What plant is as strong as steel and holds the Guinness world record for fastest growing plant? Bamboo.

   A member of the grass family, Bamboo has a tensile strength equivalent to steel’s and some species can grow at a rate of 35 inches per day and reach heights of 100 meters.

   Native to five out of the seven continents, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, Bamboo inhabits a variety of climates ranging from the subtropics to wintery mountaintops.

   Popular with people for its rapid growth, resiliency to extreme weather, and aesthetics Bamboo is often used in yards as a natural fencing. However, without taking the necessary steps to contain bamboo it can take over in short order, spreading across property lines, under roadways, and into the wild.

   Consequently, Bucks County wildlife has become infested with miniature bamboo forests, which originated from residents’ yards and spread under roadways like 313 and 202 in Doylestown, Buckingham and New Hope in recent years.

   Municipalities with the help of environmental organizations, like the Audubon Society, are fighting back against this fiercely invasive species that threatens to send native bird and plant life into a “death-spiral.”

   Native birds and native plant species have a special relationship, they’ve co-evolved explained Diane Smith, director of Education for the Bucks County Audubon Society.

   As plants and birds evolved together in their habitats, they became linked, each a vital part of a delicate system of co-dependence. Native birds would feed on the surrounding plant life for nutrients, and in return they acted as seeders, spreading the plants’ seeds to help ensure the species’ survival.

   Now birds rely on the unique nutritional load that can only be found in plant life native to their habitats.

   “Birds are seed dispersers, as birds decline seed distribution declines too, it goes in both directions and can go into a death-spiral till we’re stuck with Japanese grass and bamboo.”

    Bamboo and other invasive species threaten to upset this balance if they are allowed to grow in the wild of Bucks County, unfettered, as invasive species do not provide adequate nutrients for native birds, explained Smith.

   “Non-native species, like bamboo, grow so aggressively that they wipe out plants birds and insects have come to rely on,” said Smith.

   This weakens the birds’ immune systems making them more susceptible to diseases, like West Nile virus.

   “If we start to lose insect eating birds … we’ll start to see a rise in insect spread diseases,” added Smith.

   Dickcissel, peregrine falcon, least bittern, American bittern, king rail are just some of the birds known to breed in Bucks County and are on the endangered species list.

   “It is estimated that half of all the birds threatened with imminent extinction are threatened either wholly or partly by introduced plant and animal species,” according to the University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.

   The spread of bamboo across Bucks County heralds not only the destruction of food sources for birds but also increases the risk of predation.

   Bamboo and other invasive species like multiple flora rose, crowd out plants birds have co-evolved with, taking away their nesting habitats in Bucks County.

   “A couple of different studies have shown that when birds nest in non-native plant species they become more susceptible to predators,” said Smith.

   The population decline of the wood thrush in recent years due to increased predation is being attributed to the rise of invasive plant life and the subsequent loss of native shrubs the wood thrush use for nesting explained Smith.

   While humans are the root of the destruction caused by the spread of non-native species, the Audubon Society is working with local governments to create Bird Towns, towns with bird-friendly backyards.

   Currently there are 24 Bird Towns in Pennsylvania and eight of those towns are in Bucks County, including Newtown, Doylestown Township, Doylestown and New Britain boroughs.

   To be a Bird Town 10 percent of resident homeowners must have certified bird-friendly backyards.

   Bird-friendly backyards consist of a food source (native plants), a water source (bird fountains), and cover for birds to raise their young.

   Bird Towns are also required to host speakers on birds and bird habitats, as well as, having a presence at Bird Town meetings.

   “If enough homeowners do bird-friendly backyards they can reintegrate the habitats lost to suburban development,” said Smith.

   Smith encourages homeowners to leave parts of their backyards “a little messy,” because insects use fallen leaves for cover during the winter and in the spring birds eat them.

   “A manicured lawn is a desert habitat,” said Smith.

   Some municipalities have gone beyond the scope of Bird Town by instituting native planting ordinances, citing the changes will ultimately improve the environment of their community and improve the welfare of the public.

   Lower Makefield, another Bird Town, amended their subdivisions and land development codes to require the submission of a landscape plan, prohibit the planting of invasive species and instituted standards to be followed for tree planting.

   Doylestown Township prohibits residents from growing 36 different plant and weed species, including bamboo, declaring them “to be a
 nuisance and detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the residents of Doylestown
Township.

   “It’s interesting to see local municipalities draft native planting ordinances, and their development is a great thing,” said Smith.

   “It’s hard to tell a home owner what they can do on their property, but we can be encouraging,” said Smith.

   In recent months Doylestown Borough with the help of its Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), has drafted and instituted changes to their grass and weed ordinance to regulate how and where residents can plant bamboo.

   For several years bamboo has been a serious neighbor nuisance issue, as well as, environmental issue for the borough said Kelli J. Scarlett, director of building and zoning, fire marshal and human relations officer.

   “With the changes to the ordinance it will allow the borough to take the first steps and put people on notice unless they follow the ordinance,” said Scarlett.

   “This allows people to keep bamboo, while also keeping neighbors happy, and it would be our hope that people will follow these changes without incident,” said Scarlett.

   Joseph Shandlay, chairman of the EAC, authored the changes to the borough’s weed and grass ordinance.

   Under the new regulations residents who plant bamboo and residents with pre-existing bamboo will be required to keep it in a planter above ground or contain it within a planter barrier made of 40 millimeter high density polypropylene or polyethylene, joined together by stainless clamps that must be at least 30 inches below ground and 3 inches above ground to prevent the spread of bamboo rhizomes.

   The bamboo rhizome is the thick, tough underground segment of the bamboo plant that connects the roots to the shoots, enabling the plant to span large distances, more than 100 feet, underground.

   Now bamboo can no longer grow within 40 feet of pavement or traveled portion of any public roadway, and any property owner with bamboo must remove it in the borough. Each owner of bamboo is also responsible for ensuring that his or her bamboo does not encroach onto neighboring property under the new ordinance.

   All removed bamboo must be incinerated, to ensure complete destruction of the bamboo rhizomes. Composting or trash disposal of the rhizomes is not allowed; because bamboo rhizomes reintroduced into soil could produce new shoots and a root system, further spreading the bamboo.

   Any property or bamboo owner who fails to abide by the ordinance will be given notice by the borough and a grace period of five calendar days to comply with the ordinance. If they fail to comply the borough will remove the bamboo and the owner will be subjected to a fine and any expenses incurred by the borough.

    “We don’t have a problem with people planting bamboo, so long as it’s controlled. Bamboo becomes a real issue when it crosses property lines and it’s only because people are not taking care of their bamboo that the borough has to step in,” said Michael Moscherosch a member of the Doylestown Borough’s EAC.