On Sunday, May 22, twenty people from Scout Troop 1 in Unadilla and Troop 25 in Mohawk came to the DOAS Burlington Wetlands site to help with invasive species control, namely buckthorn.
From nyis.info: “Buckthorns form thick hedges with long branches that crowd out and shade out native shrub and herbaceous species, preventing regeneration of native plants.”
For our project in Burlington, we are using a product called the “buckthorn baggie”, with the goal to “remove, control, and eradicate buckthorn plants without the use of chemicals” whenever possible. This process also eliminates the need for uprooting and disturbing ground soil with a buckthorn puller or tree pulling broom (as this process allows more buckthorn seeds on the ground from prior years to germinate).
Thank you to all our volunteers for this conservation project in difficult terrain, particularly Board Directors, Tom Salo and Nate Cutting, and Scout Troop leader, Brian Danforth who recruited 18 people from 2 scout troops to help with this effort.