Our overall total for the competition is 55,743 pounds this week. We have a ways to go to meet our seasonal goal, but on the bright side, we have had a HUGE amount of reporters say their numbers are smaller this year because their areas are almost rid of Garlic Mustard! We’ll take that trade off … Continue reading »
A Letter for Inspiration
If you’re lucky enough, you’ve seen Aristolochia serpentaria in bloom. If you’re like me, you almost passed it by, walking through the early June foliage of a floodplain forest. But something caught the corner of your eye and you stopped, did a double-take, and went back a step or two. You bent down to part … Continue reading »
First Year Plants
A common question has come up again- What about those little first year plants? It’s easy to become overzealous and want to pull out all of those little fellas, but take a moment to consider… When you see a dense monoculture of first year plants, the vast majority (+90%) of them will not survive because … Continue reading »
Week 5 Comes to a Close
Another week of the Garlic Mustard Challenge has come to a close. Plants are bolting, and the numbers are growing! First, lets hear about some of this week’s superstars: UpStream is a hands on stream ecology program at Upton Middle School in St. Joseph, MI. Rachel K. (7th grade) helped pull after school and bagged … Continue reading »
Using GIS to Manage Invasive Species
One of the emerging tools in natural resource management is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These systems use hardware, such as GPS units, and software to create, manage, and analyze geographical data. Google Earth is a type of GIS. The satellite images provide the background data, and the roads, park boundaries, water bodies, … Continue reading »
To Compost, or Not To Compost, That is the Question…
We encourage you to take all of your bagged Garlic Mustard to the curb for rubbish pick up, or to a landfill. Yup, we said it. Landfill. Why? To make sure the plants break down properly. If a compost pile doesn’t achieve high enough temperatures (the vast majority of composts do not) Garlic Mustard is … Continue reading »
Week 4 Update
We’ve continued to grow our pull numbers this week and have achieved a total of 18,674 lbs! Before we see how the numbers fell, we need to give a shout out to a few of this week’s awesome volunteers: Folks who pulled as a part of the Red Oaks Nature Center and Friendship Woods workday … Continue reading »
The Bigger Picture: Maryland
The Montgomery Park Weed Warriors in Montgomery County, Maryland have done a lot of great work controlling garlic mustard in their area. They’ve turned a corner and started so see fewer and fewer plants the past few years… “We’ve been noticing similar effects here – a slow early season followed by a good solid showing. … Continue reading »
Non-Native vs. Invasive
“Any plant in the wrong place is a weed.” When one explores the “Non-Native vs. Invasive” debate, they often encounter the idea that parallels the old adage: “A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square” -an old favorite from your 3rd grade geometry class. The truth of the matter is that … Continue reading »
Week 3 Comes to a Close
Rounding out the third week of the competition, the bag counts have continued to roll in! Pictured above: Group from University of Michigan Dearborn pulling at the Henry Ford Estate The Huron Arbor Cluster maintains their strong hold in the heavy weight division with 7,100 lbs- but the West Michigan Cluster is just getting started… … Continue reading »
