Cultural & Ecological Enhancement Network

Alyssum problem

Two species of Alyssum (Alyssum murale and A. corsicum)  were planted in Illinois Valley as part of a mining enterprise and these genetically modified plants are now beginning to escape into botanical areas and agricultural fields. This is the only place west of the Rock Mountains where these plants have been introduced and are now a top priority among state and federal agencies for eradication.

The main concerns about Alyssum include how this plant might render agricultural products unusable due to this genetically modified plant’s ability to accumulate toxic levels of heavy metals, how it will impact unique botanical areas, and how the loss of unique botanical areas will make the community less marketable as a travel destination in the intensely competitive international tourism market.

The following provides a partial summary of the work that CEEN has been doing to help with the eradication of this plant.

Surveys

CEEN Board members have organized and conducted survey to identify the location of escaped plants and colonies that have grown up around them. Most of the survey efforts began around fields that were known to have been planted with Alyssum but in 2009 Alyssum plants were found growing in the gravel bars of the Illinois River. Efforts were stepped up to walk the banks of the river to look for flowering plants and a rafting trip through inaccessible parts of the river was arranged so this could also be surveyed.

Airport

The largest fields of Alyssum are located on Illinois Valley Airport property, which is adjacent to a Bureau of Land Management Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and an Oregon State Park. Forest Service botanical areas are within a half a mile of the site.

Illinois River

The first Alyssum plants were introduced here in 2002 and it wasn’t until 2009 that it was discovered the plant had escaped from isolated fields and into the Illinois River where flooding events could carry seeds down stream into the Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Area, Wild and Scenic Illinois River Corridor, and Kalmiopsis Wilderness.