Nope, not poison ivy. But it is one of the brambles, and you'll want to get your gloves out and start pulling.

That's great news, thank you!

I don't know what brambles are, or why I need to pull them out, or if they are harmless to people.

Brambles are a thorny woody vine with very aggressive growing habits. However, there are many species of brambles. Brambles include wild and domesticated blackberries, raspberries, and dewberries. If left unattended, they can take over areas with their very thorny, spiny branches.

I suggest that you take your good image and post it in the "Name this Plant" forum. I'll bet that someone can give you a full identification and recommendation.

Here is a link that might be useful: I'll take you to the other forum

Looks like Rubus hispidus, or bristly dewberry. It is pretty common in moist, acid woodlands and bogs. That is about as tall as they get, so unless you need to walk through the area in bare feet it could be left to grow. The fruit is black and sour.

Thank you both very much.

I wish I could positively ID poison ivy -- I've read various sites that help with this, but all I can do is see 3 leaves in a cluster on a vine, which doesn't positively ID anything.

I agree that it would be very helpful if someone could actually show you some poison ivy. Once you've seen it in person, it will be easier to tell it apart from almost anything else with three leaflets.

An easy rule of thumb is poison ivy leaflets often appear shiny and will always be in clusters of three. The racus (stem) on the center leaflet will always be longer than the other two. If you see a big fuzzy, hairy-looking vine climbing up a tree or structure, that is also poison ivy. My advice is get a good plant ID book or contact your county extension office.

"Leaves of three, let it be!"

And that is part of the difficulty, redtailforester. In some parts of the country (in the South, for example), poison ivy isn't glossy.

Many people have a hard time telling this plant apart from the hundreds (thousands) of other 3-leafed plants that are out there.

Hence the other ID features such as the middle leaflet being longer than the others. Not ALL poison ivy leaves are shiny but a greater major of them are. There will always be regional variations depending on what ecoregion you are in but using several key identifying features (three leaves, shiny, long middle leaflet, etc.) will at least help a novice dendrologist narrow down the list.

Example:
Three leaflets - CHECK
Has small thorns - NOT POISON IVY

or

Is a vine - CHECK
Has berry-like fruit - CHECK
Five leaflets - NOT POISON IVY

The examples go on and on. There are many identification posters and keys out there. As mentioned before, contact your local county AG extension office.

Poison ivy is not always a vine. I could take you to some shrubs 4' high and more that are poison ivy, with leaves bigger than the palm of my hand. Here in SW Missouri it is not glossy. Beautiful red leaves in the fall. Sometimes it is a vine with a huge trunk and go many feet up into tall trees, and mingle with Virginia creeper so it is hard to tell one from the other.

Thank you all very much.

Travel to the South, redtail, and you won't see ANY shiny poison ivy. The foliage tends to have a dull surface and a larger leaflet blade.

Joseph, identifying poison ivy is not hard.

1. Does the plant consistently have three leaflets? If yes, go to 2.

2. Does the plant have thorns? If no, go to 3.

3. Are the leaves arranged opposite on the stem, or alternate? Note that we are talking LEAVES, not leaflets. The leaf consists of the 3 leaflets on a petiole (stem).

If ALTERNATE, then it is poison ivy.

Poison ivy can be a vine creeping up a tree, a short herb on the ground, or sometimes shrubby.

The plants that look similar are:
1. Virginia creeper. A vine that usually has 5 leaflets, occasionally 3.
2. Brambles. Wild blackberries and their relatives. They are thorny. Poison ivy never has thorns.
3. Box elder has 3 leaflets that are very similar to poison ivy, but the leaves are opposite, like a maple.

Looking at a photo and asking these 3 questions should make it quite simple to ID poison ivy.

The pseudo-key in the last post is not nearly sufficient to ID poison ivy. It may be helpful to narrow down the possibilities, but that's about as far as I would go.