October 2018
Students from Dr. Carolyn Mahan and Dr. Todd Davis’s Environmental Studies 100: Visions of Nature class participated in two service learning projects in the meadow at the Seminar Forest.
With the expertise of Davis, students identified multiple invasive plant species in and around the fire circle area, for removal. Some of these invasive plants included multiflora rosa, burdock, and privet. Students worked carefully to identify and pull those plants which were overtaking the area. Students made sure to leave many native species behind to support their grow and further propagation.
While the first group removed invasive plants, Mahan and Brad Ross showed another group of students how to properly catch, preserve and identify bees, as well as identify the plants on which they were found. Some of the plants noted were tall and rough stemmed goldenrod, jewelweed (or touch-me-not), calico aster and New England aster.
Once the meadow clearing was completed, the area was then spot-sprayed with herbicide with support from Facilities and Operations. The spot-spraying was to remove any of the non-native, invasive stems left behind. We hope by removing invasive non-native plants, native plants and native bees will have a chance to flourish at the Seminar Forest.