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Invasive Species Put Down Roots in Burgess Park

Monday, 13 July 2015 07:22

The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority is fighting several invasive species at Burgess Park.

WOODSTOCK - Invasive species are threatening wildlife and native plants and trees at Burgess Park. 

Over the past year staff with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority have been removing the invasive trees and shrubs growing in the old farmland adjacent to the park. They are trying to eradicate the Manitoba maple, black locust, buckthorn, and honeysuckle that are growing on the old farmland at the park. Community Partnership Specialist Brad Hertner tells Heart FM what would happen if they did nothing. "These old agriculture fields would fill in with non-native species. They would out compete the habitat shrubs and native hardwoods that we would like to have in there and are present in the native woodland that's along the river." 

They have been chopping trees down and removing the stumps and have gotten special permission to use Round Up to kill some of the shrubs. Hertner says they are planting thousands of native trees and shrubs in their place and need to kill off all of the invasive species so they can survive. "Naturalization plan for the next five years started this past Spring; the City of Woodstock hosted a tree planting day near Earth Day where they had the community come out and they planted nearly a thousand trees in some of the old agriculture fields, and then I followed that up with three days with school groups out there planting." The native trees they have been planting include maples, oaks, and white pines. 

Hertner says they have been working on this project for awhile and still have a lot of work left to do to rid the area of unwanted invasive species. 

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