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A Milwaukee program helps teens fall in love with the outdoors, and find a career
Project type
News Story
Date
August 6 2024
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
On a muggy late July morning, Jacob Sanchez stood in front of a dense stand of invasive buckthorn in McGovern Park and pulled down a towering branch of the shrub.
Crew members from Cream City Conservation Corps looked on, calling out ways to identify the invader.
Glossy leaves with teeth-like serrations. Orange sapwood just underneath the bark.
Invasive buckthorn has taken over the trails that meander through the wooded stand in McGovern Park. Not only has it cut off access to trails, but it outcompetes native understory plants by releasing toxins into the soil and shading them out.
The conservation corps members were there to help remove it.
Sanchez, trails coordinator with Milwaukee County Parks, said the goal was to give space for native plants to thrive. But really, the day was about so much more.