How to volunteer for Honeysuckle Sweep Weeks in March 2018

By Besa Schweitzer
Member, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter

Marsha Gebhardt, President of Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter with Penny Holtzmann, removing invasive bush honeysuckle

As part of the regional Honeysuckle Sweep Weeks project to stop the spread of this invasive plant and educate the public about the damage it is doing to natural areas, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter members will be hosting a spring honeysuckle removal and fall native planting activities as part of honeysuckle sweep.

The next Wild Ones volunteer event will be on two days, March 15 and 17; 8:00 –11:00 a.m. at The National Museum of Transportation (Kirkwood). The event is open to the public so invite your neighbors to join you. We will be assisted also by Museum of Transportation volunteers. You should bring gloves, water, and sturdy shoes and dress for the weather. Tools like saws, loppers, shovels, and work gloves will be provided. Sign up to volunteer on our Dig In! website page.

The goal of Honeysuckle Sweep is to “Raise public awareness about the need for bush honeysuckle removal and the benefits to wildlife and humans of replanting with native plants. Utilize creative events as well as informative volunteer removals opportunities.” If you would like to participate in other honeysuckle sweep events in the area, go to the Missouri Botanical Garden web page for Honeysuckle Sweep for Healthy Habitat. 

Some of the removed bush honeysuckle along the path at Emmenegger Nature Park in 2017

I know that many of us struggle with our own patch of honeysuckle in our garden. This group event is a way for our organization to show support for the big picture of protecting our natural areas and responsible gardening. When the public becomes educated about the dangers that honeysuckle and other invasive plants pose to the natural world, they will not allow it to grow on their land. In the long run, it will be less work for us. Also, it is another opportunity to recruit new people to the native plant cause.

If you have further questions about this project, you can contact April Anderson at team.nature.ed@gmail.com, Besa Schweitzer at besa.schweitzer@gmail.com, or Betty Struckhoff at etstruckhoff@att.net for details.