Missourians Making a Difference: Interview with Valarie Kurre
What is your job title? How long have you been with SRISP, and what are your primary responsibilities?
I am the Coordinator for the Scenic Rivers Invasive Species Partnership (SRISP) and have been in this position for almost three years. The SRISP is Missouri’s first Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA). CISMAs are partnerships of federal, state, and local government agencies, private landowners, and various interested groups that manage invasive species (or weeds) in a defined area.
The SRISP was formed in south-central Missouri to establish a strong, cross-boundary, public-private partnership that inventories, monitors, controls, and prevents the spread of invasive species in a nine-county area in the southern Ozarks that includes the Eleven Point, Jack’s Fork, and Current Rivers. Because the SRISP is a non-profit with signed agreements with state and federal agencies, the organization makes it easier for cross-boundary invasive plant work across multiple agency boundaries and even with private landowners. The SRISP also provides education and outreach about invasives to citizens across Missouri by attending events and conferences, hosting workshops, and assisting with invasive plant removal with its equipment-sharing program.
As the SRISP coordinator, I have many responsibilities. While running day-to-day operations, I also assist partners with invasive plant projects and coordination between partners. I represent the SRISP in various working groups, such as the Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP) and the Mahan’s Creek Conservation Opportunity Area Working Group. Working with partners, I hosted landowner workshops on invasive plant ID and treatment, as well as herbicide application and safety. I also assist with invasive plant treatments when I’m not busy in the office. These projects range from treating county road rights-of-way to assisting landowners with invasive plant projects.
What is your educational and professional background?
My degree is in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in Resource Conservation and Restoration Ecology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. After graduating, I spent a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA in southeastern Ohio, working on forest and prairie restoration projects on reclaimed mine land. I then moved to Missouri and worked as a seasonal biological technician at the Mark Twain National Forest for three years, assisting with invasive plant treatments and inventorying.
What are some of the invasive plant control projects you have led over the years? Why are they important? What has been the impact?
When I worked in Ohio, one of my main projects was removing invasive species like autumn olive and garlic mustard from a patch of forest we were restoring. Most of the land had been replanted from mining in the 1980s, but little management has occurred since then. Since the woodland restoration was relatively small (roughly 20 acres), it was easier to see the effects of removing invasives from a plot and what native plants would recruit there. We also planted native plant plugs and broadcasted seeds, trying to build up the seed bank stripped away from mining. It was amazing to see what wildlife started to use each little section of the forest when we would remove autumn olive: I began to find salamanders under leaf litter, a pair of turkey vultures roosted in one of the rock outcrops, and we even got a little mink on one of the wildlife cameras in the area utilizing the new space.
While working with Mark Twain National Forest, I spent a lot of time spot-treating invasive plants in state-designated Missouri natural areas, mainly around the Ava Glades just south of Ava, Missouri. These are some of the largest glade complexes you’ll find, and the number of species they host, both plant and animal, is incredible. It was satisfying to know that I was helping prevent the freshly introduced sweet clover that had come in from new gravel along a nearby road from spreading into the glade. I got spoiled by those massive glades, as they were my first introduction to that ecosystem when I moved to Missouri, so now my standard of a “nice glade” is pretty high.
How do you prioritize invasive plant species work within the Scenic River area? What is your strategy?
Prioritizing in such a large area is very difficult, especially when working with multiple partners with different priorities. It’s a constant juggling act of keeping (mostly) everyone happy, being fiscally responsible, and getting the most effective work done. In general, I like to focus on keeping pristine areas as pristine as possible, such as high-value Missouri natural areas. Preventing invasive plants from establishing in those areas is most important when preserving natural areas.
I also work in areas where it is most mutually beneficial to everyone. For instance, we treated a roadway and dozer lines on a recent burn unit for sericea lespedeza last year. This unit started on Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) property, but also went into National Park Service land and boarded land owned by the L-A-D Foundation. By treating this population of sericea, we’re not only making sure it can’t spread into the burn unit, but also onto neighboring managed lands.
Please share one of your favorite invasive plant control success stories.
One of the most significant projects I’m currently with, and have been for three years, is treating county road rights-of-way to tie in with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Strike Team’s work along state highways. The SRISP works with MoDOT to treat invasives along county roads that stem off or continue off of lettered and numbered highways in Shannon and Carter Counties. These are targeted spot-spraying treatments, meaning minimal damage occurs to surrounding native vegetation. In the three years I’ve been assisting with this project, I’ve seen sericea lespedeza and spotted knapweed patches almost disappear from some roadsides and give way to incredible natives, like pale purple coneflower, sensitive briar, and lead plant. One of the other big benefits is that we’re preventing invasives from spreading from roadsides to private lands, saving individual landowners time and money. And I’ve gotten to meet some great people while out spraying! It’s fun to talk with locals about what I’m doing and learn why and what type of land management they’re doing on their property. I’ve gotten to help some landowners even more by informing them of cost-share opportunities through the Natural Resources Conservation Service and MDC to help them with some of the costs associated with land management.
I’d love to answer any questions about the SRISP, including what steps were taken to form a CISMA in Missouri. Please email me at vkurre@quailforever.org with any inquiries you have!
