Invasive Species Management

The FRCC works with local groups, landowners, and others interested in controlling non-native invasive plants.

Why are we concerned about invasive plants? Part of FRCC’s mission is to protect and enhance the values for which the Farmington River was designated Wild & Scenic – free-flowing water, high water quality, special scenic, recreational and habitat features. Native habitat is important to protect for many species.

• FRCC’s Guide to Invasive plants around the Farmington River
• A Landowner’s Guide to Invasive Plant Management
• 2025 HWA Report
• 2024 HWA Report
• 2023 HWA Report

FRCC works with the CT DEEP Foresters to determine the best locations to continue the control of invasive plant species in the three State Forests that border the Farmington River: American Legion State Forest, Peoples State Forest, and Nepaug State Forest.

FRCC funded mechanical cutting and cut surface herbicide application on 6.4 acres in Peoples State Forest at the North Salmon Facility, Whittemore Recreation Area, and South Matthies Grove in 2025. The targeted invasive plant species were Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), shrub honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), and winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus).

FRCC plans to continue working with CT DEEP with follow-up control and management at other priority locations along the river.

The Peoples, American Legion, and Nepaug State Forests are extensive watershed forests bordering the Farmington River, and are important for natural diversity, wildlife, and recreation. These forests have a large eastern hemlock component, critical for wildlife habitat, thermoregulation, and filtering of the streams that feed the river.

FRCC has been working with Dr. Carole Cheah, Research Entomologist with the CT Agricultural Experiment Station, since 2021 to control the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) through the release of Sasajiscymus tsugae, a beetle that exclusively predates on HWA. Native Eastern Hemlock is susceptible and severely impacted by HWA, especially when stressed by drought and other insect pests. Hemlocks are critical for bank stabilization and cold-water temperatures in our tributaries and river. It looked bleak in the ‘90s, but there has been improvement in the health of hemlocks since Dr. Cheah’s research began, and continued work will help to further improve the health of our forests and water quality. Biological control with S. tsugae to reduce HWA pressure and impacts appear to have significantly helped hemlocks survive and initiate recovery, 5 –18 months after beetles were released, in spite of other significant stressors such as the drought.

Please contact FRCC if you are interested in working with us to stop the spread of invasive species, or to report a suspected outbreak in your neighborhood or property.

Photo of beetle release on infested hemlocks in Peoples State Forest with Dr. Cheah.