Notes from the Field- February 2025

BY JAMES WARNER, LAND STEWARD

January was a busy month for DNRT’s first few work parties of the year!

A total of 43 volunteers came out across 3 work parties to help us take care of our properties. We were fortunate to have relatively good weather even though our work at Frank Knowles/Little River was a bit chilly. With everyone’s help, we were able to remove 7 truckloads of invasive material from Parsons Reserve and Wernick Farm. At Wernick the weather cooperated, allowing us to burn what we removed. At Parsons Reserve we also worked to clean up a lot of debris from the Daffodil Field.

At our work parties we strive to remove as many invasive species as possible to try to stop their spread and instead promote the growth of native plants. Because invasive species tend to reproduce rapidly and aggressively, part of our strategy in our fields is to remove as many invasives as possible by hand and then routinely mow afterward to keep them from re-sprouting. It takes a lot of work and without our volunteers we would not get as much done as we do!