Et cetera : NCCC Team Removes Garlic Mustard

Team Leader Hannah Davis sprays garlic mustard.

By: Michael Weisgarber

Cedar 1 has been serving their second round in McGregor, Iowa, working at Effigy Mounds National Monument and Pikes Peak State Park. They’re spending four weeks removing invasive species. Their focus has mostly been on garlic mustard, which has been threatening the ecosystem since accidentally being introduced into the area in 1995.

Unlike many NCCC teams that hand pull invasive species, Cedar 1 has been using backpack sprayers loaded with herbicide to treat the plants. This process is called a foliar treatment, and is much more effective in the long run than more traditional removal techniques. Also, they have been tracking their progress using GPS units in which they can input how many plants they have treated. This allows the park to track the best routes to take when spraying the garlic mustard and also see which areas need treated most.

Garlic mustard is one of the more potent invasives in the Midwestern United States, because not only does it force smaller undergrowth plants out of the understory, but it also poisons the fungi in the soil. This prevents new native trees from growing in the soil, which further disrupts the environment. Because of the serious nature of the plant, it’s crucial that the staff at Effigy Mounds has support from volunteers, especially those from team-based organizations like NCCC and the Conservation Corps of Iowa.