Group continues maintaining Ritts Park, targeting invasive species
A collective of environmentalists continued their battle against the Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant species that had spread throughout Ritts Park, on Saturday, April 6, with the first sustainable landcare festival day.
Spring is the best time to tackle invasive plant species, said Jessica Pierce, a forester with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, because they typically start growing leaves before native plant species. A group of about a dozen people, coming from environmental agencies including the Butler County Conservation District and Gargiulo Landscaping, formed Community Tree Resources on Saturday, which aims to educate people about their environmental impacts.
“Some of the natives are starting to green up, but a lot of the stuff that you look at that are green ... are actually a nonnative invasive plant,” Pierce said. “March and early-April are a great time of year to look out your window while driving or at your house in your neighborhood and see what’s green. There’s a very good chance it’s not native.”
Jennifer Senchak, certified arborist with Gargiulo Landscaping, facilitates work at Ritts Park a few times a year as Community Tree Resources. The group is following work previously supervised by the City of Butler to stabilize the streambank at Ritts Park.
Senchak said invasive species can overtake natural plant life in areas it does not belong. The result can damage the local ecosystem by taking up space used by other plants, which has repercussions on animal wildlife.
She said Japanese knotweed is one of the most detrimental plants to a green ecosystem.
“When we are looking at invasive species, it can be overwhelming, so we’re often trying to prioritize. What is the biggest impact on our ecosystem?” Senchak said. “Japanese knotweed is definitely one that is on the highest threat list. It grows across waterways, dams them up, doesn’t allow things that need to move downstream to move downstream.”
Pierce also said Saturday that invasive species can be detrimental to a green space.
“These plants don’t support our ecosystem the way our native plants do,” Pierce said. “Our native insects don’t eat them … the flowers are not as beneficial to pollinators, so they don’t always bloom at the right time.”
Last spring, Community Tree Resources cut down and uprooted much of the Japanese knotweed at Ritts Park, and kept cutting it over the summer and fall to keep it from growing back.
The stems of the plant are still visible in sections of Ritts Park, but Pierce said their root system should be weakened thanks to the work of the volunteers with the collective.
“You’re not going to kill it by cutting it back, but it does weaken its root system,” Pierce said. “The best way to really get rid of it is to come back with an herbicide about six weeks later. There are very few invasive plants that you almost can’t kill without (chemicals).”
Joe Gargiulo, owner of Gargiulo Landscaping, said the maintenance work being performed at Ritts Park is somewhat of an experiment, and a way to show people how they can take care of plants in their own yards at home. He also said the intermittent maintenance the group aims to perform at the park could be adapted to other community parks, if the need and opportunity arises.
“We’re trying to see if actual spray application actually works, how much is it going to take for knotweed since it’s so hard to get rid of,” Gargiulo said. “We’re still going to have to control (Japanese knotweed), but this is a small area that we decided to demonstrate that if we did service it and take care of it, how much would it take.”
In addition to education relayed about plants and invasive species Saturday, attendees also took part in a grounding meditation session, and a lesson on how to safely scale trees from Archie Autenreith, an arborist.
Senchak said she hopes to see more people attend the next landcare session at Ritts Park, because they could learn about how small actions can contribute to a better local natural ecosystem.
“We are employing the message that only you can promote biodiversity, and really try to inspire the younger generation,” Senchak said.
