Do you really want government to tell you what you can plant and cannot plant on your own property? Educate yourselves if you think you cannot control bamboo. It is not easy, but it is possible. Come learn more about these issues, next Friday on Long Island. See here:
http://www.farmingdale.edu/news/news-2012/bamboo-every-plant-has-its-rightful-place.shtml

And please see the website of the American Bamboo Society, www.bamboo.org and
http://www.bamboo.org/wp/news/files/downloads/2012/05/Bamboo-Invasiveness-and-Control-Statement-draft-6-1.pdf

To Susanne Lucas:
Your informative article is all well and good if you have a neighbor willing to be "neighborly" and control this terrible plant. When we have such a situation, anyone's personal property near this menacing plant is subject to damage. I don't need to drive to Long Island NY to see what damage this plant does. If you want to come to Lacey Township (do you know where Lacey Twp. is?) you can dig all the bamboo you want from my yard, because my neighbor does not control it! EVEN AFTER BEING ASKED TO DO SO. I applaud the committee in their bipartisan decision to pass an ordinance in the best interest of effected Lacey Township residents. Here we go again with "plants have rights too" mantra. I think you are trying to "bamboo-zle" us here in Lacey Twp.

One of many towns right on target - stopping the serious continual damages of invasive running bamboo - Phyllostachys spp. Giant timber bamboo -grows taller each successive year - very strong rhizomes which contaminate the land deep and far. This becomes a serious continual liability , & also a damage to market value - "stigma" to any properties that the invasive running bamboo has or will invade. It picks up speed each year. Real Estate Appraisers are just starting to warn people. Buyers have backed out days before closing. Not easy to eradicate. Best to have laws before more land is contaminated . Most invasions in the Northeast are yellow groove- species Phyllostachys aureosulcata. Phyllostachys bissetii also widespread . The public needs to educate on this genus of invasive bamboo. Home inspectors need to learn how to identify Phyllostachys on a property before clearance. Laws are passing rapidly. Sellers will desperately try to diffuse what the scientific facts are regarding the data collected and verified. We know this will be a * major alien invader destroying assets and the natural ecosystem. The chemicals being used are very detrimental to human health and the environment. This is a quality of life issue . ( see Hempstead, New York ) unanimous vote. We are far along in the research now. The sellers , many who ship rhizomes on ebay etc. , and sell online - craigslist etc. are in a panic as the large profits are " coming to a halt." Expect the comments to be such.

My neighbor planted Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys) directly on the property line in 2008 and it started to come up in our lawn the following spring. When I informed them of the damage it would do I was treated very badly, and the bamboo remains 5 years later. My husband injured his knee from the constant digging and now walks with a permanent limp. He is scheduled for a second surgery on the knee next week. We installed a 75 foot steel-reinforced concrete barrier last year and watched the bamboo grow past the ends of it this year. We have lost 5 young Palm trees, the irrigation system, all landscaping, and the lawn on that side of our house. We cannot plant anything on that side because we know that barriers do not work for long and the bamboo will be back. To date, our neighbor's uncontained bamboo has cost us 10,500 dollars not counting the doctor and hospital bills, the lost landscaping and trees, or the irrigation system. Our entire quality of life has been affected. To retire to Florida and buy a home here was a lifetime effort, but now instead of enjoying our "Golden Years' we are dealing with "Golden Bamboo".

I see Caryn Rickel and company are at it again, sowing misinformation and deception about bamboo everywhere they can. No doubt that Rickel's misinformation can be very expensive.

Dear God, people. DO NOT LISTEN TO THE MISINFORMATION, that is given to you repeatedly, it is not true!!! Bamboo is controllable, if you'd like to see, please visit my property just as my town officials have, as well as my state officials , and the dept of agriculture has done as well. Let's mention DEEP as well, they have been here too at my request. It's all a vendetta nothing more, just one angry woman, which doesn't make her look too good, suing innocent people because she can not get her way. If the State of CT doesn't have it on their invasive species list and has no intention of putting it there, why ?? Because it does not meet the criteria, then why is it so out of control for one individual. Ask your self that simple question . Why is it such am problem? For those few individuals who believe in the bamboo Apocalypse should go see her damage rt lack of damage first hand. Open your eyes !!!

Caryn Rickel calls herself a bamboo research specialist, when in fact she knows little to nothing about bamboo at all. She has no qualifications that make her a specialist in bamboo. She is on a mission to spread complete fantacies about bamboo, with statements about extremes in growth and destruction of property, etc. that are simply not supported by any real scientific evidence. In fact bamboos are native to North America, they can be effectively controlled, and there are many genera of species of bamboos that do not run or spread at all. Yet she continues her personal vendetta against all bamboo, seemingly from a personal dispute with her neighbors. So far in those disputes, she has lost her attempts to sue them in court. So she uses any media that will listen to her fanatacies about this plant. If you do not believe me, ask her for her credentials regarding hotriculture, botony, or life science. Her so called "research" seems to be limited to a few isolated cases and extremes, and she continues to spread complete falsehoods about bamboo to anyone that will listen to her.

I do not know Ms. Rickel personally, but she is correct. I was a victim of "second-hand" running bamboo some years ago, coming from a neighbor's yard. That neighbor refused to do anything about it, until our City Council stepped in and passed a reasonably-written ordinance which allows all the many beautiful non-invasive varieties of bamboo. Then he had to take his out, which was no small job. Even at this early stage, I spent many thousands of dollars to dig out the bamboo on my side and put in a barrier just in case the law did not pass or we missed some rhizomes on the dig-out. A realtor told me my house value would plummet and eventually become worthless if I did not completely rid my yard of this stuff. It was a full year of heartbreak, anxiety, and obvious damages. Thank God my city saw the problem, and helped out. I’m sure running bamboo is very nice in the jungle. In a suburban yard, it is a cancer that will spread and destroy your life. And “containing” it IS virtually impossible, once it has invaded. Ms. Rickel knows what she is talking about, and the prudent reader will take heed.

This comment is for Caryn Rickel. Caryn, What exactly are your credentials on this subject? It seems like you are promoting yourself as some kind of bamboo expert... ?

This ruling is absurd and will not stand a legal challenge if this quoted excerpt is true, "The ordinance defines invasive plants as all native and non-native vines and vegetation that grow out of place and are competitive, persistent and pernicious.” If that is the case since the area is nearly all sandy pine scrub forest. Would that include a native blueberry bush making a mess on side walk? Or native Braken Fern spreading via rhizoid into your property form your neighbors?. Who decides what isn't a problem and is? I cannot stress enough that you do not want the government to decide for you. This entire problem should be resolved between the involved parties civilly and if that falls through they should go to court, where NJ property laws will settle the dispute very quickly.

I've had bamboo for 20 years and it is not thru my pool liner. Do your research it stops at water. One method of containment is to dig a trench and fill it with WATER. does your neighbor spy on you at night EMMA. I bet not. You don't call that crazy. Do you have video surveylence in your yard EMMA cause your neighbor poisons your trees. I bet not. Crazy is as crazy does. Bully what are we 10

Was the agricultural extention office of a major university consulted? Do we have data on invasive species from professionals or is this topic just opinion? Other places I've lived have problems with buckthorn and autumn olive. Do they propose we cut that?

Oh Dear Emma, please go to the judicial website and look up the case detail and read all about the court's decision, clearly you will see it has not been a decade or research, or is the court wrong as well ???