Yeah, a while back in California there was a huge problem with people ripping out the native and ecologically important wild cucumber because they mixed it with another invasive vine. They do look pretty similar, and well-meaning people were doing a lot of damage. A lot of invasive plants have native look-alikes… common reed in the USA has both an invasive and a native strain… oriential bittersweet is invasive here but has an American species that is increasingly rare, in part probably because people kill it thinking it is the invasive.
That being said some parks are pretty lackluster in dealing with stuff, have no funding to deal with volunteers, or don’t treat volunteers all that well, so it’s a tricky one.
Sadly, I don’t think this park does very much in terms of invasive species removal. I’ve never seen anything about removal days, and doing a google search didn’t bring up anything either. I think this park tends to be more focused on historical/cultural heritage than ecology from what I can tell.
Perhaps then, in order to restore the park’s environment to a state that more closely reflects its earlier history, the park’s managers should welcome a group that volunteers to remove some of that more recent invasive vegetation.
Then that might be what you should propose to them. A story in the media of a partnership between them and a group of volunteers to help restore the historical state of the park by removal of invasive vegetation would be a great public relations strategy for them. They might jump at the opportunity if you present it to them from that perspective.
Good idea. I used to work for a very large urban park and it was (and still is) a CONSTANT STRUGGLE for the Park Rangers who regularly remove invasives even though it appears to be a losing battle. They do have volunteer groups to help with this kind of thing. Maybe you could propose that if they don’t already have something in place.
People plant invasives species in their gardens because they are promoted as “insect-resistant” or “deer-resistant”, without understanding that’s because they’re from a non-native ecosystem. The insects and animals that evolved to feed on those plants are off on another continent.
so too are the gardeners and the horticultural industry. Mostly.
In our mediterranean climate people want a lush English garden with rolling green lawns, and no WEEDS! The wildlife can eat in next door’s garden - no chewed leaves permitted.
It’s sad how limited a level of biodiversity some people will permit. As a young child, one of my greatest and earliest still remembered pleasures was lying in bed before falling asleep on a lovely summer evening while a window was open. The air was filled with the sound of crickets and other insects, instilling a warm awareness of numerous creatures out there enjoying being alive in their own various ways, quite different from mine, but that great variety of forms of consciousness was a major part of the beauty of the whole situation.
My mom has this idea of having a beautiful “English cottage garden” with “wildflowers,” but the wildflowers she has in mind are basically all non-native or invasive plants, and the she winces at how “ugly” the native plants I show her are.
I was appalled when I learned how hated caterpillars are in gardens. I was making a native plant presentation for one of my classes and wanted to find pictures of caterpillars eating leaves when I stumbled across this website:
Well, probably most gardeners have experience with caterpillars totally killing, or really damaging their plants, and most people I know garden because their main goal is homegrown food, not to promote biodiversity. (Pollinator gardens are very cool!! There’s one in my area and you can see the owner does let the caterpillars eat as they please, but that’s not most people’s primary goal.) You definitely have to pick off tomato hornworms if you want any tomatoes for instance. Cutworms too. There are a lot of generic and difficult to visually ID caterpillars so I understand taking the better-safe-than-sorry route especially if you use proper IPM when doing it.
Every year all the wild cherry trees are flooded with Hyphantria cunea, beautiful animals but the second they jump over to our apricot trees my family would sooner burn down the entire tree than eat the fruit from it. It’s pretty ironic considering none of them are huge apricot fans and aren’t really affected when one is ‘infested’, and the same attitude wasn’t applied when we found Sphinx drupiferarum caterpillars on our (planted) cherry tree, they actually liked them being there even though most of the fruit they eat is from that cherry tree.
I’d say it depends on the kind of “park” in question
In Africa, a park or protected area usually evokes a natural pristineness and healthy function of a native ecosystem. Not sure if the same applies in America? If said park is highly manicured and under anthropomorphic influence (mowed lawn, spaced trees etc…), then it may not even be worth trying to tackle alien plants there, unless it is a well seeding population at risk of spreading to nearby natural areas. If you are highly experienced in plant biology and can identify most species in different growth stages, I see no pertinent reason why you should first ask the park authorities provided that you are 100% sure that what you’re pulling is an alien invasive
Alot of the times, the park authorities may not even know that an alien population was there or have any idea what sort of risk they pose to native species. Sometimes a parks priorities are more on aesthetics and facilities offered than ecosystem restoration.
Overall, I am a strong proponent of people overcoming ‘Plant Blindness’ and learning to spot ecological problems and imbalances in areas designed to secure native habitats, however small.
I just went back to the park again today (still haven’t heard back from them yet) but found loads of either goutweed or multiflora rose seedlings next to a paved trail, as well as garlic mustard. Whichever it is, it definitely needs to be pulled, because with the amount of seedlings I found there’s going to be a dense thicket of the stuff in a few years.
