Wilcox Park Invasive Plant Removal Day

When
15 Aug 2009
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location
EVENT POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

EVENT POSTPONED UNTIL SEPT/OCT

The Friends of Wilcox Park in association with the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, City of Grand Rapids and the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is hosting a work day to remove invasive pant species from the ravine area on the east side of Wilcox Park.

9-10 AM: Meet at the southeast corner of the park, along the fence with Aquinas. Melanie Good of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan will provide a training session on identifying invasive plants and techniques to control their spread.

10 AM onward: Volunteers will use hand tools to cut, pull and clip invasive plants and haul them into piles that the City will later shred into mulch.

Please bring work gloves, loppers, hand saws, pruners, etc... We also need empty eye contact solution bottles for surgically applying herbicide to stumps. Feel free to come anytime that you can, we will devote the morning to ridding our park of these invasive pests and returning it to it's native beauty! Light refreshments will be served to quench thirst and fuel the effort.

Please feel free to send this link to anyone you know who might be interested. Contact Community Volunteer, Dan Wells, if you plan to attend: dansdigs@gmail.com

Invasive plants are more aggressive than native species, choking them out over time and reducing native wildlife habitat. They also replace diverse native plant communities with single species, lowering biodiversity and the amount of forest floor space and light available for native species. See http://www.invasive.org/101/index.cfm & http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/invasivetutorial/problem.htm for more info.

The invasive plants currently taking over the ravine area include buckthorn, honey suckle, and others. Our goal is to remove as many of the invaders as possible in a section of the park from Robinson road northward. We will use hand tools and treat the stumps with bio-degradable herbicide to prevent re-sprouting. The City will then haul the brush and weeds away and use it in their green waste recycling program.

http://www.naturenearby.org/Home.tab.aspx
http://www.friendsofgrparks.org/
http://www.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=463