Representatives from China’s Fujian Academy of Science-Forestry-Institute of Ecology and Environment are visiting Oregon this week to confer with an Oregon Sea Grant specialist on methods of fighting the spread of an invasive grass species.
The grass, Spartina alterniflora (also known as cordgrass), is native to the east coast of North America. The grass was introduced into a Fujian estuary in 1982 and has spread rapidly. Spartina invasions have also occurred on the west coast of the U.S. In China, the fast-spreading grass threatens the survival of native mangrove forests.
In 2007 Oregon Sea Grant Extension agent Sam Chan and a team of researchers, educators, and resource managers from Oregon, Washington and Florida visited Fujian, a province about half the size of Oregon, on the southeastern coast of China. This week, the Chinese team is visiting OSU.
