Alumnus, grad student remove invasive species from Wakelin McNeil Woodlot

The rain stopped long enough for alumnus Ryan Dziedzic and graduate student Melissa Haswell to finish the job they started in 2006.

Dziedzic and Haswell volunteered Oct. 3 to remove the invasive species of plants from the Wakelin McNeil Woodlot, part of the Fabiano Botanical Gardens.

They both wrote a proposal in 2006 about plant species in the botanical gardens that became the focus of last Saturday’s work, said Patti Travioli, botanical gardens and greenhouse manager.

“We decided to remove the exotic species, because they prevent the growth of the native species,” Haswell said.

The alumni that volunteered really made a difference, Travioli said, from the papers they wrote as students and coming back and following through as volunteers.

Haswell said she and Dziedzic split the woodlot in half and both worked on their proposals for Central Michigan University to use the space as a teaching area.

“We hoped the biology department would adapt the proposal we put together,” Haswell said. “We mapped out all the plants and identified the exotic secrecies in the lot for removal.”

Haswell said the term “exotic” meant not native to Michigan or the country.

“We worked to remove the highly evasive species the Common Buckthorn also known as the Eurasian Buckthorn,” Travioli said. “This evolved after Dr. Joann Dannenhoffer of the Biology Department gave me papers earlier this summer that were written by Ryan and Melissa.”

The buckthorn competes and out grows everything else so none of the native species plants can grow, Haswell said. With the Buckthorn removal, the native seedlings can now grow and mature in the area.

The buckthorn is usually a large shrub or small trees that can grow to heights of 20 to 25 feet, Haswell said. The leaves are dark green and shiny, and the flowers are pale yellow in color and occur in clusters.

The fruit is fleshy and ripens to a dark purple color. The bark is gray to brown color.

It was first introduced into the United States in the mid-1800s as an ornamental, Travioli said. Phase one is now completed which was the cleaning of the woodlot. Annually, they will go in a remove any evasive plant life.

“The projected goal of phase two of the botanical gardens is sometime in the spring,” Travioli said. “The focus of that phase is the pond.”