Reported by Marian
Styles
Hikers love the birds, bears, and butterflies living in
Shenandoah National Park (SNP). Not so loved, at least by SNP naturalists, are the
non-native plants that are crowding out the park’s native plants.
Liz Lyons, John Shannon, and I joined SNP ranger Cindy Blugerman to try and make a dent in two
varieties of invasive plants infesting SNP: Japanese stiltgrass and lady’s
thumb. We met Cindy and one other volunteer at Big Meadows at 10 a.m. on this cool August morning.
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| Liz Lyons pulling stilt grass |
Cindy
showed us how to identify the two invaders, and we set to work pulling and
bagging them. Liz and I worked off the left side of the Story of the Forest Trail
(the park service had sprayed the right side with something to kill the
stiltgrass). John focused his attention on the right side, beginning with
removing some bittersweet.
Quite a
few hikers stopped to ask Cindy what we were doing. Hopefully, that information
will increase public awareness of the danger SNP faces from invasives.
We worked
until shortly after 2 p.m. All told, the five of us had
filled 11 30-gallon trash bags with noxious weeds. Cindy gave us t-shirts and
caps with volunteer logos, and the rain that had engulfed Charlottesville most of the day held off until
after we left.
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