Jericho Invasive Plant Posse.

Things are happening in the Tillotson Homeowners Association ~25-acre site in Jericho, Vermont. After receiving permission from the H.O.A., one of the residents (Barbara) and I started cutting down invasive honeysuckle on the site. After a couple of sessions of cuttings, we had a volunteer from Underhill (Russ) join us. Then recently Amber, a wonderful young woman who lives in Jericho Center, volunteered and we did more cutting, this time freeing up an apple tree. In the past cuttings, we have freed up American Cranberry bushes, nannyberry, and other native shrubs, oak, cherry, and other native trees.

As a reminder, Bernie will purchase creemees at the Jericho Country Store for anyone who comes out to work with us on any one of our Invasive Honeysuckle Cutting meetups.

With the ten to twelve-foot thickets of Invasive Honeysuckle removed, the areas of the woods are now looking like they should and the view of the pond is improved.

Now Barbara is pursuing a possible purchase of some native shrubs from the Intervale Conservation Nursery in Burlington for planting to help replace the invasive honeysuckle.

This effort by a band of a few people joining together in solidarity of land stewardship through a small bit of sweat, no chemicals, and a willingness to do continued management is encouraging. And the work is rewarding in meeting up with like-minded folks and getting instant gratification from seeing the native plants we give freedom to.

The management of the re-growth will be much easier as hand pulling or light cutting is all that is necessary. At some point, we might have the time and energy to uproot the stumps and roots.

My partner Maeve has initiated a similar project (with Amy the F&W representative) on Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area land with a July volunteer date set.

Help me to convince the legislature to declare the third Saturday in May as VT Invasives Management Day. *Currently seeking support letters from any organization. Contact me (Bernie) for more details.

I think land stewardship starts with knowledge, and awareness followed by persistence and patience. In addition, caring plus contribution equals community. It makes me happy to be part of that mix.