The Nature Conservancy in Vermont - WOW Demonstration Sites

An increasing number of schools and businesses are working with the Wise on Weeds! program by pledging to make their landscapes “invasive-free.” Participants in the Wise on Weeds! program learn about the significant threat exotic invasive species, often introduced to new areas when they are planted in gardens and other landscaped areas, pose to Vermont’s native plant communities. These schools and businesses are working to remove invasives from their properties before they can spread to natural areas.

Smugglers' Notch Resort, Smugglers' Notch, VT

High up in the Green Mountains, Smugglers’ Notch Family Resort is working hard to protect the forests they cherish. After learning that some invasive plants get their first foothold in an area through landscape planting, owner and manager Bill Stritzler resolved to take action. As a result, the resort will be removing and replanting over 200 Japanese barberry, burning bush, and Amur maples from their gardens and landscapes over the next two years.

Branch Out Burlington!

The award-winning organization dedicated to planting and caring for the street trees of Burlington has stretched its limbs to protect Vermont's forestland too. Branch Out Burlington!, which manages the Burlington Community Tree Nursery and Perkin's Point gardens, is committed to growing and planting non-invasive street trees such as hackberries, littleleaf linden, and Japanese zelkovas. Now Branch Out Burlington! volunteers and Burlingtonians who participate in the group's Annual Tree Walk will also hear about Wise on Weeds! and learn how they can select aesthetically pleasing and environmentally suitable street trees.

North Branch Nature Center

Just a few miles up the North Branch of the Winooski River in Montpelier lies a "small preserve with a big heart" known as the North Branch Nature Center. With the help of the University of Vermont Extension Service's Master Gardener Program, the Center boasts a garden full of colorful wildflowers and shrubs that looks beautiful and provides food and habitat for a variety of wildlife. These gardens are a wonderful place to visit in the early spring when migrant birds are feeding on the last of the winterberry holly berries, in the late summer when butterflies visit the joe-pye weed and black-eyed susans, or anytime in between when you wish to see how gorgeous a Wise On Weeds! garden can be.

Clarendon Elementary School, North Clarendon, VT

The 4th and 5th grade students at Clarendon Elementary School are learning more than just reading and writing. This spring the students, with the help of their teacher Jan McCoy and the Wise On Weeds! program, pulled over 200 pounds of garlic mustard from the forested area behind the school.

The students learned about the threat of invasive plants to Vermont's native plant communities and why it’s important for people to remove invasives from their own properties as they cleared away garlic mustard, an invasive species that secretes chemicals into the soil to prevent other plants from growing. By the end of their weed-clearing stint, the forest floor was cleared of garlic mustard and the students were declared to be sufficiently “Wise On Weeds!” to receive WOW! certificates.

Charlotte Wildlife and Recreation Park, Charlotte, VT

Because the Charlotte Park Committee works hard to protect town lands for the benefit of humans and wildlife, they realized something had to be done about the honeysuckle in the park. As joggers and walkers enter the park from the Greenbush Road entrance, they are quickly surrounded by a dense mass of tall bush honeysuckles. The park committee has spent a lot of time pruning the fast-growing shrub to keep their trails open, so when they learned that the shrubs were invasives providing “junk food” for their local wildlife, they realized that the plants were more than just a trailwork nightmare. Starting small, the town committee will begin removing the honeysuckle from the parts of the park with the most dense infestations. They hope to reclaim more parkland each year from the aggressive plant.

Hildene, Manchester, VT

The home of the Lincoln family has long been a popular destination for history buffs and outdoor lovers alike. Not just a historic site, Hildene offers miles of walking trails that traverse farm and forestland at the base of Mt. Equinox. In preparation for a new nature trail that will be built around a beautiful wetland on the property, Diane Newton, Lead Educator at Hildene, realized that invasive plant species were taking over the forest and wetland, compromising the environmental health and aesthetic look of the area.

To control the invasive plants along the new nature trail, Hildene staff and first-year students from Southern Vermont College will join together to clear five acres of invasive-riddled forest land. The forest contains a swath of invasive species, including buckthorn, honeysuckle, Japanese barberry, Amur maple, garlic mustard and purple loosestrife.

Jeffersonville Town Triangle, Jeffersonville, VT

Down the mountain from Smugglers’ Notch Resort is the town of Jeffersonville where the town’s triangle greens the roadside for travelers driving along Vermont Route 15 and Route 108. Thanks to plant donations and volunteer staff from Smugglers’ Notch Resort, the town triangle will become an invasive-free site when two large Japanese barberries are pulled from the middle of the landscaping.

Vermont State House, Montpelier, VT

Tucked behind the Vermont State House in Montpelier, just outside the windows of the cafeteria where legislators, staff, and visitors dine, is a forgotten garden that is now being brought back to life. A three-way collaborative between The Nature Conservancy’s new Wise on Weeds! program, the State of Vermont’s Department of Buildings and General Services, and Vermont Master Gardeners, is working to rehabilitate the garden for the enjoyment of the more than 150,000 visitors who pass through the State House each year.

Once resplendent with hostas, spring wildflowers, ferns, and other native species adapted to the shaded space behind the capitol, the garden is now overrun with invasive species like bishop’s weed, a plant that can invade and take over natural habitats. In early July, more than a dozen volunteers gathered to remove these multiplying weeds and cover the soil with black plastic in preparation for a fall 2008 replanting. Since these invasive plants are so hardy and persistent, the soil will need to remain covered for a year to ensure they will not resprout.

Posters in the State House cafeteria will update visitors on the garden’s progress and provide information on how to recognize, remove, and replace invasive plants.

Wise on Weeds! Program Page