Service Learning

I did half of my service learning at Koreshan State Historic Site on Friday. My assignment was to uproot and dispose of non-native invasive plant species that were taking over the campgrounds. The biggest problem at Koreshan is the Air Potato, which can grow up to 8 inches per day eventually killing native plants. Most of these were already cleared out by other students, so I had to pick this Brazillian vine that was all over the place, climbing up and strangling the native plants and trees. It is important to completely uproot the plants so they would not keep growing and to dispose of all of its seeds as well. I also learned that I could not just throw the vines in the dumpster because they will re-root when they eventually get to the landfill. The invasive vines were to be burned later on in the week by the staff, as well as a non-native bush we cut down. I will be going back to pick other invasive plants, herbs, and weeds this Friday. This is the abrus precatorius seed I was picking on Friday. All of these seeds are potential new invasive vines.