1. We invite you to join the CIPWG 2008 symposium planning committee. Your input is needed as we plan the 2008 invasive plant symposium, to be held during the fall. The committee will meet on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. until noon at the Valley Laboratory, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Windsor, CT. David Gumbart (email dgumbart@tnc.org; phone 860-344-0716 ext. 324) is Chair of the symposium planning committee.

Follow this link for a map to Valley Laboratory, Windsor

2. Volunteers are needed for Menunkatuck Audubon Society's upcoming invasive plant clean-up project on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at Hammonasset Beach State Park. They are targeting the Willard's Island location at Hammonasset Beach State Park, where Oriental bittersweet is overgrowing native trees. The clean-up is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. until noon, and they have hot beverages & chowder available to all volunteers at noon. Volunteers should bring their own loppers, saws, and work gloves. Meet at Willard’s Island trail entrance, located at the far left end of Nature Center parking lot. Contact Shannon Schiesser, Menunkatuck Audubon Society, for more information via email at wdssfs@comcast.net or phone (203-605-3153 cell).

3. We need 1 or 2 people to volunteer at a CIPWG invasive plant information booth for the Connecticut Horticultural Society’s “Spring into the Garden” symposium, a one-day symposium of practical gardening ideas and inspiration. The symposium will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at Portland High School. Set up time is 8:30 a.m. and the booth needs to stay up until 4:00 p.m. Lunch can be pre-ordered for $15. Please contact Donna Ellis (email donna.ellis@uconn.edu; phone 860-486-6448) if you can help out.

4. Mile-a-minute vine (Persicaria perfoliata; previously named Polygonum perfoliatum) has been found for the first time at a residence in Weston, CT. This invasive annual vine has now been confirmed from the following Connecticut towns: Bridgewater, Greenwich, Lyme, New Milford, Newtown, Roxbury, Torrington, Weston, and Westport. We encourage everyone to continue to be on the lookout for this rapidly growing vine and report suspect plants to CIPWG.

5. Read about recent efforts in Florida to fight invasive species with beneficial insects at:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-lidspecies2607nov26,0,61235.story

6. Please check out the CIPWG website at www.hort.uconn.edu/cipwg for invasive plant information and area events. You are welcome to send meeting or other announcements for the calendar, or post messages to the CIPWG website by emailing them to donna.ellis@uconn.edu.