So far in 2024, we have hosted 28 events focused on removing and managing invasive plants. Over 370 volunteers have helped us remove 139 bags and 32 large piles of invasives from the Fells, devoting 750 hours of their time. That’s $29,000 worth of volunteer hours in less than a year.
We have seen tremendous progress in our project areas this year. In partnership with DCR and Landscape Stewardship Inc. (LSI), a licensed herbicide applicator, we entered year two of a three-year project that addresses invasives in Greenwood Park, around Wright’s Tower, and around Bellevue Pond. We tactically addressed Japanese knotweed, Asiatic bittersweet, Glossy buckthorn, Garlic mustard, Porcelain berry, and Multiflora rose through manual removal with the help of our volunteers.
After volunteers cut Japanese knotweed in June of 2023, LSI applied herbicide to the plants in August of 2023, after it flowered and before our first frost. The ideal time to spray knotweed is in this window, which happens between August and October of each year. This is because the plant is beginning to pull down its resources and nutrients for the winter, so it will carry the herbicide down into its root system. However, the plant often grows too tall in a season to safely apply the foliar herbicide from the ground. Therefore, volunteers cut the plant in June to decrease its height and make it easier to spray in the fall.
Japanese Knotweed at Greenwood Park
Between the Botume House and Tudor Barn, volunteers have consistently worked to uproot, cut, and remove bittersweet, Porcelain berry, and buckthorn. Using a variety of tools and strategies, we successfully cleared large areas of the path between these buildings of buckthorn and beat back populations of bittersweet and Porcelain berry. There is still a lot of work to be done, and consistent monitoring of these sections for returning saplings and seedlings each year will be required. However, we’re already seeing promising results with the appearance of White wood asters and young maple trees along the forest floor.
Bittersweet, Porcelain berry, and Glossy buckthorn
Our work on invasives will continue as far into the winter season as weather and temperatures allow. We plan to work on bittersweet and buckthorn while keeping an eye on the meadow over at Greenwood Park for debris we can remove and make way for volunteers and any mechanical treatment (e.g. mowing) in the following season.
Interested in helping these efforts? Learn more about volunteer opportunities here and keep an eye on our calendar here for upcoming events.