Volunteers Tackle Invasive Species at the Urban Ecology Center

On the last day of Earth Week, volunteers walked the woods of Riverside Park to remove some of the spring’s most common invasive species, preventing them from spreading further through the area.

Spending a morning weeding seems like a small task, but can leave a big impact on Milwaukee’s biodiversity, which helps keep the land beautiful and healthy for everyone to enjoy.

On the morning of April 24, the Urban Ecology Center held an Earth Week weed-out event for volunteers to help remove Common Burdock and Garlic Mustard from Riverside Park.

Invasive species are plants that originated and evolved on a different continent but were brought here due to human activity. Because they didn’t evolve here, there are no natural predators for them. The invasive plants can put all of their energy into reproducing and taking over an area, which takes resources away from all of the other plants and animals.

“They lower habitat quality and create local extinctions of native species,” said Caitlin Reinartz, a forester at the Urban Ecology Center. “A diverse ecosystem is a healthy ecosystem, but as invasives move in, diversity goes down. Every single time. So a great way to maintain a high biodiversity within our park is to keep out those plants that lower the diversity of the park.”

A single Garlic Mustard plant can produce up to 11,000 seeds in one year, creating a huge population for next season if the plants aren’t removed now.

“This year you actually have to walk a few steps in between finding Garlic Mustard which is a new thing; It’s exciting,” said Reinartz. “The goal is if 20 people came and hung out with me and we walked around the woods for two hours and never found Garlic Mustard. But frankly, I gotta say it’s been a little bit boring this year! I enjoy finding and getting them so having to look for them a lot has been an interesting mix of blessing and curse.”

While invasive species pose a threat to animal and plant habitat quality, the same threat is posed for humans as well. If habitat quality lowers, there won’t be beautiful natural spaces in the city to visit in the future.

“I love being outside and I love Milwaukee,” said Linda Reed, a volunteer at the event. “I have a grandson who’s six and it’s just really important to keep the natural areas beautiful and accessible for future generations.”

Besides the positive environmental effects of volunteering to help maintain natural spaces, it can also have a positive effect on the volunteers themselves.

“I just can’t tell you how many times I’ve come to work in a bad mood and left in a great mood because I get to do this kind of work,” said Reinartz. “I get a lot out of it and I hope the volunteers also get a lot out of it because they get to have a fun time and talk with people and do something that they know is really helping out.”