Remove invasive species from our forests

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The Invasive Species Stewards help with the removal of invasive plants. This could be anything from hand-pulling garlic mustard, cutting and dragging buckthorn, or lopping invasive vines. This is perhaps one of the most important positions that assists our Conservation Department, as it is an ecologically important and time-consuming job for staff members to accomplish without help of volunteers.

Winter 2024 Work - Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8:30am-11:30am. Shifts are weather dependent and will be cancelled if there is too much snow or too cold.

Staff will use brush cutters to cut down large patches of non-native invasive shrubs/trees like buckthorn, honeysuckle, barberry, etc. Volunteers and other staff may use loppers or pruners to cut as well. Depending on where we are, sometimes those plants need to get moved and put into a pile to be chipped up. Then, staff and trained volunteers will use a stamper and stamp a small amount of herbicide onto the stump of the shrub to ensure it does not grow back. These can be physically exhausting mornings but it is so worth it to see the areas cleaned up and to think about the positive impact on the environment by removing these invasives and allowing our natives to grow.