 |
| Sherwood Pond at Banotai Park |
The species is autumn olive, a plant which is flourishing near Sherwood Pond and in Banotai Park. During the May 23 meeting of the trustees, the consequences of allowing the plant to continue to propagate were brought to the attention of the board members by Jo Gardner, a volunteer who spends time attempting to beautify the township parks.
Gardner told the board members that while she was not a certified horticulturalist, she spent many hours learning what she could about the autumn olive plant. She told the board members that the species has doubled in mass at Banotai Park in the past three years. Autumn olive is a problem for parks as the plant displaces native shrubs. It threatens native ecosystems by out-competing and displacing native plant species, creating dense shade and interfering with natural plant succession and nutrient cycling, plant specialists warned.
She explained that during efforts to clear the plant from the park, volunteers once had a good-natured contest to see who could pull out the longest root of the species and the winner was a root 28 feet long. She said cuttings of the plant have to be double bagged and taken to a landfill as branches cannot be used for making wood chips used as mulch by gardeners. Gardner explained that the plant can grow on any mineral surface and home gardeners using wood chips as mulch could find the plant growing in their yards within a few years. She explained that the plant is so intrusive, it could begin to affect real estate values in the community. “There have been townships and small cities where that has occurred,” Gardner told the trustees. “They're very nasty,” she said.
Gardner came to the board members to plead for more help with general maintenance and help at the pond and in the park. She explained the lack of volunteer help was placing the burden of cleaning up the park for spring and fall on only three volunteers. She said that during the last scheduled clean up, “we had no one from the board, no one from businesses come out and nobody showed up at either park.” She said while Home Depot had promised volunteers, a date change had canceled that offer.
“Changing the date at the last minute is a problem. Some of the people who volunteered are not going to come back,” she said.
“There is a lot more work needed in the playground, on the beach and the volleyball court. That is not what we (volunteers) are there for. I think we need a park person, a forestry person who really knows what we need and knows the invasive species,” Gardner said.
She noted that the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Michigan have programs, grants and stewardships and could be a possible resource for the township.
“We're not going to get rid of it, but we've got to get it under control,” she said.
Deputy Supervisor and Trustee Tim Rush, who chaired the meeting, said he had some contacts with the DNR he could ask for advice and direction regarding the situation. “Let's see what they can do and see what kind of programs are available,” he said.
