Fairbanks, AK - Fairbanks residents gathered Tuesday night to discuss how best to deal with an invasive plant that is slowly taking over roadways within the North Star Borough. Attendees overwhelmingly agreed that increasing public outreach and awareness is likely their best option to combat
Bird Vetch, a spindly vine with purple flowers, seems to have taken over the main roadways in the northwest region of Fairbanks this summer. Darcy Etcheverry is in charge of invasive plant control for the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District.
“I don’t think that we can necessarily eradicate bird vetch from the Fairbanks area" she says, "but we can contain it’s spread so it’s not spreading to new places and we can contain it from spreading to new places to Alaska.”
During the first in what Etcheverry hopes might become series of meetings this winter, she and representatives from the Forest Service and the Cooperative Extension Service told an audience of more than 40 people that pulling the plant before it goes to seed is all it takes to prevent its spread. The seeds themselves are only viable in the soil for up to six years.
It’s too late this year, but Etcheverry urged the audience to start forming neighborhood groups now to focus on targeting the plant before it goes to seed again next July. “If you wanna control bird vetch," she explains, "you’ve gotta start pretty early in the spring. If we were to host a meeting like this in early or mid-summer, it’s almost already too late.”
Representatives from the Department of Transportation and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks also explained plans to implement their own invasive plant management strategies. Members of the audience also shared ideas – ranging from a Weed Whacking Weekend, to a fundraising gala. They’d like to spread the word about vetch faster than the plant itself.