Foundation Funding Helps Combat Invasive Species in SuAsCo Rivers Watershed

Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, SVT can move forward with invasive plant control and habitat restoration at this field in Greenways Conservation Area in Wayland, as well as work at the Desert Natural Area.
Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Sudbury Valley Trustees can move forward with invasive plant control and habitat restoration at Greenways Conservation Area in Wayland and the Desert Natural Area in Sudbury and Marlborough.  
This is part of a larger $70,000 grant that supports the work of the Sudbury-Assabet-Concord Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA), a regional collaboration of federal, state, nonprofit, and municipal organizations formed to manage invasive species in the watershed.  Participating partners include Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New England Wild Flower Society, Walden Woods Project, Carlisle Conservation Commission, and Carlisle Conservation Foundation.  The grant is being administered by Mass Audubon.
Glossy buckthorn is invading a large field that SVT owns at the Greenways Conservation Area in Wayland.  Several years ago, SVT hired a contractor to clear the glossy buckthorn and multiflora rose along the field perimeter.  This enlarged the field and reduced invasive plant cover.  However, glossy buckthorn has been aggressively invading the inner field as well.  The NFWF funding will be used to selectively control glossy buckthorn and encourage growth of native field plants.
At the Desert Natural Area in Sudbury and Marlborough, SVT has been working on ecosystem habitat management, including a pitch pine/scrub oak habitat restoration project with the City of Marlborough.  NFWF funds will be used for targeted invasive species control throughout the Desert Natural Area as well as towards the controlled burn and invasive plant control in the habitat restoration area.  Tim Simmons, Restoration Ecologist with the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, is providing technical guidance.  The Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, abutting landowner, will be providing access through refuge property and may contribute staff to the controlled burning.  Learn more about the project on our web site.