National Invasive Species Awareness Week offers a perfect opportunity to highlight the outstanding work of Fairfax County volunteers in restoring hundreds of acres of parkland to their natural conditions. The Invasive Management Area (IMA) volunteer program is administered by the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) and plays a critical role in removing invasive plants and vegetation and returning native plants to our community parks.

Invasive plant species can cause ecological and economic harm to the environment as they may out-compete native plants for the same resources. They can create patches of overgrowth that block trails and crowd out native plants and trees. This can lead to fewer native birds and wildlife species and can alter the composition of soil conditions, which create fundamental changes in the makeup of a local plant ecosystem.

The IMA program mobilizes teams of neighbors of all ages to help combat the deterioration of our natural open spaces by engaging the public to encourage healthy planting habits and contributing hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” to magnify the FCPA’s ability to remove invasive species and replace them with native plantings on an ever-larger scale.

“Invasive plants are abundant in many areas of Fairfax County and to try and control them takes a lot of time and money, which is why our volunteers are so appreciated,” said Fairfax County ecologist Patricia Greenberg. “We have more than 90 site leaders that are leading over 2,000 volunteers per year, pulling invasive species. They are really making a huge difference, and we couldn’t keep our parks as healthy as they are without them.”

The IMA program has been conducting invasive removal and replanting in park land primarily through the work of organized volunteer community members for nearly 17 years. Since the program began, some 16,441 volunteers have donated 111,236 hours to remove invasive plants from 65 park sites.

To learn more about the IMA program and to find out about volunteering, visit the IMA website or contact the Park Authority at [email protected].

See also:

• Enviropod Poscast – Invasive Area Management Program on SoundCloud.
• The Fairfax County Public Works and Environmental Services Invasive Plants webpage.

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