NATURE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: A knotty problem
Toni Bandrowicz
In 1930, it was Al Capone. In 1934, John Dillinger. After Dillinger was killed, it was Pretty Boy Floyd and, after him, Baby Face Nelson. They were all listed by the FBI as “Public Enemy No. 1.” The term “Public Enemy” was first used in the 1930s to describe dangerous criminals whose activities were extremely damaging to society.
Today we have a dangerous killer in our midst but it’s not a gangster, it’s a plant: Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica).
Introduced to the U.S. from eastern Asia in the late-1800s, Japanese Knotweed creates tall dense thickets that shade out all other plant life. It’s literally killing off our native shrubs, trees, and flowers. Loss of native species impacts the insects, birds, and mammals that depend on those plants for food. And that, in turn, ultimately affects us.