Busting Barberry
There are several kinds of invasive shrubs in Hillside Woods (read more here).
Volunteers have surveyed and recorded this invasive shrub in 850 locations in Hillside Woods; as of summer 2022, we had removed about half of these. Join a squad to remove it by contacting us; you can also get an assignment you can do on your own time. Got Japanese barberry in your yard? Consider ditching it: birds eat its berries and spread it all over.
Barberry is especially problematic because it can colonize entire understories, and also increases deer tick populations. its berries and thorny cover attract mice, on which deer tick nymphs typically get their first meal and Lyme infection, plus it creates a humid microclimate that favors ticks' reproductive life cycle. We plan to banish the barberry before Hillside Woods is taken over!
We surveyed the woods in the summer of 2020 and logged over 850 barberry bushes. We recorded locations in EpiCollect5, a smartphone app. We are following up this effort with loppers and shovels! All are welcome. Community service hours and good karma awarded.
To volunteer in your own yard: remove your Japanese barberry! Birds eat the berries and drop them in Hillside Woods.
Mapping the infestation
Here is the data mapped to date. Survey in red; removals in green.