To remove invasive honeysuckle around the KPVillas retention pond, volunteers will saw or lop each honeysuckle bush near its base and immediately dab an herbicide on the cut.
An opportunity to practice the technique is Saturday, February 25, 2023. Natural Resource Stewards of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invite you join them in removing invasive plants at Warren Dunes State Park from 10 AM to noon EST.
Before participating at Warren Dunes you will need to sign a release onsite. Bring gloves, sturdy footwear, protective eyewear, and clothes that can brush up against the branches and shrubs.
The Warren Dunes volunteers gather in a parking lot to get loppers, saws, herbicide applicators, and spoken instructions. After a short hike, small groups spread out into the park on defined tasks. In addition to the DNR Stewards, many of the volunteers are informed and experienced, so you can always ask questions or get help identifying plants.
If you cannot attend February 25 but you want to receive text messages from a DNR Steward announcing future sessions, contact Chuck Bueter. A typical message (no reply necessary) like this one from February 23, 2023, announces the day, time, and parking location:
Stewardship will be Saturday from 10 am-noon at Warren Dunes State Park. We will cut invasive bushes and vines. Meet along the first side road after the entrance booths off of the beach road. If you have a pair of work gloves please bring them.
Hopefully you can participate at Warren Dunes. After February 25 a KPVillas blog post will announce when we will gather at the KPVillas retention pond to remove the invasive honeysuckle. After cutting and dabbing, we will drag the debris to the curb where a tree service will chip it.
Around the KPVillas retention pond the first step will use a glyphosate on the cuts of invasive plants around a sensitive wet area. In response to an inquiry about the chemicals used at Warren Dunes, a Steward from the DNR Parks & Recreation Division, Stewardship Unit replied:
The chemical we use in upland (dry) sites is triclopyr. We create a 50/50 mixture of triclopyr (61.6% active ingredient in concentrate) and a carrier oil. The brand name of the chemical we are currently using is Element 4 and the oil is Elite premier blue. It doesn’t take much; you just treat the stump after cutting down the rest of the shrub. On my biggest workdays we might use about 15 oz of the 50/50 mixture. I’d say in two hours one person only uses ½ an ounce, this goes up when people are using the saws cutting large shrubs quickly.
The eye dropper bottles that we use at Warren Dunes are a Wayne special. I think he sources them from the company he orders supplies for his chemistry lab. At other locations I use applicators called Buckthorn Blasters , we use them for all our stump cut treatments not just buckthorn. If you purchase this applicator, it is an empty bottle. The label on it says to use a 20% glyphosate (Roundup) mixture. We only use glyphosate [Roundup Custom product label] in wet areas, so the label can cause some confusion. The buckthorn blasters are just like bingo dauber’s, you might be able to purchase those for a lower price.
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