The newly-appointed Connecticut Invasive Plants Council held its first meeting on September 29, 2003 in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.  Council members are:  John Anderson (Vice-Chair) (The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station), David Goodwin (Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association), Bruce Gresczyk (Connecticut Department of Agriculture), Paul Larson (Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association/Sprucedale Gardens), David Leff (Chair) (Connecticut Department of Environemtal Protection), Tom McGowan (Connecticut Federation of Lakes), Les Mehrhoff [Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE)], Mary Musgrave (University of Connecticut), and David Sutherland (The Nature Conservancy).   

The Council was appointed following enactment of Public Act No. 03-136, "An Act Concerning Invasive Plants" on June 26, 2003.  Members of the Council will be meeting on a regular basis to discuss invasive plant education, publish a list of invasive and potentially invasive plants, recommend to the Legislature invasive plants that should be banned, identify control methods for invasives and target
research needs.  The Council will report their accomplishments and recommendations to the General Assembly by February 4, 2004.

Minutes from the meetings are posted on the IPANE website at:
http://invasives.eeb.uconn.edu/ipane/associated_projects.htm

Invasive Plants Council meetings are open to the public.  They will be held in Room 1A of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on the following dates:

November 10, 2003       2:00 p.m.
November 25, 2003     10:30 a.m.
December 11, 2003       2:00 p.m.
December 23, 2003     10:00 a.m.
January 13, 2004         10:00 a.m.
January 29, 2004         10:00 a.m.