>>Most people don't realize that invasives don't just infect the environment, but they're bad for the economy.

We've actually had for the first time this year one of our wineries report that the spotted lanternfly was really, really damaging their crop.

So if you are Loudoun County, Virginia, or Charlottesville, Virginia, or anywhere that has a great rural economy with wineries or things like that, that's going to negatively impact your economy as well.

And so we started this effort here in Loudoun County, but we're certainly hoping that through all the environmental organizations, they kind of come in and help us, and other counties that have the same kind of economy come in and help us as well.

>>This is an HOA that has 5,000 homes and about 15,000 people.

Ashburn Village and a lot of the HOAs in Loudoun County were built up in the late '90s and 2000s.

And the developers innocently found plants that were cheap, pretty, and grew quickly.

And unfortunately, it turns out a lot of those became invasives.

>>You have been spearheading or involved with an organization that has done a tremendous amount of work up here.

So tell me about that.

>>So an alliance of HOAs throughout Loudoun County that represents now over half the population of the county.

And why do we even get into this stuff?

Well, it's really threefold.

A lot of folks, when they hear invasive plants, they think about the environment and the impact it has.

And that's a really big deal.

And we've got invasives around this lake behind us that will crowd out all the other plants and the native flora and fauna.

So Bradford pears, there's one right here, matter of fact, they tend to fall down in storms.

>>Yes, very weak-wooded, poor crotched plants.

>>Very weak-wooded.

Barberries, they tend to attract not just ticks but ones with Lyme disease.

And even the non-native grasslands, like the ones that set the fires in Hawaii, we have one called Japanese stiltgrass that has already started a fire here a couple years ago.

So invasives, health and safety, the economy, and of course the environment are the reason we all got into this thing called LIRA, Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance.

That's why we formed.

>>So what is the goal of LIRA?

>>Yeah, so the goal of LIRA.

So we have formed a partnership with the county.

So we're really excited that the Board of Supervisors for Loudoun County are now working with us.

They've actually funded a study throughout Loudoun County to see what is the problem, how do we address it, and so forth.

And they've even funded a grant program.

So HOAs would apply for a grant with the county.

And to do so, they'll go through the Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District.

They oversee the program from the county.

And part of the application process, one of the first things they'll do is work with an organization known as Blue Ridge PRISM.

And they'll come into the community and do an assessment of what the worst offenders are and where you should focus first.

So it may be that residents see Bradford pears, and say, "Oh, we gotta get rid of all our Bradford pears."

Well that's expensive, and it may not be the best invasive to go after.

Whereas there's others like a purple loosestrife or Japanese honeysuckle or others that might be a much bigger problem.

So they'll do that assessment.

That's included in part of the application along with a quote from a landscaper who's expert in invasive plant removal.

The HOAs will go off and do the work, assuming it's approved.

And when it's done, Soil and Water will come back and determine, "Did you do what you said you were gonna do?"

And that's when the reimbursement happens.

>>So it just sounds so amazing.

So how did you start LIRA?

>>It started with basically HOA board members and general managers speaking to one another and sharing.

It started here in Ashburn Village.

We were the first board to pass the motion.

And next thing you know, half of Loudoun County was on board.

So it really was word of mouth.

It's a true grassroots initiative, unlike one I think Loudoun's had in a long time.

>>Fantastic.

So one HOA at a time just all joining in.

>>One HOA at a time.

And then along came, you know, some partners like Blue Ridge PRISM and Loudoun Wildlife and others.

The wineries have joined in, Farm Bureau.

Everyone's coming together on this issue.

>>What about the surrounding counties?

Is anybody copying this?

>>Actually, funny you should ask.

(Peggy laughing) Fairfax is now doing a very similar.

FIRA, the Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance is now alive and well in Fairfax.

I've heard it's going on down in the south in Greene County and other counties.

So it's starting to catch on elsewhere.

>>I think it's a great way to directly impact our communities and to bring on board and also to educate people about, you know, the species of that wall of green, we'll call it, and what species are in there and how it matters, what plants are there.

>>You just nailed it.

To me, that's the key, awareness.

This is all about awareness.

If I stop 20 people in the street, my guess is one might know what an invasive plant is today.

It's just not something people know about.

I liken it to the Surgeon General stamp on the cigarette packs.

Once people knew it was bad for you, they're like, "Oh, I probably shouldn't smoke this stuff."

I mean, people need to learn that the invasive plants are not good for the environment, are not good for their safety and health, or the economy.

>>So awareness is really the first step.

How do you accomplish that?

>>Certainly through the HOAs and just getting the word out.

And we have that organizational structure.

But we also do some special events.

Like in April, we tend to do what's called the Scrape for the Grape campaign.

400 volunteers go to 14 locations to scrape spotted lanternfly eggs off of trees, the tree of heaven brings them in, and also to tag the tree of heaven.

It was a great awareness campaign.

And it gets the word out that tree of heaven is a problem.

>>Yes, and that spotted lanternfly is a problem too.

>>Spotted lanternfly is a bigger problem.

And we.

actually, in that campaign removed 2 million spotted lanternflies from the Loudoun environment in that one campaign.

>>That is awesome.

>>Unfortunately, there's many million more.

>>I know.

>>But it created the awareness.

>>And it started, yes.

>>It started.

>>And once you create awareness, people start looking to their own backyard.

>>I only learned two or three years ago, okay?

And now, I go into the woods in my backyard and I remove nandina.

I remove multiflora rose.

There's so many.

I mean, I think I took out 70.

Now that I'm armed and dangerous on what the bad guys are, I wanna do it myself.

And that's the hope is that when we create the awareness, individuals will wanna do it on their properties.

>>It's really exciting to hear about this momentum going in Loudoun County and how it's spilling over into the other communities.

But here at Ashburn Village, you've got some good news to share as well.

>>We have 500 acres of common ground in Ashburn Village.

And on that, we've now gone 100% native.

So when we plant on common ground, it's only gonna be natives going forward.

We stopped planting invasives.

And we've even gone back to some areas where we recently did a removal of invasives.

And now we've put in all kinds of natives.

And it looks beautiful.

We only do it on common grounds because we're not gonna go into people's backyards and tell them what they can plant and change it.

>>No, you can't do that.

>>But at least we can show them, hopefully by example, that this is what we're doing.

And it's making for a better environment, making your area safer, and it's actually good for the economy.

>>Such good, positive things to celebrate.

And raising awareness is, to me, one of the most primary goals that you have so that people can understand and start following suit in their backyard, wherever it is.

So thank you, Mike.

Thank you for sharing.

>>In the end, we wanna see two things happen.

One, we wanna make sure that the General Assembly is aware of this and that they take up an effort to discourage developers from planting invasive trees.

And we wanna make sure that some of our stores, especially our larger stores, stop selling the invasive trees and bushes.

Because in the end, they're really unknowingly hurting the community that they're selling to.

This is one of these moments that local elected officials learned so much from our constituents.

This was a grassroots-led effort from LIRA.

And we would not be this far along if it wasn't for them.

So lean into your constituents who know what they're talking about, and they can help you.

Because truthfully, they live there and they want to have a healthy ecosystem and a healthy economy.