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THE AUDUBON SOCIETY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA SUPPORTS HB1167 The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV) is a 5,000-member independent chapter of the National Audubon Society. Its mission is to engage all Northern Virginia communities in enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people. ASNV strongly supports HB1167. English Ivy is a growing threat to our environment, and its continued sale should be prohibited. HB1167 provides localities an effective and cost-efficient way to slow the spread of English Ivy. The bill does not require all localities to ban the sale of this invasive plant. Localities that are concerned about its impact would have the right to ban its sale, which would help to slow the growing spread of this extremely harmful plant. English Ivy is an invasive plant. English Ivy is not native to Virginia. It has been imported to the commonwealth through sales by plant stores and nurseries. Once a property owner plants it, typically as a ground cover, it climbs trees, flowers and produces seeds. Birds disperse the seeds to nearby private properties and forests, and it quickly becomes established beyond the areas where it originally was planted. Property owners frequently find English Ivy seedlings on their land that have spread from adjacent properties and must spend time and money to eradicate them. English Ivy is harmful to the environment. English Ivy displaces native plants because it has no natural enemies. It threatens the ecosystem because it reduces the number and diversity of native plants that are available for native wildlife. It also alters the nutrient dynamics of forest soils. English Ivy overwhelms trees. English Ivy can heavily drape trees and can smother them. It also adds substantial weight to the trees that the trees are not designed to support, making them more susceptible to blowing down in storms. It is costly to remove the prematurely-downed trees. ASNV urges the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee to report out HB1167. Respectfully submitted, Tom Blackburn, Advocacy Chair Audubon Society of Northern Virginia 11100 Wildlife Center Drive Reston VA 20190

Please support HB 1167 for all the reasons already stated. Allowing localities to ban the sale of English ivy is a start.

English ivy is destroying trees all over the area. There needs to be an immediate ban on all sales of invasive species to protect our trees. Please can the sale of English ivy.

As English Ivy is an invasive species with major negative impacts on both native plants at the ground level and the trees that it engulfs I would love to see a ban on it.

Land development is VA is massive business, and despite existing measures our tree canopy is shrinking in the name of gigantic mcmansions and invasive English grass lawns. Tree canopy preservation in every district should have tighter regulations to stop the decimation of our tree canopy.

I am in support HB1167. I am a volunteer who battles invasive species in the Glenmore housing development. I have seen the devastating effects of English Ivy and other "ornamental vines" that have slipped the bounds of gardens and are suffocating the trees around us. I started a group of volunteers in our neighborhood to try and save our neighborhood woodlands. However, even more worrisome is the loos of our beautiful VA landscape, beyond my neighborhood, due to the effects of this invasive vine and others like it. You (or any visitor to our state) can't help but see trees along I-64 and Rt 250 buried beneath English Ivy, Kudzu and Porcelain Berry, and in varying stages of death. As soon as you leave VA and enter WVA and PA, you see start healthy trees and woodlands. Just like the war on drugs, we must first get the vines out of circulation by outlawing their sale.

Please support Invasive Plant management. I am a Fairfax Master Naturalist and learned about invasive plants during my training. Invasives should NOT be sold to the public and should NOT be in the nursery trade. I teach the public about invasives and their impact on our environment and wildlife. Most folks have no idea how significant an issue these plants have created within our food web. Jill Spohn 1286 Auburn Grove LN Reston, VA 20194 Thank you, Jill

I would like to submit my support for banning the sale of English ivy. Both in my person experiences and as a professional in natural resources, I have seen how damaging English ivy can be for trees and native vegetation. It is very difficult to control with chemical herbicides and usually requires tremendous physical effort to get under control. It spreads easily between properties and to natural areas, causing problems for other landowners, cities, counties, etc. Driving around Charlottesville can be a sad reminder of the havoc invasive vines like English ivy can cause to urban tree canopy. Please support this bill and help prevent the death of many Virginia trees.

I support HB1167. English ivy is an invasive species that chokes out beneficial native plants and can kill even mature trees. You can easily see the harm it causes throughout neighborhoods where I live, in Faifax County. Commercial plant nurseries should not encourage the spread of this harmful plant by selling it. Thank you for considering my comment.

I am submitting a comment in support of HB1167 and allowing localities to prohibit the sale of English Ivy. English Ivy is an invasive species that smothers large areas of native ecosystems in Virginia and inhibits the growth of native plants and thus harms the wildlife and pollinators that depend on them. English Ivy is also a nuisance that does not respect property boundaries. Our neighbors have English Ivy on their property that we have had to regularly fight to remove from our property when it encroaches. It has also worked its way into the tops of large trees along our property line that have then been damaged during ice storms due to the added weight of the ivy. While I personally wish that this bill prohibited the sale of English Ivy statewide, a good first step is to allow localities the right to make that decision. Please support this bill!

I have seen how the ivy can expand it's grip on anything within a wide range and destroy any and all native vegetation, it will also shorten the life expectancy of any structure that it can attach to . It needs to be eliminated!!!

I lead a consortium of 29 HOAs representing nearly 200,000 residents in Loudoun County (the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance) who have come together to request support from our County government to tackle the issue of invasive plants in our communities. The Loudoun Board of Supervisors unanimously passed funding to scope the issue this past October. Invasive Plants are causing significant economic, health/safety and environmental damage in our communities. A huge cause of the issue is simply lack of awareness awareness at this point, with Virginians purchasing 1000's of invasives every day from nurseries as well as Big Box retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's, and then planting them in their yards. At best, 1-5% of Virginia residents know what an invasive plant is. Passing this bill to ban English Ivy, one of the worst of the worst in Loudoun County, would be a game changer in Virginia. If residents recognize that English Ivy is an invasive with significant economic, health/safety and environmental impact to Virginia, in addition to the retailers no longer selling them due to this bill, they'll no doubt be compelled to join the state's direction and remove them from their properties.

I implore your support of this bill that would empower localities to prevent the sale of English Ivy (hedera helix). This vine is about the only green I see this time of year in our oak forests, whether I am driving down my road or along the George Washington Memorial Highway, where I do English Ivy removal as a National Park Service volunteer. This vine and others like it are swallowing our forests. English Ivy in particular will smother trees, preventing them from photosynthesis. On the ground, English Ivy carpets forest floors so that native groundcover, shrubs, and saplings can take root. This impacts not only the flora but the fauna as well, as our forest inhabitants starve. This plant is extremely challenging to remove, being resistant to herbicides and having a deep, aggressive root system. Here is an informative blog post about the impact of English Ivy, written by Ellen Powell, VDOF Conservation Education Coordinator, Virginia Department of Forestry: https://fieldnotesvdof.wordpress.com/2021/01/19/field-notes-januarys-least-wanted-english-ivy/ Let's please take steps to stop the sale of English Ivy. It makes sense economically and ecologically. In gratitude, Pamela Krist

Please support HB1167 For all of the reasons provided in previously entered comments - primarily the damage English ivy does to mature, shade providing trees in city, suburbs and country.

I write in support of HB1167, which allows the Local prohibition on the sale of English ivy; civil penalty. As someone trained in Ecology (PhD 1994, Stanford University) who has studied invasive species since 1998, I can say with complete professional confidence that invasive species are one of the gravest threats facing Virginia ecosystems today, and English ivy has become one of the most serious invasive species in the Commonwealth. This legislation is especially important because English ivy is still commonly used as an ornamental, despite its deleterious impacts on our forests. I urge the Delegates to move this bill forward. Sincerely, Manuel Lerdau Ps, although I am a Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and have been so for 17 years, I stress that I am writing now in my individual, not institutional capacity.

English ivy does harm to Virginia’s native landscapes, to our buildings and fences, and to our safety as it smoothers healthy large canopy trees. Preventing its spread is a labor intensive commitment. I am in support of this bill to help curb it’s destructive effects.

Please pass this bill, HB1167, so localities can begin to control English Ivy, Hedera helix, a terrible invasive vine that damages buildings, kills trees and ground cover, displaces native plants, and disrupts ecosystems. I am leading an effort to restore seven acres of forest behind my church in Vienna, and English Ivy is one of the worst problem plants we have there. We must get control of this and other noxious invasive plants.

I support HB1167 as an important step toward restoration of native habitat and even retention of our forest and edge canopy. As homeowners, we have incurred significant expense due to trees killed by English ivy, and take steps ourselves to girdle trees thus endangered on our property. Once English ivy is in place, it's very hard to eradicate, so best practice is to discourage its introduction from the outset. Thank you in advance for your support of HB1167.

Trees are the one of the very best resources we have to combat climate change. Trees are being cut down daily for construction and in addition they are being overwhelmed with Non native vines such as : English Ivy, Japanese honey suckle, Porcelain Berry, Oriental Bittersweet, Winter creeper and Asian wisteria. These non native vines smother trees and strangle them., preventing them from being able to photosynthesize which is key to survival. Branches break and fall over under the weight of these vines , many of which are still being sold in Nurseries . Please note that these nurseries are selling these vines to homeowners and contractors who may not realize the dangers these invasive vines inflict on our trees. Many of these vines produce large quantities of seeds, so that they proliferate and aggressively climb up the trees, causing them to bend and break, along with their aggressive root systems which grow densely and compete with native trees, shrubs and plants for much needed resources in the soil. Please take this bill seriously and request that Non native vines like English ivy etc, cannot be sold in box stores such as Lowes , Home Depot and nurseries , etc. Thank you for your time , Theresa DeFluri President Centreville Garden Club Prince William Wild Flower Society member

As you drive on our roadways notice all the vines climbing and destroying the trees and other native vegetation. These vines are invasives! Also, once the invasives are established the remediation options options are extremely expensive because they include very labor intensive plant removal and replacement and/or the application of herbicides, which have their own associated issues. In short, the invasives issue is real extensive...you will witness it on your ride home tonight. And the invasives issue is real costly in terms of 1) the environmental damage and 2) the costs for remediation. Please support HB1167 Sincerely, Steve Hryckiewicz 8157 Silverberry Way Vienna VA 22182

As the Blue Ridge Prism, Virginia Native Plant Society, and Virginea's own Ag. Extension Master Gardener's programs can affirm, removing English Ivy from Virginia gardens (and homes) would help countless native trees and other species thrive free of the stress this plant causes -- due to it's ability to take over -- in our forests and yards. The eastern US hardwood forest and mid-Atlantic native plant communities are vibrant and deserve our awareness of their needs, and our respect for their value and vulnerability.

Prohibiting the sale of English Ivy is necessary. It will ease the expenditures of town and park entities who spent large amounts of money to eradicate it. For our own sustainability we need native plants, think pollinators. Native plants are, crowded out by invasives, one of which is English ivy, which can be easily found at our local nurseries.

English Ivy is not only an environmental hazard (is it choking out large swaths of forest), but is also a massive health hazard. Because it is evergreen and outcompetes all other plants, it provides a safe haven for ticks and mosquitos to overwinter. In areas where English ivy is dominant, tick and white footed mice (the reservoir for Lyme) populations sky rocket. In Roanoke, lone star ticks that carry ehrlichiosis are also on the rise, seeking safe haven in English ivy and spreading Rickettsial disease, which is hard to treat. This disease is especially deadly to children under 5. The environmental and health costs of English Ivy are exponential compared to the marginal profit that businesses make selling it to naïve buyers. Thank you for proposing this bill because English Ivy should have been outlawed decades ago.

I urge you to adopt this ban on selling English ivy. I am involved with volunteer efforts to get English ivy out of parks, forests, and other natural areas where it has spread uncontrollably for decades and is doing tremendous damage to the ecosystem. English ivy is easily spread by runners that escape yards and gardens and by berries transplanted by birds. It not only smothers the ground and prevents native vegetation from growing, but it grows up the trunks of trees, weakening and killing them by allowing diseases and pests to enter the bark, blocking light from the leaves, and weighing the canopy down with its considerable weight. A mass of English ivy on trees also creates a "sail effect" in windy or icy weather and causes trees to break or fall. In this time of climate change, we need our forests and our trees more than ever. For the landscape and garden trade to continue to sell this killer is unconscionable. There are native alternative groundcovers with deeper root systems and benefits to wildlife that could be offered instead. It is high time homeowners and landscapers learned about the harm that English ivy does and stop buying and selling it for its (supposed) aesthetics. Environmental groups and concerned citizens need more help in getting rid of this harmful vine (for example trees on VDOT property along highways need to be rescued from ivy). Please help by voting to prevent more English ivy from entering the landscape. Thank you.

Pronoun-Really??? Native trees and plants create an atmosphere and ambiance that enhances the quality of life for everyone. Throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, this is the issue, quality of life. English Ivy is controlled through a labor intensive process performed by volunteers for our home owners association. Without this effort there would be an overwhelming number of dead trees in our community. Restricting, eliminating, and/or controlling invasive plant species is progress for Virginia.

I am pleased to learn of a bill that may restrict the sale of English ivy. I have spent many hours in my neighborhood controlling invasive plants, including English ivy. In other places nearby, I am appalled at the sight of English ivy growing up trees because I expect the ivy will kill the trees. Therefore I am happy at a measure to help stop the spread of English ivy.

Hello, My name is Peter Jones. I am an elementary school teacher in the City of Alexandria and a resident of Falls Church, Fairfax County. I strongly support this bill to curb the sale of English Ivy. This non-native plant is a scourge of the local ecosystem. It does not prevent run off, it provides landing and resting pads for mosquitos and it smothers, girdles and kills trees. Mature native trees are the largest living organisms in our community providing enormous ecological benefit. Native trees act as larval hosts for hundreds of moth and butterfly species, which in turn provide food for growing birds. Mature trees capture carbon from the atmosphere, hold soil in place, lowering soil erosion from the umbrella effect of their branches and the net effect of their roots. In our urban and suburban neighborhoods, mature trees lower the heat index by providing shade and evaporative cooling through transpiration. English Ivy, moving from the ground, climbs trees and sends out horizontal branches. It grows seeds in this state which are then spread further by birds who eat the seeds and deposit them elsewhere through digestion. The continued promotion of English Ivy through sales at Garden Centers should stop and an actual monetary fine for establishments that don't comply with this sale stoppage is warranted. My wife and I volunteer in a Fairfax County Park as volunteer leaders through the Invasive Management Area (IMA) program. With the help of many volunteers last year we logged over 400 hours of invasive plant removal. We still have more English Ivy to remove from the edges of this park. This plant is a pernicious scourge and should be removed from the local ecosystem. Your efforts to remove this plant from Virginia Plant Store shelves is much appreciated. For those who are against this bill, one could ask, "Would anyone support the continued sale of large glue traps designed to catch and kill birds?" These traps do not exist. But of course no one would support this. This English Ivy , if left to run rampant will kill the food source of baby birds, native trees, effectively starving them to death, doing even more damage than a single glue trap. Let's make English Ivy unavailable, fine those who continue to sell it, protect our ecosystem from harm, and support HB1167. Respectfully submitted, Peter Jones Falls Church, VA

English ivy is growing all through my and my neighbors woods uncontrolled killing All the native trees and ground covers Neither of us planted it originally. It is sickening to watch.

Dear Delegate Krizek, As a proud appreciative citizen of the state of Virginia I have watched English Ivy move from being a landscape staple to becoming a destructive force in our forests. In a mere 10-20 years it has taken hold as an invasive of great consequence degrading the health of our wilderness and other natural areas. Because it climbs trees and easily sets seeds dispersed by weather, wildlife and unintended human means, it is spread readily; most citizens don’t control it on their property. Our neighbors have it growing up their trees which has spread to our 10 acres. We have spent much time and money in efforts to eradicate it with some success but we still find new patches and so need to be vigilant to keep it contained. I urge you to support HB1167 as a first step to control this threat and so that we can be responsible stewards of Virginia. With appreciation for your service, Elaine M. Shaw 331 Summerfields Lane Ruckersville, VA 22968

Please pass this bill. English Ivy is a devastating invasive species that is wreaking havoc on our local ecosystems. Municipalities & government agencies do NOT have the budget to combat this ever increasing invasive. The public at large is not capable of abstaining from purchasing it & numerous growers in the industry are too money driven to find sustainable (and even native) alternatives, sadly. Even with peer intervention. Our own Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association (VNLA) is too cowardly to make an attempt to support what we genuine professionals know to be true as proven by science backed evidence. Please prohibit the sale of this plant & hopefully many to follow i.e. Burning Bush, Barberry, Miscanthus, Bradford Pear, Vinca minor & major, BUDDLEIA etc. Many contiguous states have already enacted this type of legislation. Please make this happen for the sake of our public lands. We can not educate the public & industry peers quickly enough to intercept this overgrowing problem. It is costing us so much on so many levels.

Dear Delegate Krizek, I spend many hours volunteering in the City of Falls Church and Arlington parks removing invasive plants including dreaded English ivy from mature and young trees. While volunteers often do successfully keep trees cleared in a few parks, there are many more parks and public lands that remain in need of restoration. Even if English ivy is off the trees, the vine often continues to cover forest floors and must be treated with herbicide by local governments who have to ration resources. The pervasiveness of English ivy can feel overwhelming. In rare parks that do manage to remove English ivy, volunteers will be on the lookout for its return for generations to come. By prohibiting the sale of English ivy, HB1167 offers localities a needed tool to stop more of this invasive plant escaping into our local natural areas. I fully support HB1167 and hope that the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee will fully support the bill and move it forward. Regards, Amy Crumpton Falls Church, VA 22046

Working weekly with volunteers to remove English Ivy and other invasive plants from Laurel Hill Park and regularly using other parks in the county it is evidence what a huge and pervasive problem English Ivy has become. With the capability to expand into ground blankets and climb into tree canopies to kill even mature trees, there is no redeeming value to the use of this non-native plant, when other similar native and non-destruction options are available. Please support the bill to allow localities to prohibit sales, as was done for bamboo.

I volunteer to pull English ivy along the Buttermilk trail in Richmond. The ivy is destroying the trees and native plants. I have never understood how selling invasive plants is legal. Lowe’s and Home Depot’s profits are not worth the damage being done. Thank you, Peter Edmonds

It is better late than never. There was never a better time than now to ban the sale of English Ivy, Hedera helix. Please pass HB1167 out of committee and on to the House of Delegates. My career was largely spent designing and developing ecologically friendly insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides, e.g., Methoprene. John Baum, PhD - Zoecon Research and its successors - retired

Hello: I'm hoping you and the agriculture subcommittee will support HB1167 that would authorize localities to ban the sale of English Ivy. This is a noxious invasive, one that causes much damage and economic and environmental loss: English Ivy has become a major killer of trees, weighing them down and smothering them. English Ivy also spreads across the ground and smothers the native ground layer including tree seedlings, preventing woods from regenerating. It spreads readily and is difficult to control, infringing on property rights by causing damage on neighboring properties and in our natural areas. The cost of removing English Ivy is substantial and growing. For the future of our environment it's critical to begin restricting the sale of this and other invasive species. Thank you for your attention.

I strongly support this bill; please do the same.

We live just north of Leesburg and close to the Potomac River I am trying to rid my property of invasive plants and have had a job cutting down oriental bittersweet and privet. I do have some English Ivy that is growing on a large tree near Limestone Creek. I have been cutting and poisoning it for years, but it is very hard to kill. Please do everything you can to prevent more English Ivy from being planted....it is one of the plants that the Commonwealth should keep from being sold at nurseries.

I support this bill as a homeowner and resident in the state of VIrginia. My home was abandoned before I bought it in 2017 and I have spent the last seven years battling the invasive plants that took over the yard. There is English Ivy choking my trees and ailanthus growing up under the porch and house, poisoning my gardening efforts and preventing me from growing beneficial native species. Not only is this frustrating but dangerous and difficult to deal with on a teacher's salary. Please pass this bill designating invasive plants as such so hopefully we can begin to curb this problem. Thank you.

Non-native plants are taking over and killing native ones, even in rural areas like Montpelier. I spend a lot of time hand pulling these invasive plants out of our local park and out of our woods. Selling more of them defeats these efforts, which seem endless. Please support this bill.

Blue Ridge PRISM reduces the impact of invasive plants on the ecosystems of the northern Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding areas through regional and statewide advocacy, landowner support, implementing control measures, and public education. Localities should have the flexibility to ban the sale of this pretty, but destructive plant. Blue Ridge PRISM supports HB1167. Why this bill matters: -English Ivy has become a major killer of trees, weighing them down and smothering them. -English Ivy also spreads across the ground and smothers the native ground layer including tree seedlings, preventing woods from regenerating. -It spreads readily and is difficult to control, infringing on property rights by causing damage on neighboring properties and in our natural areas. -The cost of removing English Ivy is substantial and growing.

I support HB1167. English ivy is a nightmare to get out and it takes up space that would be beneficial for our native pollinators.

Invasive plants are detrimental to our ecosystem. Please support these bills to limit them. Thank you.

I strongly support passage of both HB47 and HB1167. It is time for Virginia to stop pussyfooting around the severe ecological and biodiversity issues created by the proliferation of non-native and invasive plants. As a volunteer working in invasive plant removal, I can attest to the damage being done to our natural areas and our backyards by the continued sale of plants that are well known to be troublesome invasives. In the James River Park system, English ivy is rampant, with disastrous results to the native flora, especially the stately old trees in the park. There is plenty of money to be made by garden centers in the sale of native plants; it is unconscionable that they have been permitted to continue proliferation of this problem through the near total non-regulation of these destructive plants. A ban on English ivy is absolutely necessary, and a warning to consumers that other plants are deleterious to our ecosystem is a good first step, though a total ban on invasives is what is really needed.

Please ban the sale of English Ivy in Virginia to protect our native ecosystem.

I ask that you give your strong support to HB1167. I am a 33-year Navy veteran and spend all of my time since I retired from active duty in 2016 volunteering for various conservation organizations dedicated to providing strong stewardship of Virginia's natural resources. I am a resident of Fairfax County. I have owned a home in Annandale, Fairfax County since 1999. I have observed over the past 22 years, a significant killing off of trees along the Accotink Creek Stream Valley watershed, VDOT right of ways, and properties in my own neighborhood because they have been smothered by climbing English Ivy that escaped from cultivation. It is critical to do more to preserve and increase Virginia’s tree canopy. English Ivy has significantly degraded our tree canopy and without further control measures, will continue to create both cost and health risks to our communities. Trees contribute significantly to water quality and public health. The tree canopy provides essential shade and stabilizes air temperatures by retaining and releasing water to create a net cooling effect. Trees reduce air pollution by absorbing air pollutants that contribute to climate change and respiratory illness. - Prevention of the continued proliferation of English Ivy and other invasive plants through prohibiting sale is the most effective and low-cost solution for managing them. Once an invasive species is established, management is costly and can harm valuable infrastructure and the natural biodiversity needed for healthy ecosystems. - Birds readily disperse seeds of this toxic plant. Once established it spreads on private property by a person who buys it, it spreads to other properties, including our urban forests, and then climbs trees up to the canopy where it flowers and fruits freely. - English Ivy has become a major killer of trees, weighing them down and smothering them. - Trees heavily draped with vines are more susceptible to blowing over during storms, making them hazardous near homes, roads, and public-use areas in parks. - English ivy reduces native plant diversity and associated fauna, threatens endangered species, and alters nutrient dynamics of forest soils. - By displacing native plants, this European introduction threatens the local ecosystem. - Respecting no property lines, it spreads readily and is difficult and costly to control, infringing on property rights by causing damage to neighboring properties and in our natural areas. - The cost of removing English Ivy by public and private landowners is high and growing. - Public interest in stopping the spread of English Ivy is large and growing. This bill is critical to mitigate the continued proliferation of this noxious introduced ornamental that has no biological controls, is resistant to chemical control, and is exceptionally costly to our government, our state agencies and our citizens to remove it and keep it from killing our urban forests and neighborhood trees. Rear Admiral Elizabeth Train, USN(Ret)

Re: HB 1167 English ivy is an invasive plant that readily spreads beyond the sites where people initially plant it. The beauty of Virginia’s natural areas, parks and roadsides is diminished by the ugly monoculture of this one plant covering everything in its path. But more importantly, the trees, shrubs and smaller plants that support the food web are being smothered, weakened and often killed by this invasive plant. Please vote to pass HB 1167

I support this bill to ban the sale of English ivy. It's a non-native and badly invasive plant, it crowds out native herbaceous plants and chokes trees to death, and it has no respect for property lines: ivy planted by my neighbor will inevitably end up in my yard, too. I spent several days in the bitter cold last winter leading a team of volunteers in removing English ivy in order to preserve trees in a local park. If the parents of that ivy hadn't been sold to landowners all over the neighborhood, those trees would have faced no threat, and we all could have stayed cozy indoors. There is no reason anyone would need to plant English ivy rather than one of the many native or non-invasive groundcover species on the market. By banning the sale of English ivy today, you'll protect local ecosystems throughout the state and spare our descendants the work of removing it from them.

Please support bill HB47, which seeks to educate the plant buying public of the invasive nature of some plants being offered for sale in local nurseries. Our woods are being choked and destroyed with invasive plants and vines, which is a depressing sight. If more people understood the ramifications of the plants they buy, then maybe those invasive plants wouldn't be in the environment in the first place. I am trying to do my part by helping clear invasive plants from my local park. As well, I hope you will support bill HB1167 prohibiting the sale of English Ivy. Thank you for your support.

Banning the sale of English Ivy would be a huge help to the environment. My town has major infestations of this junk. In my neighborhood it creates a mat on the ground which harbors Asian tiger mosquitoes making it very unpleasant and practically unbearable in the Summer. It also climbs up and kills so many trees because people don't know it's invasive so they leave it to grow & spread. The public school at the end of my street is completely infested with ivy. The schools are teaching kids about native vs invasive plants while the grounds of our middle school & public parks are overrun by invasives, including English Ivy. I'm happy to provide photographs of some of the terrible conditions in my town due to several invasives including English Ivy. It's everywhere & virtually useless to wildlife. In a time where resources have only become more and more scarce due to constant development & lack of education about the natural World passing this legislation is such a simple way to make a positive impact.

I support bill HB1167 to prohibit the sale of invasive English Ivy. I am also in favor of penalties for people who let it go into public property and into neighbors yards.

Hi. I'm writing to request that you support HB1167, which will prevent the sale of additional english ivy in our Commonwealth. We know all too well how destructive and invasive this plant is. I have spent many hours removing ivy from trees and the ground, including an American Elm tree on the William and Mary campus. It spreads over time, overwhelming the native plants that support our ecosystems, wildlife habitat, waterways, and natural areas. When it overcomes a tree, it can increase the weight and wind resistance of the tree and its limbs, making it more likely to fall. As english ivy matures, it generates seeds that birds eat and "plant" across large areas, increasing the areas overtaken by the ivy. And because they are so aggressive, they cost us huge amounts of time and other resources to remove. I would appreciate the progress of HB1167 to become law. Thank you. k Kathi Mestayer 105 Gilley Drive Williamsburg, Va 23188 kwren@widomaker.com 757-784-7395 (cell/text) "Plant in haste, repent at leisure." - Kathi Mestayer (re: nonnative invasive garden plants)

I enthusiastically support passage of both HB47 and HB1167. I am one of the volunteers referenced in others' comments who works several times a month in our local parks to stem the spread of English Ivy and other invasive flora, under the leadership of various local Invasive Management Area site leaders. It is onerous work but, in my view, essential work, to help restore, if possible, the regionally indigenous populations of flora and fauna. Invasive species are, in essence, a form of pollution to our local natural habitats and harm our local ecosystems by establishing ecologically barren monocultures and supplanting ecologically integrated and diverse habitats. Curtailing further introduction of such invasive species either through outright bans or by imposing mitigation surcharges would be a significant restoration step in our state.

I wholly support HB 1167. One only needs to see the damage done to canopy trees in Virginia woodlands to know that this plant should be banned. Countless hours are spent by people pulling English ivy off of trees and digging it up by the roots to prevent trees from being blanketed by masses of it, which retain water around the trunks to rot the trees and harbor insects and diseases that can kill them. Well-educated nurseries with a conscience could be a big help in stemming this tide of destruction but for the others, some form of penalty will be needed to get their attention.

I see a lot of ivy choking out native trees in nearby parks and forests. I think landscapers are using it all over the place and I don’t understand why a plant that’s so harmful is allowed to be widespread. I think it’s a great idea to get this plant out of our community so that we can work to combat the damage it’s dome

Please pass HG 1167 to reduce the environmental damage done by English Ivy--just one of numerous invasive plant species that are doing serious environmental damage in Virginia. Invasive plants crowd out and eventually kill many native plants which have evolved over time to support native wildlife. I know I have been trying to remove English Ivy from my property for decades. Banning the sale of this plant would be only a modest first step to protecting our Virginia ecosystem. Thank you.

As a resident of the City of Alexandria and as an employee of a nearby local Virginia government working outside daily, I see the effects that invasive plants have on our local ecosystems. I constantly see English ivy engulfing entire trees to the ground cover of forests covered with English ivy- choking out any natives. The community I live in uses English ivy for landscaping. Landscaping companies are contributing to the spread of invasives and prey on the general public’s lack of knowledge of invasive plants. The key to invasive plant control is not total eradication but containment and educating the public. This bill is a step in the right direction and is the least we can do for the flora and fauna of Virginia!!! We must hold each other accountable!!

I'm a young homeowner in the Richmond area, and I would love it if invasive species, especially English ivy, were taken more seriously on a legal level. Almost every homeowner in my neighborhood is battling or giving up on their battle to get this invasive ivy out of their yards after former owners planted it willingly. It has also spread to local wild walking paths, and is an overall a menace. If only one neighbor in a neighborhood allows it to grow freely, it can encroach many feet per year across yard borders, frustrating homeowners, the eco system, and lowering the overall value of an otherwise managed yard. Please make it more difficult to plant invasives, in measure with the difficulty down the line to remove them.

Please ban HB1167. English Ivy is beautiful, but unfortunately climbs up trees and chokes and weighs them down to death. I have spent many volunteer hours removing these vines, but it makes no sense to do so if we are going to keep selling them. There are other alternatives.

I support HB1167 because while this bill makes only a small step the infestation of English ivy into our woodlands has resulted in the loss of many trees and general biodiversity with the plant being a tedious chore to remove due to its regenerative abilities to spread where it forms a thick carpet stopping or hindering the growth of other plants. If we are to get a handle on this invasive plant we need to cut it off at the source.

Dear Representatives: I'm writing to urge you to support HB 47 and HB 1167. HB 47 is extremely gentle compared to what is actually needed (a ban on selling invasive species at all). However, the bill offers a place to start by requiring signage to warn would-be purchasers of invasive plants. HB 1167 bans the sale of English ivy and is a much-needed step in getting a grip on the invasive species that are taking over our landscape. As a Virginia resident who has spent hours in the trenches fighting invasive species, I can assure you that these things are formidable. Once you learn to recognize them, you can see that they're everywhere. They are a grave threat to our ecosystems and our agricultural systems. Please do the common sense thing and support these bills and support other invasive species bans as they arise. Thank you. Margaret Moore Charlottesville, VA

I strongly support HB1167. As a homeowner and volunteer with the Invasive Management Area (IMA) program, I have seen firsthand how English Ivy severely damages native trees, weighing down branches and eventually killing the entire tree. Eradicating this invasive vine is difficult, and I have spent many hours digging and pulling from both my yard and my neighbor's yard with their permission. There are many native groundcover alternatives, that are beneficial for local biodiversity and do not threaten tree canopy cover. Please support HB1167.

Please enact HB1167 and HB47.I have been a site leader for the Invasive Management Area program, and have spent almost every weekend for the past 14 years pulling invasive plants. I have seen trees covered in Ivy weaken after a snowstorm and fall down. Invasive species are costing the county A LOT of money in terms of removal and loss of biodiversity, which affects the health of the ecosystem. I have seen a return of monarchs and other butterflies, and varying species of birds and insects after the removal of most invasive plants and the introduction of native plants. My boyfriend's yard was almost completely covered in English Ivy. It took a few years, but I removed it all, only to have it return because the neighbors did not remove theirs. I asked the local garden shop to stop selling Ivy, but they claimed people still asked for it. This is probably true, which means even though Native plant societies have done a ton of education, a lot more needs to happen. Until then we need the county's help in banning the sale of English Ivy. HB47 will help our efforts in educating the public, as many people are unaware of which species in invasive.

I urge support for HB1167. English ivy may look pretty in a landscape, but there are native plants that can provide that visual effect without the devastating impact on local trees. I see English ivy overwhelming and killing trees all over my neighborhood, the city of Charlottesville, and Albemarle County. It's time to take action to prevent further spread as our properties and forests battle this and other invasives.

I write to urge support for HB1167 to prohibit the sale of English Ivy. I live on property that has become totally overwhelmed by English Ivy. I have no idea how it got started, probably years before we bought the property. It dominates almost all of the adjacent wooded area and has completely covered many of the trees on the property. It has already eliminated a nice stand of a native spring ephemeral known as bloodroot. Once established it is nearly impossible to stop. Please, please help to prevent the further spread of this highly invasive non-native plant by supporting the banning of further sales. Respectfully, Jeffrey Wainscott

This bill is a necessary measure to help protect our critically important forests and natural areas. Sadly many are already overrun with invasives such as English Ivy. Many citizens volunteer their time to remove ivy, but it is still being sold. We need to recognize that allowing ivy to be sold undermines all of the commonwealth’s environmental and climate resiliency goals. Thank you for sponsoring this bill. I truly hope it becomes law.

I urge you to enact HB1167 and HB47. English Ivy and other invasive species are a pernicious and growing (literally!) problem. Even when planted innocently by a homeowner looking to beautify their property, these plants end up jumping borders and destroying native plants, and the ecosystems they support, far beyond their site of origin. Virginia has so many beautiful and treasured native flora and fauna, many of which are truly struggling against this onslaught. Please give them a chance to flourish by restricting the distribution of invasive non-native species as much as possible. Thank you.

Please support HB 1167 authorizing any locality to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the sale of English Ivy. This invasive vine is causing harm to our beautiful Commonwealth. (Visit the George Washington Parkway in northern Virginia for a glimpse of Virginia’s future.) English Ivy negatively affects Virginia wildlife and residents (for example, hikers, campers, hunters, fishermen, gardeners, and children who like playing outdoors). Also, local governments and private landowners spend a lot of time and money to control English Ivy, so preventing its sale makes sense from an economic perspective. Localities should be given the choice to prevent its sale since the economic burden of controlling English Ivy typically falls to them. Respectfully submitted.

I urge the support and passage of HB1167 which prohibits the sale of English ivy. That plant spreads beyond the properties where it is planted, climbs homes damaging mortar and siding, climbs trees to the point of killing them, climbs power poles increasing the risk of outages and crowds out native plant species that are beneficial for pollinators.

English Ivy chokes trees and eventually kills them. That's all that has to be said. We should be doing all that we can to help the natural world during this time of global warming and biodiversity loss. We allow developers to cut down trees at their discretion. Let's not also allow English Ivy, a non native invasive vine, to further damage our trees, which birds and insects and other wildlife need, and also us humans need, to survive.

I am a site leader at Royal Lake and can’t keep up with pulling English ivy from trees and parkland. I’ve seen English ivy kill trees and take away land from our native plants. People who move into houses complain to me all the time about trying to get rid of it on their land. Please stop stores from selling it. It is one of the most invasive plants we have.

Please ban the sale of English Ivy in Virginia to protect our native ecosystem.

Say ‘no’ to invasive, destructive English Ivy. There’s no need to have more of these plants.

English Ivy is an invasive species that causes economic and ecological harm. There are much better, beneficial native alternatives. With English Ivy on the shelves, people unknowingly purchase this damaging plant. Please ban the sale of English Ivy in Virginia.

I strongly support HB1167. Invasive plants are one of the leading causes of habitat destruction, coming in second to that done directly to man. There is also recent work showing how invasive plants have a significant impact on climate change. This is easily seen with English Ivy and other vines that can kill canopy trees. Millions of trees are at risk in Northern Virginia and the solution will require thousands of volunteers and several millions of dollars to fix. Though planting trees has benefit, it can take 20+ years for these trees to start absorbing enough carbon, water and to be able to produce enough shade to have a benefit. Saving our mature trees is key, and we can do that, but we also need to stop allowing home owners to purchase these plants.

Support HB 1167 and HB309 --I am a long time resident of Annandale in Fairfax County and have observed significant degradation of the Accotink Creek watershed, tree canopy, our neighborhoods and VDOT right of ways due to smothering by English Ivy vines. We continue to lose trees to this noxious invasive vine. If it is sold in the commercial nurseries, well meaning homeowners have no way of knowing how damaging and costly this invasive plant is. HB309 - Virginia continues to lose trees at a rapid rate, which limits the state’s ability to improve water quality and public health. The loss of trees poses a significant threat to the well-being of all Virginians, especially those in our most vulnerable communities. It takes decades for newly planted trees to provide the carbon reduction, water and air quality, and wildlife benefits of mature trees, time is of the essence. Why support HB1167-Prevention through prohibiting sale is the most effective and low-cost solution for managing invasive species. Once an invasive species is established, management is costly and can harm valuable infrastructure and the natural biodiversity needed for healthy ecosystems. • Seeds of this toxic plant are readily dispersed by birds. Once established it spreads on the forest floor and then climbs trees up to the canopy where it flowers and fruits freely. • English Ivy has become a major killer of trees, weighing them down and smothering them. • Trees heavily draped with vines are more susceptible to blowing over during storms, making them hazardous near homes, roads, and public-use areas in parks. • English ivy reduces native plant diversity and associated fauna, threatens endangered species, and alters nutrient dynamics of forest soils. • By displacing native plants, this European introduction threatens the local ecosystem. • Respecting no property lines, it spreads readily and is difficult and costly to control, infringing on property rights by causing damage on neighboring properties and in our natural areas. • The cost of removing English Ivy by public and private landowners is high and growing. • Public interest in stopping the spread of English Ivy is large and growing. Why support HB309--Virginia needs to assess where and why canopy is lost and then address the findings through sound conservation planning. This Forest Conservation Plan will identify threats to tree canopy and forest conservation, identify priory forests for conservation, especially in areas adjacent to streams, steep or erodible slopes, large areas of forest and wildlife corridors. Trees play a vital role in improving water quality by slowing down and filtering rainfall, preventing soil erosion, and reducing polluted runoff. Tree root systems reduce the amount of sediment and runoff that pollutes our waterways by holding soil in place and taking up pollutants. Trees also act as natural barriers to flooding by absorbing and slowing the flow of rainwater. Trees contribute significantly to water quality and public health. Tree canopy provides essential shade and stabilizes air temperatures by retaining and releasing water to create a net cooling effect. Trees reduce air pollution by absorbing air pollutants that contribute to climate change and respiratory illness. Elizabeth Train Rear Admiral, USN, (Ret)

Support HB 1167 --I am a long time resident of Annandale in Fairfax County and have observed significant degradation of the Accotink Creek watershed, tree canopy, our neighborhoods and VDOT right of ways due to smothering by English Ivy vines. We continue to lose trees to this noxious invasive vine. If it is sold in the commercial nurseries, well meaning homeowners have no way of knowing how damaging and costly this invasive plant is. -Prevention through prohibiting sale is the most effective and low-cost solution for managing invasive species. Once an invasive species is established, management is costly and can harm valuable infrastructure and the natural biodiversity needed for healthy ecosystems. • Seeds of this toxic plant are readily dispersed by birds. Once established it spreads on the forest floor and then climbs trees up to the canopy where it flowers and fruits freely. • English Ivy has become a major killer of trees, weighing them down and smothering them. • Trees heavily draped with vines are more susceptible to blowing over during storms, making them hazardous near homes, roads, and public-use areas in parks. • English ivy reduces native plant diversity and associated fauna, threatens endangered species, and alters nutrient dynamics of forest soils. • By displacing native plants, this European introduction threatens the local ecosystem. • Respecting no property lines, it spreads readily and is difficult and costly to control, infringing on property rights by causing damage on neighboring properties and in our natural areas. • The cost of removing English Ivy by public and private landowners is high and growing. • Public interest in stopping the spread of English Ivy is large and growing. Elizabeth Train Rear Admiral, USN, (Ret)

I strongly support banning the sale of non native invasive plants! They are detrimental to Virginia's wildlife.

I would like to support the prohibition of sale of English Ivy as it is an invasive species and smothers trees and provides no ecological value. It outcompetes indigenous vegetation.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. English Ivy is a major killer of trees as well as of native plants at the ground level, and yet it is still for sale. It has no respect for property lines. Removal is difficult and costs public and private landowners significant amounts of time and money. Non-invasive groundcovers are available as alternatives. Please help us fight this invasive by making it illegal to sell.

HB 1167 English ivy; local prohibition on sale - This bill should become law. English ivy is a plague in so many of Virginia's natural areas, crowding out native species, providing little food value to wildlife, and causing the demise of trees. Localities and volunteers commit untold resources to control of English ivy, while retailers continue to promote its sale.

At age 79 I am working hard to remove English Ivy that smothers the trees in my neighborhood. It was sold for its beauty without knowledge that it was invasive and harmful. Help our nurseries and big box stores be good environmental citizens by preventing the sale of this and other invasive plants. It's the very least we can do to reduce the burden that is falling so heavily on the shoulders of the generations that will follow up.

Please prohibit the sale of English ivy. It is invasive, hard to remove and/or contain, and spreads easily. And worst of all it can kill mature trees and smother other plants. It can also damage buildings. There are plenty of other plants available that will not be destructive, many of which can benefit the environment by providing food for birds and habitat for insects. English ivy does not do this although it is known to harbor rats and mosquitos. If left to its own devises English ivy will spread. You can walk through any long established neighborhood or local park and see this happening. Birds spread the seeds by eating the berries and then flying to another area and pooping them out, where they begin to grow new plants. This is causing ivy to spread into our parks and get even more out of control. The best way to remove ivy is by hand - pull the roots from the ground, cut them off trees, bag and dispose of every stem and leaf. Ivy will root from a single leaf left in contact will the ground. This makes it expensive to remove and the need for that is shifting from the homeowners who plant English ivy as ornamental to the state and local governments who maintsin public lands. Please help us stop incurring these costs. Please help us stop destroying our parks. Please help us stop the sale of a plant whose only value is ornamental, and take it a step further to encourage the sale and planting of plants that benefit our environment and the local food web. To further expand on the issue. English ivy will strangle a mature tree (native vines do not, but they are out competed by the ivy). We are already losing tree canopy to so many other causes - development, over population of deer, and blights and disease that wipe out entire species such as elms, dogwoods, and beeches. These trees are either not being replaced or are lacking the diversity they once had. This has so many impacts - lack of food for birds, lack of habitat for insects which pollinate crops and flowers, and lack of filtration for ground/storm water. Each of these leads to their own set of problems. The lack of water filtration leads to pollution of streams and rivers, and flooding. The flooding causes damage to buildings, roads, and other infrastructure that is expensive to maintain and repair. Little by little this is becoming a huge expense to local governments. Please help stop the flow now. Obivously English ivy is not solely responsible for all these problems, but it does contribute. And supporting this bill can help us take the first step to taking action and creating the change we need.

I support HB1167. I serve as a Fairfax County Park Authority Invasive Management Areas site leader since 2015, The dangerous impact of invasive plants on our ecosystem, soil, and water quality greatly concerns me. Furthermore we have hundreds of volunteers who spend thousands of hours a year manually removing invasive plants such as English ivy from parkland. We also educate our volunteers about the English ivy choking & killing trees on their own private property. These volunteers always ask why Virginia allows the sale of invasive plants if they do such harm.

I firmly support HB47 and HB1167. As an earth scientist and an Invasive Management Areas site leader, I am very concerned aout the impact if invasive plants on our ecology, soil health, and water quality. We have incredibly dedicated volunteers working to manage invasive plants, but the lack of action to deter people from planting them significantly undermines those volunteer efforts.