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Carnegie Museum Exhibit on Invasive Plants
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Botany Hall in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has a new temporary exhibit on invasive plants, called Uprooted: Plants out of Place. The exhibit is open now.
https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/uprooted/
Friends of the Parks Program on Invasive Plants
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Ed Donley, Barb Hauge, Cindy Rogers and Ellen Yerger are leading an Indiana County Friends of the Parks program, Invasive Plants: Identification and Treatment, at Blue Spruce Park's Lakeside Center on Saturday, April 12, at 10:00 a.m. No pre-registration is necessary. This is a public outreach event, not a Plant Patrol work event. Attendees will not have to break a sweat!
Join members of the Indiana County volunteer group, Plant Patrol, as we walk the trails, identify invasive plant species, describe the harm that they cause, and relate methods to remove them. We may have to venture a few feet off the trail to get a close look at some of these species. This event will be cancelled in the event of heavy rain or a thunderstorm.
White's Woods Work Event Postponed
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Friends of White’s Woods postponed today’s work event until April 12 because of the weather. Plant Patrol organizers are doing a program at that time on invasive plants for Indiana County Friends of the Parks at Blue Spruce Park. So we won’t be able to participate as an organization on that date.
You are welcome to help Friends of White’s Woods on April 12 without us, though. Contact Sara King at sking@francis.edu if you want to participate. She can tell you whether to join the 12th Street parking lot group or the IUP Coop parking lot group.
Plant Patrol might schedule a separate work event at White’s Woods for this spring. We will keep you posted on that.
March 22 Yellow Creek Work Event Rescheduled to March 29
Friday, March 21, 2025
We rescheduled the March 22 Yellow Creek State Park work event, because of potential high winds in the weather forecast. The new date and time are Saturday, March 29, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. You can sign up at https://www.plantpatrol.org/cgi-bin/events.pl?action=description&EVENTID=52.
Plant Patrol Article in PA iMapInvasives Newsletter
Monday, January 6, 2025
The latest edition of the PA iMapInvasives newsletter includes an article about Plant Patrol. The article describes our group's history, highlights some of our activities, and lists the advantages and disadvantages of being an all-volunteer group. We hope that the article will encourage people in other counties to form similar groups to combat invasive species.
The Pennsylvania iMapInvasives Program is a partnership of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, and NatureServe. Its mission is to support the work of natural resource professionals by providing an online platform where invasive species sightings and management efforts can be recorded and shared.
The Fall/Winter 2024 PA iMapInvasives newsletter is available at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0bb8405a937c4be29bf41176a73548d4
Plant Patrol Picnic: Sunday, October 27, 4:00 pm
Saturday, October 19, 2024
We invite Plant Patrol volunteers and their guests to join us for a picnic to show our appreciation for the hard work that you have done to improve Indiana County's green spaces. Or if you have registered as a volunteer but haven't yet signed up for a work event, this is an opportunity to meet everyone.
As you would expect from Plant Patrol, we will put you to work. But this will be fun work. Instead of pulling out invasive shrubs, you will be cooking your food over a wood fire at Ed Donley's property. Bring your own food or a dish to share, if you wish.
Get more information and sign up at https://www.plantpatrol.org/cgi-bin/picnic.pl.
Garlic Mustard Removal at Blue Spruce Park, May 5, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
We will pull non-native herbaceous Garlic Mustard plants along Getty Run in Blue Spruce Park on Sunday, May 5, 2024, 1:00-4:00 pm. Garlic Mustard is beginning to establish itself in patches along the trail, so this is an ideal time to eliminate it before it takes over the understory. Garlic Mustard produces a chemical that inhibits the growth of native understory plants, so it can create a monoculture. It is also an ecological trap for West Virginia White butterflies, who are tricked by the plant's aroma to lay eggs on it. However, Garlic Mustard poisons and kills the caterpillars.
If you want to volunteer for this work event, more details are at
https://www.plantpatrol.org/cgi-bin/events.pl?action=description&EVENTID=38
Spring 2024 Plant Patrol Work Events
Monday, March 11, 2024
Winter is mostly behind us and spring is arriving! It is time to focus on plants. Plant Patrol has scheduled three work events for this spring to pull invasive shrubs. Please join us, if you can.
Tanoma AMD Wetlands Educational Site
Saturday, March 23, 10:00 - 1:00
White's Woods Nature Center
Saturday, April 6, 10:00-12:00
Yellow Creek State Park
Saturday, April 13, 1:00-3:00
Upcoming Events
No future events are currently scheduled. We will post more later.
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