Name: Invasive Plant Work Group
Start: 2026-01-03T09:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-03T12:00:00-05:00
Location: Invasive Plant Work Group

Volunteer invasive-plant removal group (in-person) led by Jake Sladyk for community volunteers; aims to remove invasive plants.

Invasive Plant Removal
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Jake Sladyk to be leading the groups on Saturdays from 9am-12pm in January.

Join or leave any time. Meet up activities: Chopping down, lopping, trimming, digging up/shoveling/piling invasive shrubs, vines and weeds. No experience needed! We will teach you about the enemy. Call 860-682-0784 if you are lost. Follow the orange flags to the work site!
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Our natural lands are quickly being invaded by foreign invasive plants from thousands of miles away!These plants have been brought in by formal landscaping and gardening. Our government and local agencies can't/aren't willing to put towards efforts to contain the scourge.
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That's where we come in! Working with land trusts and towns, we are the soldiers of nature, preventing our beautiful wild lands of native flowers, trees, and shrubs from being overtaken and replaced by an endless thicket of thorns and horticultural atrocities.
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Significant amounts of both public and private land have been completely filled in with invasives. We must act NOW to contain and eventually eradicate these plants from further degrading our land.
This degraded land reduces forage for deer and turkeys, increases tick populations, and prohibits movement through them. These areas are generally less diverse, and songbird populations diminish.
Meet up goals:
Remove invasive plants with an ever-increasing army
Restore natural areas
Get more people outside and active in nature.
Giving back to nature by stewardship. Take pride in watching native plants and animals flourish in restored habitats.
Learn about the regions ecology while working with field experts and scientists!

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What to bring:
Water, food, shovels, loppers, handsaws, pruners, Sawzaw, Chainsaw, a backpack, gloves, work shoes, durable clothing, and the will to FIGHT THE SCOURGE.

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Some of the areas we are going to range from freshly invaded areas to completely infested areas and the hearts of enemy territory. The majority of these areas have only been invaded for less than 50 years.

It took 50 years for what we see to get this bad. It takes 8 hours for one person to clear half an acre of barberry. That might not seem like much, but 20+ years of growth from hundreds of plants can be cut in less than a day. Cutting prevents these plants from producing hundreds of thousands of seeds, further reducing the spread. Now imagine a crew of 20 people. That's nearly 10 acres of the start of habitat restoration. WE CAN DO IT.
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Enemies:
Barberry
Bittersweet
Burning Bush
Buckthorn
Multiflora Rose
Japanese Honeysuckle
Bush Honeysuckle
Autumn Olive
Knotweed
Mugwort
Korean Christmas Berry

Jim Natale

Invasive Plant Work Group

Community & Environment

Botany

Exercise

Flowers

Hiking

Community Outreach

Nature