The DNR Wildlife Viewing Grants Program emphasizes species and habitats that are conservation priorities in Georgia’s State Wildlife Action Plan. The plan is a comprehensive strategy to conserve native species and the habitats they need before these animals, plants and places become more rare and costly to conserve or restore. It is important invasive species are removed.
Invasive plants, animals, and diseases from other parts of the world are the second leading cause of the loss of native biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. The two best ways we can support the natural world are to protect and plant native plants (the basis of all the food webs) and eliminate invasive plants.
Mimosa, Japanese climbing fern, Chinese privet, Japanese privet, Japanese honeysuckle (white flowers with yellow centers), Chinaberry, nandina (its red berries also kill birds), Cherokee rose (ironically the state flower of Georgia, although it is a harmful invasive from China), and small-leaf spiderwort are the invasive exotic plants found at Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve.
For 12 years members of the local community, the Georgia Botanical Society, and the Florida Native Plant Society volunteer their time and effort to eliminate invasive species at the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve, especially on the trout lily slope and accompanying wetlands. Exotic invasive plants spread rapidly, taking the resources needed by the natives and crowding them out. If allowed to proliferate, they could crowd and shade out the trout lilies and other native plants
The worst invasive at The Preserve is privet or ligustrum, evergreen shrubs planted in great numbers last century. A mature plant makes thousands of berries which can be carried by birds and water into natural areas. New stems can also grow from the roots. At Wolf Creek, the problem starts at the creek and spreads up the slope. Our volunteers have removed many tens of thousands of these plants, from tiny seedlings to 60-year-old trees.
After the shade from these was reduced, small-leaf spiderwort (has three petaled white flowers), a native of Brazil and Argentina, has become the most pernicious invasive plant at the preserve. It is spread throughout the floodplain when Wolf Creek overflows. Stems break apart easily and each fragment contains at least one node that has the potential to take root and spread. began spreading rapidly in the floodplain. This is close to impossible to control by any means, and a huge problem in floodplains in many natural areas like Torreya State Park on the Apalachicola River in Florida. We are trying to keep it from creeping up the trout lily slope and have had to supplement hand removal with herbicides, an unfortunate last resort, especially in a floodplain. If allowed to move on its own, this plant can make large masses over a foot deep, smothering small plants below it.
Invasive plants, animals, and diseases from other parts of the world are the second leading cause of the loss of native biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. The two best ways we can support the natural world are to protect and plant native plants (the basis of all the food webs) and eliminate invasive plants.
Mimosa, Japanese climbing fern, Chinese privet, Japanese privet, Japanese honeysuckle (white flowers with yellow centers), Chinaberry, nandina (its red berries also kill birds), Cherokee rose (ironically the state flower of Georgia, although it is a harmful invasive from China), and small-leaf spiderwort are the invasive exotic plants found at Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve.
For 12 years members of the local community, the Georgia Botanical Society, and the Florida Native Plant Society volunteer their time and effort to eliminate invasive species at the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve, especially on the trout lily slope and accompanying wetlands. Exotic invasive plants spread rapidly, taking the resources needed by the natives and crowding them out. If allowed to proliferate, they could crowd and shade out the trout lilies and other native plants
The worst invasive at The Preserve is privet or ligustrum, evergreen shrubs planted in great numbers last century. A mature plant makes thousands of berries which can be carried by birds and water into natural areas. New stems can also grow from the roots. At Wolf Creek, the problem starts at the creek and spreads up the slope. Our volunteers have removed many tens of thousands of these plants, from tiny seedlings to 60-year-old trees.
After the shade from these was reduced, small-leaf spiderwort (has three petaled white flowers), a native of Brazil and Argentina, has become the most pernicious invasive plant at the preserve. It is spread throughout the floodplain when Wolf Creek overflows. Stems break apart easily and each fragment contains at least one node that has the potential to take root and spread. began spreading rapidly in the floodplain. This is close to impossible to control by any means, and a huge problem in floodplains in many natural areas like Torreya State Park on the Apalachicola River in Florida. We are trying to keep it from creeping up the trout lily slope and have had to supplement hand removal with herbicides, an unfortunate last resort, especially in a floodplain. If allowed to move on its own, this plant can make large masses over a foot deep, smothering small plants below it.