By Charlie Frisk
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – For the first time ever, an AmeriCorps team has come to Green Bay to work on an environmental project with the Baird Creek Preservation Foundation.
AmeriCorps was created in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton’s administration, and is a network of national, state and local programs that connects more than 70,000 Americans to meet community needs in education, the environment, public safety, health and homeland security.
Baird Creek invasives
A large portion of the habitat restoration done in the Baird Creek Greenway by the Baird Creek Preservation Foundation involves removal of invasive species, with main culprits being buckthorn, Eurasian honeysuckle, garlic mustard and Phragmites.
Buckthorn illustrates well the problems that invasives can cause – actually changing the soil chemistry to benefit itself and non-native earthworms (that cause their own set of problems in northern forests) and prevent native plants from occupying that area.
Nothing eats buckthorn – deer and other browsers, as well as insects, never touch it.
Birds will eat the buckthorn berries, but the outer skin of the berry contains an irritating toxin that causes the birds to regurgitate the berries along with all of the other food in their crops.
This provides both transport and fertilizer for the seeds.
And buckthorn is devilishly hard to kill.
Cutting it down just makes it angry, and it responds by sending up dozens of suckers.
In order to kill buckthorn, the cut stem must be brushed with a strong herbicide, such as glyphosate, something that many environmental groups are reluctant to do.
So in summary, buckthorn can turn a healthy forest into a biological desert, because nothing eats it, it displaces desirable native species, chokes out the sunshine from reaching the natives on the forest floor and is very difficult to kill.
Insects and parasites
Though introduced plants can harm native communities in many ways, there is one common issue that comes with all of them – they leave their insects and parasites behind when they are introduced to another part of the world.
AmeriCorps team
The AmeriCorps team was composed of young adults from all over the country, some from Missouri, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia and more.
While the work they did may appear to be hard to many people – hot, itchy and scratchy – the volunteers said they came away with very positive feelings of their work.
Some of their thoughts about the program included wishing they knew about places like Baird Creek sooner, enjoying using saws to cut buckthorn and being able to watch everything leaf out and bloom.
Emily Schieferdecker from Missouri said she appreciated the “connections we’ve made along the way, learning to talk to people, coming out of my shell.”
“Through AmeriCorps, I’ve turned from an introvert into an extrovert,” she said.
Caddo Turney from New Mexico said he appreciated “the wide variety of work experience and getting out of my comfort zone.”
During their time in Green Bay, the AmeriCorps team made quite the difference in the buckthorn population in the Baird Creek Greenway.
Having a concentrated effort of a seven-person team and two interns for six weeks on an invasive species project means a lot of progress in a shorter amount of time.
If you are out walking along the paved trail in the greenway anytime soon, look for the piles of cut buckthorn along the paved trail.
If you work with a local nonprofit and have a need for motivated, hard-working volunteers, you should look into whether your organization would qualify for an AmeriCorps team.
If you are a young person desiring hands-on work experience, valuable networking opportunities and professional skills training, a position on an AmeriCorps team might be just what you are looking for.
As a matter of fact, AmeriCorps also has a seniors program for people of retirement age.
More information can be found at americorps.gov.
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