Volunteers needed to help stop the spread of the garlic mustard plant

Volunteers are needed to help save Decorah's parks from the spread of the garlic mustard plant.

A group will gather at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, March 31st along the gravel road by the Upper Iowa River half a mile past the entrance to Palisades Park.  The volunteer effort will run until noon.

Volunteers should bring gloves and hoes, although organizers will have hand diggers and some hoes.

Organizer Mary Lewis says weeding, hoeing, spraying with roundup, burning and weed torching are some of the ways to get rid of garlic mustard, but the most important thing is to keep at it--you don't just weed it once, you have to go back to see what you missed or what germinated since you last weeded.

Says Lewis, "In the city parks we are working for eradication, but we need more eyes so we can locate the places where new growth is just starting.  This effort has been totally volunteer, so we really need you.  We also need to have the public, you and I, say that this is an important thing to do and urge the park department to take on a major role in controlling this and other invasive species."

If you have questions about how to identify garlic mustard, contact Mary Lewis at 563 382-6349 or at marmax@mchsi.com