Happy Poison Ivy

Have you noticed the vigorous and healthy crop of poison ivy that seems to be everywhere again this year? It’s beautiful, with glossy dark green leaves and huge clumps of berries. The ivy is looking better than most of the purchased nursery annuals and perennials that I diligently care for.

It’s all over my yard; flower beds, garden, wrapped around trees, even poking its scary little three leaved clusters into my patio.

The noxious vine has lined every walking path I’ve been on this spring and summer. I’ve seen it climb a tree and spread out so densely that it looks like a tree itself.

The walking path at Alpha Park in Bartonville has it everywhere back by the woods, if you look off the beaten trail. So does the Rock Island Trail, Forest Park, the bicycle path in East Peoria, and down by the Riverfront in Peoria. Your best defense is to be familiar with it, teach your children to recognize it, and keep away from it.

I’m lucky that I’m not very allergic to it. I get a bump or two on occasion, never a big deal. But, I still made a point to learn to identify it, and avoid it just in case.

If you think you’ve never seen poison ivy this severe before, you’re right. It’s a direct byproduct of climate change.

According to USA Today, another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy. The noxious vine grows faster and bigger as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise. Also, with the warmer air, and the longer growing season, it has a longer time to grow.

A CO2-driven vine also produces more of its rash-causing chemical, urushiol, according to experiments conducted in a forest at Duke University where scientists increased carbon-dioxide levels to those expected in 2050. In addition, poison ivy growth surged some 150 percent in the carbon dioxide-rich forest plots.

Researchers suspect that woody vines, [including poison ivy] are going to multiply rapidly with increased atmospheric levels of CO2.

They don’t have to convince me, but recent studies in temperate and tropical forests already report dramatic increases in these plants.

That’s not news around my house.

Not only are the poison ivy vines a health concern for humans, but the increased growth of woody vines could dramatically alter future forests; for instance, by choking new tree growth. Woody vines can grow over the tops of large trees and shade out juvenile trees.

So, if you think that poison ivy is more prevalent now than when you were a kid, you’re right. If you haven’t noticed, for your own sake, you’d better learn to recognize it.