ACRES Land Trust, partners, fight invasive Japanese stiltgrass

ACRES Land Trust, with regional partners, is fighting to eradicate Japanese stiltgrass, a non-native invasive plant common to southern Indiana and the eastern United States and newly identified in northern Indiana in late fall, 2015.

Japanese stiltgrass can crowd out native plants, reducing tree regeneration and slowing the growth of tree seedlings and existing plants, creating a monoculture. It is an annual plant, spread by seed, often by foot. Japanese stiltgrass thrives in a variety of soil and light conditions.

Little Cedar Creek, which borders the preserve where the invasive was first found and the 100-acre area where the species has invaded, is a tributary of Cedar Creek. Cedar Creek is one of three rivers in the state designated under the 1973 Indiana Natural, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act.

Ben Hess, then Regional Ecologist, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves, spotted the non-native plant during a routine assessment of the preserve. This plant was not on the watch list at the time, as it had never been seen before; it was growing in such abundance, it caught his attention.

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