What 160 Hours Can Accomplish

On yet another gorgeous day here in the Upper Valley region while many summer vacationers are soaking up the sun or taking a dip in one of the areas numerous swimming holes, a group of dedicated interns working for VINS, the US Army Corps of Engineers & the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park respectively spent the first day of August toiling on VINS' floodplain pulling invasive Japanese Barberry.

After root wrenching each barberry clump the entire shrub 

is hung in a nearby tree to ensure it dose not re-root itself.

What was the source of this self-induced torture? As part of a collective initiative to target the removal and control of invasive species along the Ottuaquechee River the recently formed Ottauquechee Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (OCISMA) has outlined a series of work days for these interns to partake in over the next three weeks. Last week was spent at King Farm with MBR National Historic Park targeting a large buckthorn invasion, this week targeted a ~1 acre barberry thicket on VINS property, and next week will test our wits against a large Eurasian Water Milfoil patch located in Dewey's Mill Pond under US Army Corps of Engineers management. In all, these work days will amount to over 160 man hours donated to the never-ending effort to control invasive species.


For more information about OCISMA please contact Mandy Vellia, OCISMA coordintaor, at ocisma@vinsweb.org