Photo: English Ivy on trees, N. Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Please take this survey and share it as widely across Virginia as you possibly can.
We scored some modest environmental wins in the 2024 Virginia General Assembly, but we lost on some important initiatives. Governor Youngkin vetoed a bill allowing local governments to prohibit the sale of English Ivy after it had passed the Virginia House and Senate. Governor Youngkin also vetoed a bill passed by the House and Senate that would have allowed local governments to require plant retailers to post warning signs next to plants on Virginia’s invasive plant list.
If we are going to succeed in having legislation adopted that will help to rein in the devastating impact of invasive plants on our ecosystems, we need to do much more work to convince legislators and Governor Youngkin’s office of the importance of passing invasive plant legislation.
This survey, from Blue Ridge PRISM, is Phase One of planning for next year’s legislative session. It will allow us to demonstrate how important the issue of invasive plants is to Virginians and allow us to collect contact information from people who can help reach out to their legislators.
Here's the link to the survey: Virginia Invasive Plant Survey. Please complete it today!