TODAY: Today, The Era’s associate editor Marcie Schellhammer will be joining Anne Holliday from WESB, Dr. Nancy McCabe, Dr. Tracee Howell and Stephanie Eckstrom, all from University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, and attorney Michele Alfieri-Causer, in a panel discussion at the Bradford Area Public Library.

The discussion will be on gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

It’s from 1 to 4 p.m. at the library.

The event is part of Women’s History Month at the library.

AUTUMN OLIVE: Jody Groshek and her colleagues at the McKean County Conservation District have been providing facts this past week about various invasive species.

Reader Bob Rusiewski wondered about another plant that was not mentioned: autumn olive, aka Russian olive.

Jody offered some information about the plant:

“Although there are too many invasive plants to include in even a week’s worth of articles, a reader expressed concern about this shrub; so the McKean County Conservation District shares some plant facts.”

“Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is another aggressive invasive shrub in McKean County which is similar at first glance to bush honeysuckle. Autumn olive grows considerably larger (up to 20 ft.) than bush honeysuckle and also has thorns.

This shrub was planted for wildlife habitat in the 1950s and 1960s, before its invasive traits were known. Like honeysuckle, it has red berries, but autumn olive fruits and leaves have a silvery appearance. Autumn olive can quickly take over old fields or fencerows. Controlling it while small is best to avoid growth of a thorny jungle.”

Bob is concerned about what would happen if the plant made its way here.

“There are literally thousands of these large shrubs (some get 10 feet tall) along the interstates in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,” he writes. “In Illinois you can defer mowing them for about two years, but after that they are around two inches thick and 7 or 8 feet tall and you might end up cutting them off with a chainsaw, as they could be too big for a Bush Hog mower as it could damage the gearbox when hitting them.

“I have seen some areas that were not maintained this way and in a matter of 5 years you cannot walk through it.”