The Friends of Minute Man supported a horticultural intern to manage invasive plants at Minute Man National Historical Park with help from a Sudbury-Assabet-Concord Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (SuAsCo CISMA) grant. This recent project focused on hand-pulling garlic mustard, wild chervil, black swallowwort, bittersweet, porcelainberry vine, and goutweed in park areas near the Concord River. Management of these invasive species at the park requires a sustained effort!
Zachary (Zach) Forrest joined us as a horticultural intern from the local Minuteman Technical High School this spring and summer. Zach Forrest’s vocational area of study is Environmental Science, and he is continuing his studies at UMass Boston this fall.
Zach focused on emerging garlic mustard and wild chervil on the riverbanks and slopes to reduce seed spread along the river corridor. Forrest reflects, “When I saw the amount of garlic mustard that needed to be pulled, I felt like it would be a challenge to get it all.” He worked diligently and with the support of the park’s biological technicians, a gardener, spring interns, and volunteers.
As the garlic mustard disappeared from the landscape, another invasive species, wild chervil, began flowering. Forrest returned to the same river slopes to remove the wild chervil, which has a taproot. Forrest explains, “Over seven weeks, I have pulled and bagged thousands of garlic mustard and wild chervil plants!” All pulled plants were placed in containment bins for composting.
The park’s Resource Manager, Margie Brown, explains, “We compost invasive plants in plywood boxes, then use the two or three-year-old compost in garden areas where we know we will pull any seedlings that germinate. The seeds can remain dormant for a couple of years, then germinate, so it is important to either dispose of them via State-certified disposal facilities, contain them in invasive plant bins, or spread resulting two- to three-year aged compost in garden areas that are routinely weeded.”
Many additional staff and volunteers contributed to the effort. Brown explains, “We calculated that it is possible to pull about 1,000 plants an hour in a dense area of garlic mustard. Zach’s project removed several cubic yards of invasive plants from the river corridor!”
The internship was both rewarding and offered a stepping stone for Zach Forrest to gain skills in resource management, environmental science, public service, leadership, communication, and collaboration. Thank you to SuAsCo CISMA for helping to fund Zach’s internship.
The Friends of Minute Man National Park actively supports landscape projects and has funded summer landscape and garden interns at the park for over ten years. Your donations to the Buttrick Gardens help fund garden interns each summer. Click here to support the Buttrick Gardens internship.
Image above: Zach Forrest removing wild chervil and other invasive plants from the East Terrace hillside of the Buttrick Gardens in May 2024. Photo courtesy of the NPS.
Garlic Mustard Before and After
Image on the left shows the “Before” of garlic mustard along north bank of the Concord River at Minute Man National Historical Park in April 2024. Image on the right shows the “After” with garlic mustard removed and the invasive plant containment bin visible in the background. Photos courtesy of Zach Forrest.