The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge participated in a national pilot project designed to help refuges tackle the threat of invasive plants. Staff and volunteers gathered for two days of training by staff of The Nature Conservancy on hand held computers with built-in global positioning systems. The devices allow users to map locations while simultaneously entering data into The Nature Conservancy's database, known as the Weed Information Management System. Training was also provided by Les Mehrhoff of the University of Connecticut and the New England Invasive Plant Group on identifying likely invasives. Funding for the equipment and training came from the National Wildlife Refuge Association.

The sixteen trained volunteers went on to survey 15 miles of transects through a newly acquired 3,000 acre area in the Pondicherry Division of the refuge in Jefferson and Whitefield, N.H. This area was not thought to be heavily infested, but recent logging in some areas prior to acquisition may have introduced some plants, and refuge managers acted to find and eradicate invasives before they became firmly established and spread throughout the area. Small numbers of purple loosestrife, spotted knapweed and Canada thistle plants were found and removed on 9 of the 12 routes.

Refuge staff were impressed with the system and plan to use it on other refuge lands.

Volunteers donated 434 hours of effort to this project. The enthusiasm and hard work of these dedicated team members was much appreciated by refuge staff, who could not have undertaken the project without their help.

NORTHEAST REGION, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE -- Conserving the Nature of the Northeast