The Invasive Species Awareness Coalition of Dubois County hosted another successful volunteer workday Saturday morning.
The invasive plant species at the Dubois County Park did not have a chance against the thirteen hardy volunteers who showed up on the cold and blustery morning and put in over 45 work hours ridding the park of some of the invasives trying to take over the beautiful native woodland on the property.
Although invasives such as bush honeysuckle, multiflora rose, burning bush and white mulberry were found, by far the most abundant was autumn olive.
Volunteers used hand tools and power equipment to cut down and treat over a hundred autumn olive shrubs so that they will not continue to spread throughout the property.
Autumn olive, at one time, was planted on purpose throughout Indiana and even encouraged as a wildlife food. It is now known to be more of a problem than a benefit, as it outcompetes and displaces native plants, taking native food sources away from wildlife.
Responsible landowners work on eradicating this shrub from their properties, as even one plant can produce 200,000 seeds per year. More autumn olive remain on the Dubois County Park property in the form of small sprouts in the woods that were spread as seeds by birds, as well as large shrubs in areas the Coalition did not get to on Saturday morning.
They intends to host a future workday to continue improving the property, and all Dubois County residents who appreciate our beautiful natural lands are invited to help out.
Anyone interested in knowing how to easily eradicate invasive species on their own property, can watch a 90 second video on the group’s website: www.isacdc.org and also learn how to identify several common invasive species.
If interested in the group or future workdays, contact group president Ron Rathfon at 812-678-5049 or ronr@purdue.edu. The group can also be found on Facebook.
