COMMUNITY NEWS
By Maria de Bruyn
Columnist
1985 was the year that our country’s National Park and Recreation Month began to honor those who care for the parks and recreational areas that improve and enrich our lives. This year’s celebratory theme is “Build Together, Play Together.” In part, it refers to the construction of new playgrounds, walking paths, and other public outdoor amenities. It also encompasses the work being done to maintain and enhance our parks and communal outdoor spaces.
Municipal and county staff work hard to keep our walking and bike paths, green spaces, parks, and nature reserves in good condition and open for all residents. An essential aspect of this work is eradicating invasive plant species that cover up and kill our native vegetation. Given budgetary constraints, however, government workers can use all the help they can get to manage our green space areas. A volunteer group that has stepped up for the past three years is Rewild Earth. Led by founder Steven Feuerstein, town and county residents focus on removing invasive plants so that our native vegetation can thrive.
Driving around Chapel Hill and the rest of Orange County, you can hardly miss areas along roads where trees are scarcely visible because vines completely cover them. This is also the case in our town and county parks, as well as in natural areas. In most cases, these abundant vines are invasive species that crowd out native plants and endanger the trees and shrubs they cover.
Chinese bushclover, also known as Chinese lespedeza. Photo by ©Maria de Bruyn.
The smothering invasives include kudzu, Chinese bushclover, oriental bittersweet, and autumn olive. A couple of the “invaders” are plants beloved by many people, such as Japanese honeysuckle (enjoyed because its flowers are edible — my foster daughter introduced me to that!) and Chinese or Japanese wisteria, which has long blue or purple blooms. There is a native wisteria as well, but it is rarely seen.
Japanese stiltgrass. Photo by ©Maria de Bruyn.
Many invasive plants were initially introduced by individuals and gardening companies to enhance the beauty of our surroundings. Others arrived by accident because their seeds were unknowingly transported in packing materials or spread by storms. For example, Japanese stiltgrass, which is very difficult to eradicate, was accidentally introduced into the United States when used as packing material for Chinese porcelain. These days many gardening enterprises take care to offer native plants, but the invasives mentioned above are unfortunately all readily available for purchase online.
Now, organized groups, such as the New Hope Bird Alliance and UNC Greek organizations, as well as individual nature enthusiasts, are collaborating with Rewild Earth to eradicate invasive species, allowing native plants to thrive and expand. Almost daily, volunteers gather in a local area or reserve to spend a couple of hours uprooting and chopping down invasive plants that are smothering trees and crowding out native plants. A large contingent of volunteers has comprised local high school and university students.
UNC’s Alpha Phi Omega chapter dismantles large paper mulberry trees. Photo by Steven Feuerstein.
Rewild Earth activities are open to anyone who wants to participate, either occasionally or regularly. A weekly email newsletter keeps supporters informed about upcoming work sessions each week.
Rewild Earth has concentrated a lot of effort on the following areas, with maintenance work continuing in most of them:
- Chapel Hill’s Tanyard Branch, Battle Branch and Bolin Creek trails
- Grounds and trails surrounding the Chapel Hill Community Center, Battle Branch, Pritchard, and Umstead Parks
- Triangle Land Conservancy’s (TLC) Brumley North and South Nature Preserves and the Bailey and Sarah Williamson Preserve
- UNC’s Mason Farm Biological Reserve, the UNC Outdoor Education Center, and other campus areas.
Newer areas, also outside Orange County, are also being tackled for invasives removal, with Rewild Earth providing training and guidance to the entities that own and supervise them, such as:
- Orange County’s Blackwood Farm Park
- Wake County’s Turnip Seed Nature Reserve and Sandy Hills Preserve
- Piedmont Wildlife Center’s Leigh Farm Park
- Town of Chapel Hill Public Works and other locations
- Town of Cary’s Black Creek Greenway
- Town of Durham/Keep Durham Beautiful works with multiple city parks
- Durham County’s Open Spaces, Hollow Rock Nature Park
- The NC Wildlife Resources Commission’s recreational area at the Farrington Point Boat Ramp.
The Rewild Earth website provides overviews of work already completed, including before-and-after photos of the areas addressed.
Left: section of Brumley South Nature Preserve before invasives removal. Right: same section of Brumley South Nature Preserve after invasive plants removed. Photos by Steven Feuerstein.
It is not necessary to have gardening tools yourself to participate in work sessions, although a good pair of gloves, a hat and insect repellent are good to have available. Rewild Earth session leaders lend out necessary tools and provide instruction on identifying invasive plants as needed. Having plenty of water to drink during the one- to two-hour sessions is also advisable, especially with the heat we have been experiencing.
Walks and runs in the areas tackled by Rewild Earth are now even more enjoyable as views are not impeded by walls of large-leaved vines; our native flowers and animals are more easily spotted. If you feel inspired to participate with Rewild Earth, check out their website and/or subscribe to their newsletter.
Maria de Bruyn participates in nature-oriented citizen science projects and volunteers for the Orange County Senior Center. See more of her photos on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruynmariade/), Blue Sky (@mdb2024.bsky.social), and in blogs at https://mybeautifulworldblog.com. This reporter can be reached at [email protected].
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