A big article appeared in the Star Tribune newspaper on June 13, 2012, entitled “WANTED Invasive Plants.” The piece focuses on the Invasive Plant Patrol in Maplewood, Minnesota.
Wild Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa L. Credit: Theodore Webster, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org
Carole Gernes, a naturalist for the City of Maplewood, leads the group of 30 trained volunteers who patrol open spaces in Maplewood and a wetland in Ramsey County looking for newly arrived invasive plant species. The article discusses the negative effects of invasive plants and explains why we should target new arrivals before they become established.
If you have ever met Carole Gernes, you know what a dynamo she is. It is so nice to see attention focused on people like Carole who work so hard to make our communities more livable. Nicely done Star Tribune journalist Kim Palmer!
P.S. – I also got a kick out of this line in Palmer’s article about the Invasive Plant Patrol: “They love plants enough to destroy them — at least the aggressive ones that threaten to crowd out other species.”
j3w3lw33d said
I just found mile a minute, a noxious emerging invasive here in Morris Park,just two specimens in our area, while getting the last of the garlic mustard. Pulled and trashed immediately.