Recently, the Office of Ecological Sustainability hosted a workshop at Nazareth on how to identify and remove invasive Plants. Invasive plants are a leading cause of loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat, but many private land owners do not have the knowledge or skills to remove them. SCNs partnered with University of Kentucky (U.K.) Cooperative Extension, the Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust, Kentucky Invasive Plant Council, and U.K. Forest Health Extension to host the workshop. Fourteen people attended from as far away as West Virginia.

(Mr. Kurt Mason speaking at invasive plant workshop)

The two speakers, Dr. Ellen Crocker from U.K. Forestry and Mr. Kurt Mason from Natural Resources Conservation Service, introduced the group to some of Kentucky’s most common invasive plants as well as some of the federal conservation programs that offer land owners financial help to remove the invasives on their property.

(Kelly O’Mahoney, SCN, and Susan Gatz, SCN, attending workshop)

After we finished with the indoor portion of the workshop, we bundled up and went outside to put our new-found knowledge to good use. We provided hands-on demonstrations for how to remove bush honeysuckle, burning bush, autumn olive, winter creeper, and Callery pear.