 Hi, welcome to CTN member highlight. I'm Leslie McVane, and my guest today is Bob Bittenbender. Hi, Bob, from the Casco Bay Invasive Species Network. How are you? I'm doing very well, thank you. So invasive species, we seem to have something about it in the newspaper every day, and you're going to try to teach us a little bit more in a workshop that you're doing. Right, we're having a workshop on the 21st of July in Brunswick, but we can give you more details in a minute if you like. Yeah, it's something that I'm really fascinated by, invasive species. Now, what constitutes an invasive species? Well, there are lots of different invasive species. What we're dealing with primarily are terrestrial, or things like trees and shrubs and vines. So we'll be dealing with honeysuckle and bittersweet and things like that. All those things I love. Oh, yeah. And all those things that maybe some of us who are in the nursery trade used to sell to people. So we won't be dealing with the aquatic things like milfoil or any of those, but primarily woody invasive species. And this workshop is geared to people like me. It's geared, right. Who may have invasive species all over their yard and not realize some of the dangers that can happen. Exactly. It's geared for almost anyone. So you can be a homeowner. You can be somebody in the nursery trade, or you can be somebody with a land trust. Those are sort of the gamut of things that we have. Now, at what point do you consider something a dangerous invasive species? Because I know there are some non-native species that are here that are allowed to be here, but others are not. Right. I think of them in three ways. Natives, which are things that were here since the last glacier. Exotic plants that are plants that are fun, colorful, or whatever. And then invasive species, which are also exotic, but they either take over and destroy the habitat. They might strangle a tree, like bittersweet. They may cause problems in the forest for birds, like honeysuckle. So honeysuckle has a nice fruit, but it doesn't provide much nutrient for the bird. So it can be bad for them in the long run. And I mean, honeysuckle's been around since I was a kid and before, and we always thought it was nice. So why hasn't it been a problem until now? I think that what's happened is we've had a perfect storm of these things. And some of them have just sort of taken over. And as a result, there were things that have been here a long time, but they didn't seem to take over. But for some reason, whether it's global climate change, whether it's more carbon dioxide in the air, whatever it might be, some of those things are growing very, very fast. And so they're taking away habitat. And we're mostly to blame for it. Humans are mostly to blame. I was going to say something about that, because I think that's absolutely correct. What we're doing is affecting how not only plant species but animal species are reacting in crazy ways that we've never seen before. And is it survival of the fittest? Are we just on a roller coaster of the world is changing? And we're at fault, and we can fight it, but in the end, are we going to lose this? Well, I think that people have on some level given up. And I don't think that's a fair thing to do. I don't think any of us know where the cascade comes, where that tipping point may come. So for us to have bittersweet all over Southern Maine may in fact destroy the quality of our lives, whether it's because it's destroying native plants and then the birds disappear, or for some other reason that we don't even know about yet. Yeah. Well, I've been to several of these invasive species, not workshops, but talks that you've given on some of the islands in Casco Bay. And it is fascinating. And it is eye-opening. Tell us a little bit more if someone would like to sign up for the workshop, what they should do. Okay. They should contact cascobayinvasives.org, and there's a sign up sheet there under the events page. As I said, we'll be on the 21st of July from three to six at the boat ramp at the end of Water Street in Brunswick. It's actually pretty easy to find. And from there, we will go. There's a fee, but all of that is on the website. I believe it's $15 for the workshop. I believe it's $15, yes. Which is very reasonable, because people will be able to leave this workshop, go back to their own yards or their own nursery or wherever they're going back to, and be able to identify some of these things. Yeah, we'll help not only identify things, but we'll also help people figure out how to plan as to what they're going to do in the future. And that, I think, is an important thing. Sometimes it looks so overwhelming, whether it's acres and acres or just a yard, and you go, oh my, I'm never gonna get through this, but there are ways to get through it, and we have some of that kind of advice for people. And we have to wrap it up right now, but I'd like you to come back another time, and we'll talk a little bit more about some of the little steps people can take in their own world to deal with this. Be happy to do this. Thanks, Bob. You're welcome.