 |
Pictured
at an Aug. 9, 2022, work party are Sarah Baxter, Trenton Snyder, Randy Snyder, Al Spice, John J. Smith, Christine Guth. |
A
small group (2-6) volunteers have been removing invasive plants at selected
sections of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail since 2020. All the volunteers learned a lot about botany by working together; we have a good time working
together, no matter how much botany we knew when we started. So far, we
have focused on removing invasive plants in the best-preserved wooded areas
along the trail, especially just west of the parking lot at County Road 33 and
just east of the County Road 43 parking lot. We remove multiflora rose, bush
honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, garlic mustard and other non-native plants
that can overtake native plants. We work from the edge of the surfaced trail to
the fence lines that separate the trail from neighboring land. After
three years of working two hours per week from April through October, we can
notice a big difference at the fence lines: on the trail side of the fence, there are many fewer invasive plants than in the adjoining woods on the
opposite side, and growing populations of a wide diversity of native trees,
shrubs, vines, and herbaceous ground cover.
