Weed Wrangle 2021 Was a Success!
Byron stands on top of the massive privet pile that he and his volunteers wrangled this year. All images courtesy of Jeff Guenther.
On Saturday, 6 March 2021, an intrepid group of weed warriors gathered to whack, wallow, and wrestle a whopping lot of the wily unwanted weed Ligustrum sinense (that’s Chinese privet to you and me) out of the ground by its rascally roots! As part of National Invasive Species Awareness Week, the annual Weed Wrangle is an opportunity to help restore the balance of nature by removing exotic invasive organisms from native habitats.
Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center is a 317-acre natural area situated on the western side of Lookout Mountain. There is no part of the property that isn't impacted to some degree by the presence of exotic invasive species. These non-native plants take up light, space, and nutrients that native species need to thrive to support native pollinators. Privet begins to invade edge habitats and stream corridors, quickly establishing a near-monospecific stand. Native biodiversity is ultimately reduced by the presence of introduced species like privet.
Using weed wrenches, wondrous tools specifically designed to give the wielder an upper body strength boost, volunteers from local Boy Scout troops, garden clubs, families, and individuals rallied to work until weary in the worthwhile endeavor of writhing and wriggling and walloping the invasive woody shrub into submission! Fun was had, mud was involved. What a workout! Several thousand individual privet plants of all sizes were uprooted in the bottomland forest adjacent to Candy Flats. These will later be burned to prevent their resprouting.
How can you help protect native biodiversity? Learn about the invasive species in YOUR landscape at home and REMOVE THEM, or at least, keep them from producing seeds. And, VOLUNTEER!!! Help from volunteers is needed to keep up the effort to restore the health of native ecosystems. There are only 1,649,786,564 plants left to go… so there’s plenty of opportunity for your group to come out and make a difference for habitat restoration!