This season's Invasives Strike Force (ISF) crew consists of four Conservation Corps members, Zachary Keenan, Gabriella Cano, Stephen Fox, and Danny Pollard, led by crew leader Claire Lignac. This season, the TISF crew will primarily be managing emerging invasive species—species that are new to the area with limited populations—throughout the Lower Hudson Valley with the goal of completely eradicating them from the region. In June, the crew will be managing scotch broom, Chinese bush clover, giant hogweed, Japanese spiraea, sticky sage, siebold’s viburnum, among others. Other projects include managing invasives that impact rare, threatened and endangered species or habitats to help the native plants thrive. According to crew leader, Claire, the new team is, "really lovely, really knowledgeable, excited and curious - and that always makes a great team!" Claire added that she is, “learning so much about different emerging invasives, about leading a team, about the invasives that devastate this area, and a lot about helping people understand why this is important and why our work is important.” We can't wait to see what this team accomplishes this season! |