Hundreds to battle plant pests

By Tim Damos / News Republic

More than 450 AmeriCorps volunteers will roam Sauk County one day next month in what might be the largest single-day invasive plant removal project ever organized in Wisconsin.

The effort will be part of a graduation project for Wisconsin AmeriCorps volunteers, who will gather at 18 sites throughout the county to remove invasive plants, plant trees and learn about conservation.

"Hopefully this will start a fire in their bellies to start working on (conservation) issues across Wisconsin," said Brendon Panke, an AmeriCorps volunteer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who helped organize the project.

Panke said volunteers chose Sauk County because of its vast array of training opportunities. The project is jointly coordinated with the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin.

Organizers have invited DNR Secretary Matt Frank and Gov. Jim Doyle to the ceremony and the activities that will follow.

"Sauk County has a lot of land that is really great for protection in a really concentrated area," Panke said.

AmeriCorps volunteers serve in various programs, typically for about a year, and are offered educational incentives for their work, such as college tuition or money to pay off student loans.

After their 2008 graduation ceremony at Devil's Lake State Park on May 14, volunteers will spread out around the county to areas including Devil's Lake, Parfrey's Glen State Natural Area and the Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

Panke said Sauk County is a prime training area because of the resource conservation infrastructure already in place. But the actual progress that can be made will be minimal.

"Any attempt to get rid of invasive species has to be a long-term effort," Panke said.

Volunteers will hunt for plants such as garlic mustard, buckthorn, honey suckle and multiflora rose — invasive species common to this region. Those plants can crowd out and threaten native ones.

Getting rid of the menacing plants can be tough work for landowners like Terrence McCormick, who owns about 140 acres of woodlands off Durwards Glen Road in the township of Greenfield.

He said garlic mustard and honey suckle are ongoing problems on his land east of Baraboo, and he tries to control the problem with spraying. But that doesn't always work.

"Probably the most effective way to control it — although be it backbreaking — is to pull it out of the ground, put it in a black garbage bag and dispose of it," he said.

McCormick will welcome the AmeriCorps volunteers with open arms next month.

"It's always nice having somebody else's back to rely on," McCormick said. "We normally rely on our own. But since these volunteers are interested in assisting, we'll try to provide them with an opportunity."

Groups including the Baraboo Range Preservation Association, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Friends of Devil's Lake State Park and Friends of Mirror Lake State Park have created a successful conservation network countywide, said Sauk County Conservationist Joe Van Berkel.

He said the county has an invasive plant team that gathers quarterly to talk about potential problems and upcoming projects.

Seeds can be spread by hikers who don't clean off their boots and by nurseries that sell certain plants like Japanese Barberry, Van Berkel said. And areas with high invasive species concentrations, like the Baraboo bluffs, will benefit most from the AmeriCorps volunteers, he said.

"This will certainly be the largest one-day effort we've ever seen in this county," Van Berkel said. "It's a great opportunity for us to take advantage of and also to try and teach them something."