Invasive Honeysuckle Management - Mills Riverside Park - Photos

The 2024 Event will be held on

May 18, 2024, 10 AM -12 PM

Please join us for this invasive plant management at Mills. 

RSVP BERNIE PAQUETTE

May 20, 2023, 10 AM to 12 PM

Volunteers

Invasive Honeysuckle Management - Mills Riverside Park

Organized by Jericho Families in Nature (JFiN)

Left to right, 

Maeve Kim, Sean Reilly, David Wheeler,

 Jane Sandberg, John Warner, 

not in the photo, Bernie Paquette

                              Livy Strong, Jericho Underhill Park District - Chair

The honeysuckle behind Livy in the photo above is near the bridge. This section was not cut down as it acts as a barrier to the steep decline/bank. Perhaps a fund could be created through donations to the park to purchase plants that could replace the honeysuckle, and allow their removal while adding a native planting to serve as a barrier. 

BEFORE 

Invasive  Honeysuckle (the non-native species) if left unmanaged, 

forms dense thickets, blocking sunlight and out-competing native plants. 

This is not what a natural Vermont woodland looks like.

Learn how to recognize invasive vs. native honeysuckle easily.  

Save our woodlands - manage invasive honeysuckle mechanically. 

AFTER 

We did a little Green Up work at the same time. 

This native dogwood was growing horizontally

 to try to reach sunlight from under the invasive honeysuckle. 

This apple tree was becoming overgrown and shaded by invasive honeysuckle.

There are dozens of native dogwoods, and some maples, cherry, and other native trees uncovered and now able to more easily access sunlight. 

 

The pond can now be seen from the trail. 

Maeve asked Dave, "So when you were back in high school is this what you thought you'd be today? 

To which he replied, No. I wanted to be an engineer. I went to a space camp. I wanted to build rockets. But sometime during college, I had the thought that this, where we live is a pretty good spaceship. And I switched majors to work on protecting it. 

David Wheeler is Deputy Director of Water Resources, City of South Burlington, and the SB NRCC Staff Liasion. He resides in Jericho, Vermont. 

There is a good deal more Invasive honeysuckle at Mills Riverside Park. Contact Bernie Paquette or Livy Strong if you are interested in volunteering at the next Invasive Honeysuckle Management event. We need about three more folks to volunteer in order to stage the next one. 

Help keep our park and its forested areas ecologically healthy for people and a biodiverse set of animals and native plants. 

Thank You to Maeve, Jane, John, David, and Sean for your volunteer invasive honeysuckle management work at Mills Riverside Park. 

Footnotes 

Cutting these massive invasive honeysuckle bushes does not kill them. However, it does prevent them from spreading by seed for now. And in future years management will be the equivalent of mowing the lawn once a year.  

Native plants now have more time and resources to grow in their place.

We did not add any poisons (herbicide or other) to the plants or soil in this project. 

Emailed comments:

Thank you! We walked the trails with our daughter today and she noticed the work done and so did we. Thank you! Mariann

Wow! This hard work really shows. Sometimes I think if we just let people know that honeysuckle and barberry increase the tick populations maybe they’ll be more aggressive about removing them! Excellent work, that dogwood looks so happy now!

 Best, Cristine 

Hi Bernie.  

Thank you so much for doing this project on behalf of the park and all of the visitors who come each day to enjoy the space. We are lucky to have committed and enthusiastic neighbors like you and the group that worked on Saturday. We need a lot of extra hands to help maintain the park and appreciate what you’ve accomplished. - Bruce B. 

Dear Bernie,

I came home and promptly visited the park. I was amazed by the amount of honeysuckle that you and your able helpers cut and piled. WOW!  Was that just several hours of work?  How many came to assist?  What tools did you use?  Very impressive!! I want to thank you and all those who attended. Hard work for sure. The park is better for it and you have demonstrated how effective a concentrated effort can be! Thank you! - Livy