RICHLAND TWP, CAMBRIA COUNTY - Experts from all parts of the northeast are in Cambria County this week, looking to share ideas for stopping the spread of invasive plants. 

The damage such plants can be seen in Johnstown.  Japanese Knotweed is growing unchecked along the Conemaugh River.  It has broad leaves and stems that closely resemble bamboo. 

Japanese knotweed is just one of the plants that experts from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware are addressing.  They're taking part in the Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Conference at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.   

Many of the invasive plants can be removed through traditional gardening techniques.  They can be pulled, weed-wacked, and treated with herbicides.  Experts hope the public will be able to recognize problem plants, and the threats they pose to local ecosystems.

"When you reduce that diversity, you're affected the food web, you're affecting the ecosystem services that are provided to us by plants, because they are the primary producers.  We really want to protect our native diversity," Kristin Sewak of Natural Biodiversity said.

Additional information on Japanese Knotweed and other invasive plants can be found online at:

http://www.naturalbiodiversity.org/

and

http://www.ma-eppc.org/