In an unusual action, the state has ordered the developer of the Woods Edge development to remove a state-designated noxious weed from wetlands there.

In a control order, developer William Murry, of both the Murry Companies and Sherwal Inc., is instructed by the state Department of Agriculture to eradicate purple loosestrife from eight acres of wetlands at the Manor Township development.

The pretty but destructive plant, declared a noxious weed by the state in 1997, is "taking over the wetland" and is spreading into Woods Edge Park, a township park, the order states.

Karl Valley, chief of the Agriculture Department's Plant Protection Division and who wrote the loosestrife eradication order to Murry, said enforcement actions in the Pennsylvania Noxious Weed Control Law are "complaint driven."

He could recall no other eradication order issued to anyone in the state in the four years he's been in the post.

James E. Bear, who lives in Woods Edge across the street from the wetlands, said he and several other property owners have complained about the loosestrife invasion to officials with the state and Manor Township for at least two years without results.

"It kills all the other vegetation and it starts killing wildlife and aquatic life," Bear said this morning.

The wetlands choked by loosestrife were built by Murry after he was cited by federal officials in 1993 for filling in wetlands to build the development.

Murry said Wednesday he has contracted specialists to remove the loosestrife by this fall. He said eradication may involve a combination of treating the plants with a chemical herbicide and hands-on removal.

Murry said he wanted to see the loosestrife removed "because we would like to see other plants survive."

On July 31, James E. Huber, president of the Friends Against Irresponsible Development citizens' group, sent a letter to three state agencies alleging several violations in Murry's agreement to rebuild wetlands at Woods Edge.

FAID has battled Murry over nearby land he owns that is proposed for a Wal-Mart store.

In the letter, Huber accuses Murry of planting loosestrife in the wetlands as a "gambit" and failing to live up to his consent agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which required Murry to plant native wetlands vegetation.

Asked to elaborate, Huber said today that several landowners watched Murry's workers establish plants in the wetlands several years ago and the loosestrife appeared "in that period of time."

Murry says the plants he put in were approved by the Army Corps before they were planted and denies anyone planted the loosestrife in the wetlands.

"Loosestrife is all over the place. It's in any body of water," he said.

An Agriculture Department position paper on purple loosestrife states that the plant has spread naturally to less than half of all wetlands in Pennsylvania and is "rapidly spreading."

The state's noxious weed control law forbids purple loosestrife to be planted or sold in Pennsylvania.

The aquatic perennial plant, which grows to a height of up to 7 feet, was brought to the United States from Europe in the 1800s. Its showy flowers quickly found favor with gardeners. Others have planted it as a pollen source for honeybees.

However, like many other exotic plants brought here without the insects that control their populations in their native countries, loosestrife has taken over wetlands, crowding out native species.

"Growing in dense thickets, loosestrife crowds out native plants that wildlife use for food, nesting and hiding places, while having little or no value for wildlife itself," an Ag Department paper notes.

A single loosestrife plant can release up to 1 million seeds, which are then carried by birds and animals, water — even shoes — to other places.

At the Dillerville Swamp next to the Red Rose Commons shopping center in Manheim Township, state officials have released leaf-eating beetles in an attempt to control loosestrife.

Loosestrife has become a predominant plant on many Susquehanna River islands and shorelines in Lancaster County.

But Valley says there are no plans to require the utilities that own much of the banks and islands here to undertake loosestrife-eradication programs.

CONTACT US: acrable@LNPnews.com or 481-6029