Ripping out roots
Much of the greenery covering Ritts Park in Butler is not native to the region.
Jennifer Senchak, certified arborist with the Butler Shade Tree Commission, said although many plants look nice, they actually harm other plants and native species in the long run.
“If we don’t do anything about this amazing, beautiful lush green stuff now, in 50 years when all of our big trees are gone, this scrubland is all we’re going to have left,” Senchak said. “It’s pretty in its own way but it’s not biodiverse, it’s not sustainable, it does not support our actual native plants.”
On Sunday, April 30, Senchak and a group of people from other conservationist organizations took to Ritts Park to dig up some of the invasive species to help stabilize the stream that runs through the park. In addition to Community Tree Resources, representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources, the Butler Conservation District and the Penn State Extension also attended the workday.
According to Jessica Pierce, a forester with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the area near a stream needs to be healthy so hazardous materials don’t run off into a population center.
“Essentially the more plants, insects, the more birds there are, the greater resilience a forest has to change,” Pierce said. “Any time we can slow water down near an urban developed area, the better.”
Senchak led a group of about a dozen people through the short nature trail in Ritts Park in the afternoon, first pointing out some of the plant species living in the area and explaining why each is important to the ecosystem. She led the group to a grove with some eastern hemlocks, — Pennsylvania’s state tree — which the conservationists agreed were important to maintain.
Ryan Harr, watershed resource specialist with the Butler County Conservation District, said the hemlock is helpful to animal life at the park, and it has some advantages of its own.
“It’s one of the few evergreens that can survive in the shade,” Harr said.
Following a tour of the trail, volunteers started digging up some of the invasive species, like the Japanese knotweed.
Japanese knotweed looks a little like bamboo, and it blends in with other small trees in the brush. However, Senchak emphasized that people should get rid of them when they are small.
“Japanese knotweed was used by the state and other entities to stabilize ground because it works so well,” Senchak said. “Almost every invasive species is introduced by humans.”
Senchak said removing invasive species from a park at least once a year would help keep a forest in a community hub healthy. Community Tree Resources may host more work days in the summer at the other Butler parks.
Ritts Park, she said, it particularly important to maintain because of the stream that runs through it and into the city of Butler.
“We do have a lot of really special biodiversity in this little park,” Senchak said. “Areas like this are a good place to start with invasive species management. There is so much in this park that would take ages and hours, but we’ll try to focus our attention on what’s also helping to preserve other, more important species.”
