Japanese barberry is a scourge of today's Vermont forests. It pushes out native species and its thorny growth makes forests impenetrable to both humans and wildlife. (Except for mice, and the deer ticks they often carry -- which is why it's called a "tick magnet.")
On Friday, May 27, Sandy Fary is taking her Camels Hump Middle School students on a mission to uproot Japanese barberry at the Preston Preserve, just south and east of the Round Church. Jon Kart, is leading the charge and is looking for help from a few more adults. It's a great chance to spend part of a morning learning how to recognize and keep this nasty plant under control -- perhaps on your own property. If you can help, contact Jon at jonjkart@hotmail.com, and then show up at 8 a.m. the preserve trailhead by St. Mary's Cemetery on Cochran Road, about 0.45 miles east of the Round Church. You should be done by 10:30.
And thanks in advance for helping keep Richmond's native plants doing the fine job they've been doing for the last 10,000 or so years.
Earlier this year, Jon led two groups from MMU in pulling 400 pounds of garlic mustard from the Beeken Rivershore Preserve. Many thanks to Jon and the students for this work to protect the rare, silver maple/ostrich fern forest that thrives at the Preserve.
If you want to learn how to recognize and control some of the other highly aggressive and ecologically-next-to-worthless plants trying to elbow out our hardworking native plants, check out *http://tinyurl.com/RichmondInvasives. *You needn't go far in Richmond to spot Japanese knotweed, dame's rocket, garlic mustard and other plants trying to transform our landscape -- and to the detriment of native plants and the wildlife that depend on them. Some of these invasives may well be on your property, and spreading beyond, so it pays to find out how to spot them.
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