Our Service
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What We Did:
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Move-in Day of Service 8/10
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Planning
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Originally had planned to work on Sept. 8th, and Sept. 22nd but due to the issues surrounding Hurricane Irma, the University Grounds crew had to prepare for possible damage around campus and had to cancel our first workday on the 8th.
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New workdays were Sept. 22nd, Sept. 23rd and Sept. 29th.
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Workdays:
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Teamed up with University Grounds (provided the tools needed for invasives removal)
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Started around the edge of the forest along the fence surrounding Miller Field and worked our way down towards the creek itself cutting Chinese privet, Autumn Olive and Bradford Pears. Another group worked on pulling out Japanese stiltgrass and Porcelain berry.
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How They Were Removed:
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Methods used
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Garbage bags for porcelain berries
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Loppers for small privets and olives
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Handsaws for thicker invasive species
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What Happened to the Removed Invasive Species?
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Chipper → mulch
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How to Prevent Further Infestation of Invasive Species
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Spray the roots and cut parts of the invasives (University Grounds)
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Planting native species
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Black Walnut naturally kills surrounding plants/shrubs to gain territory/resources
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How it Affects Rocky Branch Creek:
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In removing invasive species from the areas surrounding Rocky Branch Creek, the native tree species found living beside the creek now have more resources available to them in comparison to before where invasive species absorbed most of the light and nutrients found in the air and soil.
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Native trees that can now replace the prior invasives: Loblolly Pine, Black Locust, and Black Walnut.
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Now that an overwhelming amount of invasives in one section have been cleared out, there is an aesthetic benefit associated with being able to clearly see the creek below when walking on the Rocky Branch Greenway.
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In helping out NC State’s University Grounds Department through three volunteering service days, NC State was able to save some money that would have originally been spent on employee man hours contributed towards the removal of invasive species that could potentially interference with stormwater drainage.
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What took us three days to do would have taken Steve Ratzlaff and his crew two months to complete (while having to continue doing their usual campus tasks).
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