the Project aims to stop the spread of invasive non-native plants through advice, practical control, research and awareness-raising.
Since the Project was launched in 2009, Catherine has been on a mission to tackle one of the most significant threats to the New Forest’s important habitats and the species they support.
Although they may look attractive, invasive non-native plants such as Himalayan Balsam are a threat to the delicate balance of the New Forest’s fragile ecosystems, particularly its important wetland habitats, as seeds can easily travel downstream, colonising riverbanks and displacing native flora.
‘American Skunk Cabbage has colonised wet woodlands where its huge leaves shade out other species’ explains Catherine ‘and even a tiny fragment of Parrot’s Feather is enough to start a new colony and elbow-out our native aquatic plants.’
Catherine’s journey began with a deep-rooted love of nature instilled by her mother and from an early age she dreamed of a career in nature conservation. In 2009, after Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and other organisations had recognised the urgent need to address the growing problem of invasive non-native plants, Catherine stepped into her role as project officer in a place she loves.
‘It’s such a privilege,’ she says. ‘The New Forest is a very special place as it’s an extraordinary survivor of a medieval landscape and pastoral economy, supporting one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in the lowlands of north-west Europe.
‘The Forest’s ecologically rich and varied habitats including heathlands, ancient woodlands, grasslands, valley mires, rivers and ponds support an abundance of species which must be protected.’
Since 2011, the New Forest Non-Native Plants Project has received grants from the New Forest HLS scheme for the control of invasive non-native plants on the Crown Land of the Open Forest.
‘New Zealand pigmyweed can choke New Forest ponds and has been notoriously difficult to control,’ explains Catherine ‘so, with HLS funding, I commissioned trials to assess the effectiveness of using organic hot foam and aquatic dye to tackle this particularly invasive non-native species’.
Grant-aid provided by the HLS scheme enables Catherine to co-ordinate work undertaken by professional contractors to control a wide range of invasive non-native plants on the Open Forest including the notorious Japanese Knotweed, Parrot’s Feather, American Skunk Cabbage, Yellow Azalea, Gaultheria, Montbretia, Pickerel Weed, Bog Arum and Cotoneaster.
Although you wouldn’t usually expect to find Cotoneaster growing in heathlands where the soils are typically acidic, it has colonised former WWII airfields in the New Forest where lime from concrete has leached into the surrounding heathland soils.
During the summer Catherine leads volunteers to pull up Himalayan Balsam which has colonised the wetland habitats in the vicinity of the Beaulieu River.
Yet how did these plants arrive in the New Forest in the first place? Non-native species have been introduced to areas outside their natural range as a result of human activity; sometimes this is intentional, for example exotic conifer trees being introduced for forestry, but sometimes non-native plants are introduced accidentally, such as when seeds hitch a ride on clothing or in the ballast water of ships.
About 10-15% of non-native species spread quickly and become invasive, causing environmental, economic and social problems.
‘The species that are being tackled by the New Forest Non-Native Plants Project were introduced by horticulturists for people to plant in their gardens and ponds’ says Catherine, but they have ‘jumped the garden fence’ or been deliberately planted in the countryside and are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss.
Catherine emphasises the importance of community involvement in the fight against invasive non-native plants and the need to educate the public about responsible gardening practices. Catherine enthusiastically promotes the government’s Be Plant Wise campaign which encourages people to think carefully about what they grow in their gardens and to dispose of surplus garden and pond plants responsibly. ‘Please don’t dump them in the countryside,’ she urges.
The success of the Project depends on effective collaboration. ‘With everyone’s support we are really making a difference,’ Catherine notes.
It’s very much a partnership project, supported by a network of dedicated volunteers, landowners and other organisations.
‘I couldn’t do it without their help’, she says. ‘The New Forest is an extraordinary place, and together we can protect it for future generations.’
For more information: Nonnativespecies.org/beplantwise