invasive plants

Jim Hook, owner of the Recapture Lodge and volunteer firefighter in Bluff, Utah, has been working for years to manage and restore the riparian habitat on his property along the San Juan River in southeast Utah. Where the Cottonwood Creek and the San Juan River meet, Hook is working with USDA’s...

It took Dee Hillberry six years before he could get a handle on encroaching and hardy invasive vegetation. Working on two separate properties, he removed tamarisk trees, or salt cedars, from 200 acres along Cottonwood Creek and Russian olive trees from 100 acres along the Big Horn River. Despite...

Inner city youth helped protect an ancient forest wilderness in the Siuslaw National Forest by spending a day removing invasive tansy ragwort. High school students from the Inner City Youth Institute in Portland, Oregon, arrived in the Drift Creek Wilderness near the Alsea River, where Douglas fir...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Cogongrass makes kudzu look like a lightweight. A perennial grass, it grows on every continent except Antarctica and has...

The Molokai Land Trust (MLT) is a partner of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in its efforts to restore native landscapes on the Island of Molokai in Hawaii. MLT and NRCS have partnered together on many projects, including the one highlighted in this post. Justin Fritscher, NRCS. The...

Spring is often associated with ramps, rain, flowers and frogs, but on the Monongahela National Forest, the season of rebirth is focused on protecting our woods from garlic mustard. Garlic mustard is a non-native invasive plant first brought to America by European settlers in the 1800s. They enjoyed...

When Jim and Nancy Faulkner bought their small farm in Boxborough, Mass. in 2009, the place was a mess. Buildings were falling down, the soil was poor and the land was covered with invasive plants. Nonetheless, they wanted to turn it into a sustainable farm. Help came from two very different...

Walking along the peaceful Hunter Creek Road in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness , in the Hoosier National Forest, you catch a glimpse of beautiful periwinkle flowers swaying in the warm spring air. A short hike uphill and you are immersed in the full bloom of wild hyacinth, along with other...

When Anna Jones-Crabtree and Doug Crabtree founded Vilicus Farms in 2009, they snagged the farm’s name from Latin, as “vilicus” means steward. Anna and Doug are definitely stewards of their 1,200-acre organic farm near Havre, Mont. In a region where wheat is the primary crop and stretches as far as...

The crisp fall air provides an invigorating environment for outdoor activity. What better time to visit and volunteer on our national forests and grasslands than on Sept. 28, for the 20 th annual National Public Lands Day and second annual National Tribal Lands Day. This is the nation's largest...