19-year-old marshals mighty mites to save wetlands

By Paula Evans Neuman, Heritage Newspapers
Scott Labadie is waging war on purple loosestrife and heÕs marshaled an army to help him. His forces are legion, but his warriors are Lilliputian, and all they do is eat. On top of all that, theyÕre picky little jaspers, too. LabadieÕs soldiers Ñ two types of Galerucella beetles and Hylobius transversovittatus beetles Ñ are aiding humans in the war to save wetlands. HeÕs only 19, but the Southgate man already is an expert on loosestrife and on the beetles, which he raises, lectures on and encourages others to raise. Labadie has been studying the plant and its puny predators since the fifth grade, doing research in university libraries and field work in Downriver wetlands. The persnickety beetles he raises eat one thing and one thing only Ñ purple loosestrife, a rampant grower that chokes out native plants and, over time, lays waste to wetlands. In the summer, loosestrife is 4- to 7-foot spikes covered with showy purple flowers. In fall, itÕs a dried stalk covered in seeds. Loosestrife came to American shores from Europe and Asia in the late 1870s, probably Ñ like zebra mussels Ñ in a shipÕs ballast water. Once it put down roots, loosestrife spread across the United States like fleas in a flophouse. For a time, it was sold and raised as an ornamental plant, until people realized it was destroying wetlands. Pulling it out doesnÕt work, Labadie said. "The seeds just spread if you do that," he explained. The liberated seeds sail down streams and rivers to colonize new wetland areas. ItÕs nearly impossible to get all of the plantÕs tenacious roots by pulling it, Labadie said. "There are three ways to get rid of it," Labadie said. "You can flood it and you can burn it, but that doesnÕt work in populated areas. The best way is with the beetles." HeÕs devised an efficient way to raise the beetles, so they can be released in the spring in areas rife with loosestrife. Labadie pots a loosestrife plant, surrounds it with a tomato cage, introduces some "parent" beetles and covers the "nursery" with a fine netting. "Eventually, theyÕll mate and put their eggs inside the plant," Labadie said. "They look like little orange specks." The bugs eat voraciously, ultimately destroying the host plantÕs ability to produce seeds. A wetland patch on Detroit Cold Rolling Co. property in Gibraltar where Labadie has been testing his tiny soldiers for about three years is nearly free of loosestrife now Ñ testimony to the beetlesÕ effectiveness. "This year, IÕll be able to get beetles from this spot," Labadie said. Gathering the wee warriors isnÕt difficult, he said, if you do it early on a chilly morning when the bugs are sluggish. "You pull the plant over into a jar," Labadie said. "You just touch the back of their shells and they fall right off the plant." LabadieÕs interest in the environment was fueled in childhood by books about the natural world provided by his parents, Tom and Kimber Labadie. When he was in fifth grade, he and his mother joined a Stream Team cleanup of the Rouge River. Labadie was hooked. "I went there and everyone was helping everyone else," he said. "IÕve been active with the Stream Team ever since." He attended a sixth-grade science camp at Allen Elementary School, and was even more inspired. "I was like, ÔWow! I really want to do something with the environment,Õ" Labadie said. In ninth grade at Southgate Anderson High School, he furthered his interest in science classes taught by Stream Team guru John Nasarzewski. Labadie now attends Wayne County Community College DistrictÕs Downriver campus, and hopes to go to KingÕs College in London, England, someday. He works full-time at Marshall FieldÕs, and still finds time to lecture in classrooms and to groups about loosestrife and the beetles that eat it. He has presented lessons on his battling bugs in Riverview, Southgate, Trenton, Grosse Ile and Gibraltar schools. "We want kids to be involved in raising the beetles, and we also want them to be successful," Labadie said. "IÕll be delivering beetles to about 25 people this year." But thereÕs always room for more in the war to save wetlands. To contact Labadie to speak to a class or group, e-mail him at epscottwccc@hotmail.com or call him at 1-734-285-1829.

Heritage Sunday, A Heritage Newspapers Weekly Publication
http://www.heritagesunday.com