Please join us at an upcoming field workshop sponsored by North Branch Nature Center in collaboration with the Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston Conservation Commissions and the University of Vermont’s Ecological Planning Laboratory.

How to Manage Invasive Species across a Watershed (Workshop) will be held on September 22nd from 4:00 to 6:30 pm. The tour will begin at the Waitsfield Town offices at 4144 Main Street. For more information and to register, go to the North Branch workshop page, at https://northbranchnaturecenter.org/event/wlc-invasives/ .

The Mad River Valley Knotweed Project has been working for eight years to map and control invasive plants and restore riverside habitats in the Mad River Watershed. Along the way, they’ve experimented with every technique under the sun, from hand-pulling to mowing to goat grazing, partnering with university faculty and biodiversity experts along the way to improve and evaluate their efforts and create a comprehensive GIS mapping system, and develop experience in riparian habitat restoration. On this tour, see what techniques have—and haven’t—worked, what kind of progress has been achieved, and learn why managing invasives requires experience in community building and systems thinking. The workshop will be led by Sean Beckett, Program Director at North Branch and an accomplished educator.

Serving as workshop resources are:
– Noelia Barrios-Garcia, an Instructor and Invasive Species Ecologist with the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources at UVM.
– Jito Coleman, chair of the Warren Conservation Commission.
– Andrea Henderson, co-chair of the Fayston Conservation Commission.
– Curt Lindberg, chair of the Waitsfield Conservation Commission and co-founder of the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance.

If you are concerned with the threat presented by Japanese knotweed and wondering about management options and sensible watershed strategies to stem its spread, please join us.