MLK Day of Service – Cooper River Park Invasive Plant Removal

Invasive plants negatively affect our forests, parks and open space. They do not provide the food source and habitat the area’s wildlife depend on and reduce plant diversity by crowing-out native species.  Volunteers will be trained to identify the common non-native plant species that have over-taken the lakefront riparian buffers. Volunteers will be provided hand tools and heavy work gloves to cut the multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed and mile-a-minute vine as low to the ground as possible. In the spring, we will plant bare root native oaks and willows to try and out-compete those nasty non-natives from battling back. We will bag the cut vegetation for disposal.  WARNING – these invasive plants are “beasts” in that they are thorny…and I mean that in the literal sense, not in that they just have bad attitudes.  Volunteers will be provided heavy-duty work gloves, but must wear rugged and warm pants and coat.  I will also provide plenty of hot chocolate to warm their innards while providing plenty of work to do to warm their outards.  Contact Fred Stine fred@delawareriverkeeper.org  856.816.8021 for details.

Park in the gravel lot on South Park Drive at the base of Bradford Avenue.