Invasive weed threatens plant life in county park BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer Off-road vehicles are not the only ecological menace impacting Jamesburg Park, according to Rick Lear of the Middlesex County Parks and Recreation Department. "In Jamesburg Park, there were a number of threats," Lear said. "It's a combination of things. It's like a jigsaw puzzle." Along with trash left behind by those who use the park, there is a naturally occurring problem to be dealt with - Japanese knotweed. Exotic to the area, the plant has seeds that are spread through air and water. "They grow very aggressively, and … there is no natural predator to keep them in place," Lear said. "It kills your biodiversity." In its efforts to rejuvenate the park last week, the county Conservation Corps sought to thwart the spread of the invasive, shrub-like herb. If unchecked, Japanese knotweed can wipe out all other plant life in an area, Lear said. Though the preferred method for combating the plant is herbicide, Lear said that was not an option. Instead, he and the youths in the corps went at it the old-fashioned way, by pulling it out from its roots. "The work we did this week won't eradicate the problem," Lear said. Though the park has not seen the last of the Japanese knotweed, Lear said regularly uprooting it by hand will sap the plant's energy and eventually kill it off. ATVs have been blamed for causing erosion and impacting the direction of water sources throughout the park, but they are only part of the issue, according to Lear. Warehouses in Monroe, along with other development taking place in the area, have created more impervious surface coverage, causing more water to run off into the park, Lear said. "My observation is that there is definitely a hydrology problem," Lear said. "It's not uncommon for development to cause problems down-watershed." Lear also attributed the runoff problem to years past, when environmental regulations were nowhere near as stringent as they are today, and wetlands areas were allowed to be filled in to make room for development and farming. "Over time, the need for that wetland becomes more apparent," Lear said. The Conservation Corps concluded its work at the park Friday, but the county Parks and Recreation Department continues to focus on the problems there. "It's a complex situation that has a lot of facets to it," Lear said. "Ultimately, you can't trace it to one."