Volunteers clear invasive honeysuckle from almost all of a Columbia park
After years of Missouri Conservation Corps work at Kiwanis Park, spring wildflowers have come back and sightlines have reopened across the 20-acre park.
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Volunteers have cleared invasive bush honeysuckle from nearly all of Columbia's 20-acre Kiwanis Park, KOMU reported. Missouri Conservation Corps began the work in 2021. When they started, Stephen Bybee said, you could not see from the parking lot to the shelter. Spring wildflowers have returned as the shrubs came out, and the open sightlines help both visitors and the native habitat.
A removal day on Thursday used a warm, dry fall. Honeysuckle stays green after other plants go dormant, and its red berries make it easy to spot in October. Birds eat those berries and spread the seed. AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Anna Do said crews keep watching treated ground so it does not grow back thick. Left alone, the shrub takes over the understory and hides trails. The group usually holds 30 to 40 volunteer days a year. Bybee said cutting can still work into mid-December, when the leaves are green and everything else is not.
For the classroom
Bush honeysuckle is a shrub that does not belong in Missouri woods. It stays green after native plants turn brown, and birds spread its red berries. At Kiwanis Park in Columbia, it once grew so thick that you could not see from the parking lot to the shelter. Missouri Conservation Corps has held volunteer cutting days there since 2021. This fall's warm, dry weather made the shrubs easier to find and cut. Project director Stephen Bybee said crews have now cleared honeysuckle from nearly all of the 20-acre park. Spring wildflowers have come back, and people can see across the trails again. Volunteers still check old spots so the shrubs do not return.
- How can you tell bush honeysuckle from plants that belong in the park?
- What came back after the shrubs were cut?
- Why do the volunteers have to keep checking the same woods?
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