Lee County Volunteers Rid Arboretum of Invasive Plants

by Anne Miller, District Administrative Coordinator, Opelika, AL

Lee County Earth Team Volunteers were among the more than 60 individuals who showed up recently at the Donald E. Davis Arboretum on the Auburn University campus. They came with sturdy work gloves, wore long-sleeved shirts and protective eyewear, and came with tools that would suffice for the kind of work they would be doing—ridding the arboretum of invasive plant species.

The Alabama Invasive Plant Council (ALIPC) was on hand to help with the work.  They also helped educate those present about the dangers of invasive plants and provided guidance on how to manage invasive plants in a native plant collection like the one at the arboretum.

Among the invasive plants in the arboretum were privet, mimosa, Chinaberry, kudzu, bamboo, and Japanese honeysuckle. Because they are invasive plants, they have all got to go, according to Patrick Thompson, an agricultural technician with Auburn University’s Biological Sciences Department. Infestation of invasive plants is a problem that takes root rather quickly. “Some of the species of plants we’re working against could overrun the arboretum in just a couple of years’ time,” said Thompson.

The problem of invasive plants encroaching on native ones isn’t confined to the Davis Arboretum. “The alien species of plants that pose the greatest threat to our native plants are constantly entering our country’s borders,” Thompson said. “In order to reduce the pressure on our native collection of plants, we will remove the invasive plant species from places inside and adjacent to the arboretum borders.” Left unchecked, invasive species can out-compete native plants for habitat, water, and sunlight.
Invasive plants find their way into native plant collections like those at the Davis Arboretum through a number of methods, such as people, wind, water, and birds that disperse their seeds effectively.

Invasive non-native plants are one of the greatest threats to the natural ecosystems in Alabama and are destroying our natural history and identity. These unwelcome plants are disrupting the ecology of natural ecosystems, displacing native plant, and degrading Alabama’s unique and diverse biological resources. Our native flora provides the foundation of the historic American landscape and defines the various ecosystems and regions of the country. It’s important to protect and preserve these native species.

January 31, 2007

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