The team at GROW is excited to celebrate our 7th year as a Weed Wrangle partner! Woot! This year we will be focusing exclusively on clearing an invasive ground cover known as Euonymus along the creekbank in our lower forest system to prepare for the installation of a riparian buffer zone in the future. Volunteers working at GROW's site will learn all about the devastating impact this invasive climbing ground cover can have on urban trees and woodlots.
 
This event involves a short but semi-steep hike down to the base of the forest system and the slow, mindful, tedious work of carefully hand removing the vines with their root systems from the forest floor. Patience and attention to details are more necessary than strength or physicality for this type of invasive plant removal. Volunteers should bring something to kneel on and be prepared for a lot of bending and kneeling movement. We will have our organization's "spokesgoat" Milo with us to motivate volunteers as we work together to save our local urban forest from this devastating invasive plant.
 
GROW will provide work gloves for volunteers, though they are welcome to bring their own if they have them. Volunteers are also encouraged to bring a small snack of fresh fruit or veggies to feed to Milo. Our volunteer opportunity is for all ages and we welcome children to be directly involved! Youth under the age of 16 must have an adult guardian on site with them during the event.
 
Weed Wrangle® is a one-day, area-wide, volunteer effort to help rescue our public parks and green spaces from non-native invasive species through hands-on removal of especially harmful trees, vines, and flowering plants. Supervised by an expert in invasive weed management, Weed Wrangle® volunteers learn, practice and begin a habit of maintaining an area free of non-native invasive plants and encourage replanting with natives in removal areas. By engaging our neighbors and challenging them to take action in their own spaces, we hope to create a movement that will have the greatest impact on the invasive plant population.