Invasive Plants

For the first part of my project, I contacted my school’s Key Club and organized an invasive plant removal at Pine Jog Environmental Education Center. Meanwhile, I spoke at Key Club meetings and posted flyers to generate interest. Though the original plant removal was rained out, I rescheduled another one, which was a success. My group and I removed nearly all of the tropical almond (an invasive tree species) from the northern section of Pine Jog. If we had not done this a costly plant burn would have been required, which would also damage native plants.

For the second part of my project, I wanted to contact homeowners and inform them of the dangers of having invasive plants in their yard that could spread to Pine Jog. I considered holding a homeowner’s meeting, but decided that getting enough people to come would be too challenging. In the end, I chose to make brochures educating the homeowners around Pine Jog on common invasive plants and native plants that could they could replace the invasive plants with in their yard. I gathered information for the brochures and procured a list of addresses from PAPA (Palm Beach County Property Appraisers Office). I made the brochures, printed them, and mailed them out. As a result of my project, many people came to know about the dangers of exotic invasive plants and Pine Jog’s biodiversity remained safe.