Right now, our strategy is to focus on invasive ivy (aka “English” or “Atlantic” ivy, hedera helix / hedera Hibernica) and Scotch/French broom.

 

Many professionals who eradicate invasive plants as their vocation would say that focusing on newly introduced invasive plants is the best use of time. This would imply that invasive ivy and broom shouldn’t be the emphasis of our organization. That said, many state parks have ivy removal days, so professionals working to get rid of invasive plants are spending substantial amounts of time, effort and public money on invasive ivy. Invasive broom removal is the second-biggest spending item for the state of Oregon when it comes to invasive plants.

 

Because we do not have the extensive knowledge or formal education that many of these practitioners have, we are very amenable to learning as much as possible from them. But for the time being, we will be focusing on the invasive plants we see every day in our neighborhoods, parks and nearby community forests. This focus also works better for volunteers, who often want to work near their homes. It makes more sense for a professional spending an entire working day on invasives traveling extensively to a rare patch of a particular invasive plant, or even backpacking into a remote area for a week.

 

We also wish to minimize the repetition of what others have said about the harms of hedera helix / hedera Hibernica to ecosystems. The following link is a good starting point.

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https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/profile/hedera-helix-profile/