Tricia Howe, a volunteer working at the Aug. 19, 2023, “weed smackdown” at Anchorage’s Tikishla Park, pulls another felled European bird cherry tree to put on a pile near the park’s softball field. European bird cherry trees, also known as chokecherry trees, are invasive plants that were once popular ornamentals in Anchorage and elsewhere but have since spread into wooded areas. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
State officials have barred the import, transport and sale of two fast-growing invasive species that were once popular garden ornamentals but have now wreaked havoc on natural vegetation.
The Alaska Division of Agriculture on Friday said it issued a quarantine for the two species: Prunus padus, commonly known as the European bird cherry tree or mayday tree, and Prunus virginiana, commonly known as the Canada red or chokecherry tree.
In essence, it will extend through the state a ban that was imposed in 2017 in Anchorage. The trees have become a particular nuisance in Alaska’s largest city, where they have proliferated in greenbelts and other spaces and crowded out native species like birch and spruce.
State and local officials have been trying to remove these non-native trees, and the new policy should help that effort, said Division of Agriculture Director Bryan Scoresby…