Every summer the Arb department hires 6 student workers to work on projects of all sizes in the arb for 10 weeks. This year the crew was composed of senior Jenny Schmidt, junior Owen McMurtrey, junior Ryan Noe (STA), and sophomores Arden Caffrey, Jasmine Cutter, and Laura Henry (STA).
Our work can best be divided by the tools we use to do it: For many tasks, the only way to do them is by hand and with hand tools. This is true for removal of the poisonous invasive Wild Parsnip which we either dug up or cut down using a swing blade. We removed the water loving invasive Purple Loosestrife by digging it up, bagging it, and hauling it away. Finally, we frequently collect seed from our prairies, clean it, and use it in future prairie restorations.
For times when removal by hand is not possible, herbicide is carefully applied. We spent our mornings for four weeks applying a targeted herbicide to thistle and birds-foot tree foil in our prairie restorations. The herbicide was applied by dawning protective suits and sprayer backpacks and then walking every square foot of the prairies that had the most invasives and spraying individual plants. Once the native plants have a chance to get established, spraying is no longer necessary. We also apply herbicide to the stumps of Buckthorn and Honeysuckle after they are cut if they are too large to be pulled.
For the bigger projects we were all trained in the use of brush saws and chainsaws. With these, as well as hand saws, loppers, and a dump truck, we took on two of our biggest projects for the summer. At two sites we cut down all of the Buckthorn and Honeysuckle, applied herbicide to the stumps, and hauled away all of the brush. We did this at a site in the Upper Arb adjacent to Alumni Field and between the river trail and the river in the Lower Arb.