skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Beautiful Springtime Trees Causing Ugly Problem in Hoosier State

play audio
Play

Monday, April 23, 2018   

INDIANAPOLIS – Drive around Indiana, or anywhere in the Midwest, and you're likely to see some trees that turn green early and have a beautiful white bloom early in spring. They're likely Bradford pears, but state officials aren't big fans and are asking residents to avoid planting them.

Megan Abraham, director of the Department of Natural Resources says they've become very popular because they're inexpensive and grow quickly. The problem is they've become invasive, taking over space where native grasses and plants, along with oak, maple or hickory trees should be.

When Bradford pears first came on the market it was thought that they were sterile, but then they started cross-pollinating, and new varieties started flowering.

"Which meant that the birds could feed off of them, and the birds are moving them now to some areas that aren't forested where they're able to out-compete some of the native trees and forbs and grasses, changing some of these ecosystems around us," she explains.

Abraham says millions of dollars a year are spent on pear trees in Indiana, and not only are they harming native vegetation, they're not very sturdy and snap easily because they grow so fast.

Abraham says native trees provide acorns, seeds and walnuts for wildlife. She says it's not uncommon to see entire subdivisions to be made up solely of Bradford pears.

"This time of year, the only thing that's out there that's green that's a deciduous tree is either a pear or a honeysuckle," she notes. "Both are invasive species, and if it's in the middle of a field where it doesn't look like somebody intentionally planted it, it's probably a pear tree."

The DNR is advising homeowners who already have Bradford pear trees that they don't have to remove them but should avoid planting new ones.

"We haven't gone anywhere near the idea of trying to ban their sale or anything like that, we just really want to make them aware of something that they're not aware of," she says.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021