09-02-08: Wrightsville to combat invasive beach plant

(c) 2008 Wilmington Star-News

By Chris Mazzolini,Staff Writer

Wrightsville Beach town officials appear ready to take a stand against beach vitex, an invasive plant that spreads quickly, pushes out native dune-stabilizing plants and threatens sea turtle nests.

The town is set to consider an ordinance banning vitex in September, officials said. If it passes, one of the last area beach towns with a serious vitex infestation will officially commit to destroying the pesky Pacific invader.

Eradication efforts could begin as early as this fall on the town's 45 known vitex colonies.

Thirteen communities from Emerald Isle to Ocean Isle Beach already have ordinances banning the plant and eradication programs in place, said Melanie Doyle, state coordinator for the Carolinas Beach Vitex Task Force.

Adding Wrightsville Beach to that list will help the task force's mission to locate and eliminate vitex's stranglehold on the coast, Doyle said.

"They are very interested in working with us and tackling this head on," she said. She gave a vitex presentation during the Aug. 28 board of aldermen meeting, and has been working with town officials on the project.

Vitex may be invasive, but it was invited onto area beaches. The plant's roots grow deep and thick, and very fast, so it became popular in the 1980s as a dune stabilizer. But coastal communities and scientists soon learned the plant is a prolific reproducer, and the seeds are easily spread by animals, the wind and the currents.

Vitex pushes out the native sea oats and grasses that help build and stabilize dunes, while offering none of those benefits itself.

There's only one proven way to destroy vitex, Doyle said. In the fall when the plant goes it dormant, it begins pushing nutrients into its root system for the winter. That's the best time to hack the plant's stem and inject it with a specific herbicide. That poison is sucked downward into the roots. In the spring, the plant can be removed while the roots are left in the ground to rot.

Mayor Stephen Whalen said he wants to approve the ordinance and start destroying the vitex right away. He asked Doyle to bring back cost estimates for the work.

"We're committed to getting rid of it," he said. "Instead of delaying this thing into another season, we need to make every effort we can to address it this fall. From what I understand, this stuff grows like wildfire."

The town earmarked $30,000 in the recent budget to deal with the vitex problem, but it was cut as a cost-saving measure, said Town Manager Bob Simpson.

"I think the board is going to revisit that," he said.

Doyle said the task force has made great strides in its mission. They secured a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help them locate and kill vitex patches, and to educate the public on the problem. On Sept. 17, the N.C. Cooperative Extension is holding a workshop at the arboretum to train landscape professionals on how to eradicate vitex.

The battle is far from over. The state has more than 350 known vitex sites, and many islands haven't been surveyed yet. The plant was found recently during a survey on uninhabited Masonboro Island, which indicates it has spread to areas where it wasn't planted, and will likely be found throughout the area's coastal estuaries, Doyle said.

Because the herbicide that kills vitex is restricted, the best thing for residents to do when they see a suspicious plant is to report it to the task force on the group's Web site.

Chris Mazzolini: 343-2223

chris.mazzolini@starnewsonline.com