The ISF Crew welcomed the cool fall weather with open arms! We kicked off the month with a volunteer day at Joppenbergh Mountain in Rosendale, N.Y., removing barberry, wineberry, and huge Asiatic bittersweet vines that posed a threat to mature native trees at this location. Together with 12 dedicated volunteers, the ISF managed 642 plants, freed the strangled trees, and cleared a quarter of an acre of invasive plants which can now be restored to native vegetation at the Joppenbergh site! The ISF also had the opportunity to treat Chinese fountaingrass, a Tier 1 "threat" species, at Edith G. Read Natural Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a favorite spot of birders, and the crew got to experience the sights and sounds of the sanctuary while they were hard at work. They heard red-tailed hawks squawking and saw cormorants on the Long Island Sound while they worked hard to take out almost 200 clusters of nonnative grass! At the end of September, the crew celebrated National Public Lands Day by collaborating with the Wild East Women’s group to remove invasive plants and plant native meadow plants in Harriman State Park. At this site, the team removed 164 barberry and planted 181 native plants, including boneset, woolgrass, seaside and blue stem goldenrod, little bluestem grass, and silverrod (see photo above). On the same day, the volunteer-led ISF Crew with the help of 20 volunteers removed hundreds of burning bush shrubs, oriental bittersweet and dozens of emerging invasives including oriental photinia and Linden viburnum. This volunteer-led Crew also helped plant a native pollinator garden at the American Canoe Association Camp near Lake Sebago in Sloatsburg, N.Y., replacing invasive Miscanthus grass (Chinese silvergrass). Other emerging invasive plants that the crew managed in September include chocolate vine in North Salem, N.Y., Asiatic photinia at Teatown Lake Reservation, hardy kiwi at Brinton Brook Sanctuary and in Bedford, N.Y., and Scotch broom in Harriman State Park. The crew took out a total of 7,200 plants in September and looks forward to exciting projects in October! As the end of the field season approaches, the crew will work on kudzu management, wrap up other projects such as hardy kiwi, and collaborate once more with volunteers at Three Arrows Cooperative Society to take out Japanese spiraea! |