Members of AYLUS Syosset participated in another invasive plant removal project with the members of AYLUS Roslyn and Dix Hills with the Stewardship Saturday Program at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Stewards began by celebrating the milestone of achieving the 100th Stewardship Saturday event. Members were able to learn about the various native and non-native plants that do both good and harm to the local ecosystems in NY State. The species we removed today included: honeysuckle vine, green briar and yellow flag iris. Plants like honeysuckle can be extremely problematic when birds and insects are able to spread their seeds across vast areas, making their impacts even bigger on the local wildlife. Vines like the green briar vines, despite being native to the area, are harmful nonetheless. Honeysuckle can choke the trees that they grow on and drag the branches down, preventing it from protecting itself during storms. Yellow flag iris spreads rapidly via the rhizomes and cover and crowd the grounds, preventing the local plants from thriving. Having a loss in biodiversity is damaging to our ecosystems as the other insects, birds and other flora and fauna all depend on each other. Syosset AYLUS managed to cut down large piles of vines in an effort to remediate the effects that these types of plants can cause.
Members participated include:
Alyssa Huang (3.5 h), Nichole Huang (3 h), Jessica Albrecht (3 h).
