abbyyancy's Identifications

This is a frightening sight. One of the world's worst invasive species (according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN) has completely taken over a large part of the floodplain of this remote stretch of the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek, miles from regular human notice where it can wreak havoc unchecked.

Upstream from this point (in 2023) there are several miles of wild river valley little visited except by birders and hunters, mostly devoid of this horrifically tenacious and destructive plant. A casual drive downstream through West Virginia though reveals this unfortunate watershed largely choked and polluted with impenetrable thickets of this menace that is extremely difficult to remove once established, even by the most drastic measures.

It is heart breaking that we are loosing so much rich riparian habitat (wetlands adjacent to rivers and streams) and diverse meadows to this ecological nightmare.