Using information gathered at other park units and Cornell University, we selected a combination of bio-control, mechanical removal and herbicide methods that will be tried if funds are available. Both the larvae as well as adults attack the plant. Monitoring of both the plant and the insect populations is a critical part of this project. Last, we are in our 3 rd year of actively controlling Japanese knotweed at Dingmans Falls. Within the park, known exotic species number 241 plants and 28 animals.
Monitoring is essential to meeting our mandated goals successfully.
Macroinvertebrate monitoring compliments the chemical and physical monitoring that we also conduct. Monitoring macroinvertebrates overcomes a number of limitations of traditional physical and chemical water quality monitoring. We would have to be out sampling streams at all these times in order to detect pollutants using traditional water quality measures. Second, traditional water quality measures do not reflect many aspects of stream degradation that we are concerned with. Sedimentation, for example, can compromise the aesthetic, recreational, and biological value of a stream without measurably affecting water quality.