Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin (IPAW)

The latest edition of Plants out of Place (the newsletter of IPAW) just arrived, reminding me of how important this organization has become in Wisconsin. (IPAW is listed as one of the "success stories" of the USDA-NRCS.)

This nonprofit organization arose out of a conference held in Eau Claire in early March 2001. At the organizational meeting, I agreed to be the Treasurer and to act as the incorporator. We had many charter members who gave us checks at the meeting, thus giving us seed money that could be used to cover the initial work of getting the organization going.

After returning to Madison, I took care of the incorporation paper work at the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (incorporated March 8, 2001), set up the post office box, and established a business checking account at U.S. Bank. The initial board of directors put together the bylaws and budget and I prepared the application to the IRS for nonprofit status. Within a year we had over 100 members, and the organization has continued to grow since.

IPAW was the brainchild of Kelly Kearns of the Wisconsin DNR, and those who played major roles in the early stages of IPAW (some are still active) were Dan Undersander (UW-Madison) President, Nancy Braker (TNC) Secretary, Rolf Utegaard (Eau Claire County) Vice President, and Jim Reinartz (UW-Milwaukee) Newsletter editor.

The current president is Jerry Doll (retired weed specialist for UW-Extension), and treasurer is Tom Boos (Forestry Invasive Plants Coordinator for the DNR). Amy Staffen took over as Secretary when Nancy Braker left the state. Rolf and Jim still continue in their important roles. The current board has 13 members, well distributed across the state.

In addition to my work as Treasurer, I did a lot of work on the web site, bringing in Martha Vomastic as webmaster and writing quite a bit of the early material. Martha continues to serve as webmaster and lots of people have contributed material. It is one of the most useful web sites for those interested in invasive plants of the Upper Midwest.

Since its founding, IPAW has held almost yearly conferences, which have been well attended. The last one, in February of 2009, had over 300 attendees, many of whom had to brave a late winter snow storm to reach the site on the east side of Madison.

For those involved in invasive plants (and what restoration ecologist isn't?), membership in IPAW is strongly recommended. The newsletter itself is worth the price of membership. Among other items in the new issue are incisive articles on Japanese hops, Japanese hedge parsley, and wild chervil, three emerging problem weeds. Also, a concise research article on use of herbicides to manage garlic mustard.

In addition to the important role IPAW is playing locally it also participates extensively in the Midwest Invasive Plant Network, which covers the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Since our emerging weeds generally come from out of the state, associating with organizations from other states is very useful.

The membership dues are nominal, and you can handle the whole process digitally (via PayPal) or download an application form and send in a check by mail.