Help us keep Cady Hill Forest happy and healthy by joining our volunteer work party! On the evening of Wednesday, July 27, volunteers will gather at Cady Hill with a focus on removing invasive Japanese barberry. Join SLT, Stowe Trails Partnership, and the Stowe Conservation Commission for a volunteer workday in Cady Hill, focused on removing Japanese barberry.
Barberry is a non-native, invasive plant that looks pretty in landscaping around homes and yards. Unfortunately, it wreaks havoc when it escapes into natural areas, posing a threat to forest health, wildlife, and human health and safety.
Birds and other animals eat barberry’s bright red berries, carrying the seeds into shrublands and forests. Once established, barberry can multiply and spread through seeds and stem and root sprouts, quickly colonizing an area. It can grow so thickly in woodlands that few native shrub and tree seedlings or herbaceous plants survive. Barberry infestations can lead to increases in rates of Lyme disease. Ticks like to hang out on the tips of shrubs, waiting for mammals to pass by. Mice populations—an alternate host for Lyme disease—thrive in the thorny barberry stands. Previous volunteer days in Cady Hill Forest have done an excellent job slowing its spread, and our continued efforts can build on their good work.
We will meet in the Substation parking lot off of Cady Hill Road (Google maps link) at 5:00pm.