Save the trees! At three local parks, volunteers are doing that and more – by attacking invasive weeds

Image via Forest Hills Connection

From Forest Hills Connection:

One day over Martin Luther King weekend, a few expert Weed Warriors and a large number of less-experienced volunteers gathered in the wooded area behind the Politics and Prose parking lot to pick up trash and free dozens of trees from invasive English ivy. And whether they realized it or not, they played a role in solving an environmental problem: Our forests are under threat. DCist recently reported that in this case, at least, individuals can make a world of difference. All we need to do is pull some weeds.

Leading the Weed Warrior brigade that day, alongside the National Park Service and Rock Creek Conservancy, were John Burwell and Kathy Sykes. If you’ve been reading Forest Hills Connection for the past few years, you are probably familiar with their work. Burwell has been a certified Weed Warrior since 2012, and has been leading invasive species removal events at Linnean and Broad Branch parks since 2020. Sykes joined the Weed Warrior ranks more recently, and is also a certified Master Gardener who has led Van Ness Main Street’s Connecticut Avenue beautification and pollinator planting program for five years. We’d also like to introduce you to Courtney Bergeron, who took the Weed Warrior training in spring 2023.

We asked them to tell us about the projects they’ve taken on, including that spot behind Politics and Prose, which Rock Creek Conservancy has dubbed “Broad Branch/Potomac Heritage Trail” for the purpose of promoting the cleanups there. Sykes is also working on the conservancy’s mini-oasis at Reservation 630 West, and Burwell and Bergeron organize the Reno Park cleanups. Their latest undertaking: The thicket visible from Reno Road at Fessenden Street.