Taking out wild trash: Volunteers pull invasive garlic mustard from wildlife area

Yahoo

23-04-2025

Erica Place holds up a bundle of garlic mustard, an invasive species that volunteers helped remove on Earth Day. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
'We found some!' Volunteers shouted from a wooded area on the Brenton Slough property between Grimes and Granger.
They were hunting for garlic mustard, a fast-growing invasive species, as part of an Earth Day trash bash organized by Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.
Erica Place, communications and outreach manager for the foundation, said instead of human-generated trash, the group was hunting for 'garbage plants.'
The invasive species has been reported in almost all states and across Canada, but was originally introduced to North America as an herbal antiseptic and erosion controlling plant, according to The Nature Conservancy.
Garlic mustard, sometimes called poor man's mustard or hedge garlic, emerges early in the spring, which allows it to outcompete other plant species.
This leads to a loss of plant biodiversity and the destruction of forest ecosystems, not only from the plant's above-ground growth, but also from a toxin in its roots that can inhibit soil fungi.
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Areas with garlic mustard invasion had not been identified at Brenton Slough, a more than 1,100-acre property purchased by INHF in partnership with Polk County Conservation, which meant volunteers were also on a scavenger hunt for the plants.
'You would be hard-pressed to enter any Iowa woodlands and not find garlic mustard,' Place said to volunteers before they hiked further into the slough to begin their hunt.
Garlic mustard has round, somewhat crinkly leaves with lots of veins and, per its name, a pungent garlic aroma. In the first year of its life cycle, the plants are small 'rosettes' on the ground, but in the second year, they send up a tall stalk with white flowers and prolific seeds.
The plant looks similar to common blue violets and stinging nettle, which volunteers found plenty of on their first pass through a forested area.
It's edible
Many foragers will pull garlic mustard and use it to make things like pesto, pastas, or stir fries.
'This is one of those things where you want to find some to feel accomplished, but it's a good thing not to find any,' Place said and led the group to a different area of the slough to keep looking.
Most of the volunteers chose to participate because their workplaces incentivized volunteer hours, and they decided to cash in on an opportunity that brought them outdoors on a pleasant Tuesday afternoon.
Kate Davies, a volunteer from Des Moines, has participated in several 'trash bash' events put on by the City of Des Moines, and said she enjoys being involved in conservation work. As a mother to two children, she said she wants to make sure the nature she enjoys will 'still be around' when her children are older.
Joe Jayjack, the external affairs director for INHF, said volunteer events like this accomplish two main goals. Practically, it takes a big group of people to do the work of pulling and identifying invasive plants like garlic mustard or honeysuckle. He said the events also bring people out to the natural spaces around them.
'And it helps people care,' Jayjack said. 'I think the more that people learn about these things, the more they're likely to care about protecting special spaces like this.'
Most of the volunteers were at Brenton Slough for the first time. Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is finishing raising a total of $8 million in order to transfer the land over to Polk County Conservation. INHF bought the property from the Brenton family with the intention of holding it until it could raise enough money to transfer the property to the county conservation group, who will maintain and open the reserve to the public.
'It's a really really interesting place,' Jayjack said. 'The slough is kind of a wetland ecosystem. It backwaters off of Beaver Creek and it's just amazing for water quality … and for wildlife habitat.'
Jayjack said the plan is to keep the area pretty wild, with minimal infrastructure of a parking lot and some mown trails.
Walking around the slough, volunteers found garlic mustard beginning to carpet the forest floor. They pulled what was possible, making sure to bring up the roots as well to fully kill the plant, and Place noted the areas with garlic mustard infestation.
'That'll be really helpful for Polk County Conservation to concentrate their efforts when they take control of the property,' Place said to volunteers.
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has volunteer events throughout the year, but several upcoming events will remove garlic mustard and other 'garbage plants' from wildlife areas near Pella and Waukon.
Central Iowans can also participate in trash bash events, organized by the City of Des Moines, through the end of the week in areas around the metro.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources encourages Iowans to celebrate Arbor Day on Friday by planting trees or learning about the tree species around them.
DNR has a registry of some of the biggest trees in the state and resources on identifying the most common trees in Iowa.
Additionally, the department has residential tree distribution events in Greenfield, Iowa Falls and DeWitt, where Iowans can purchase landscape-sized trees at an extreme discount.
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