Work continues to remove invasive shrubs in Ambrose A. Call State Park. “Part of a forest management plan calls for, or prescribes for the removal of, invasive shrubs -- buckthorn, honeysuckle and a number of other species,” said Michael Strauser, the park ranger assigned to Pilot Knob State Park, Rice Lake State Park and Ambrose A. Call State Park. “Buckthorn is the primary shrub of concern because it is a non-native species and invasive species generally do green up before native species.
Strauser said it is very invasive. “What these non-native and invasive species do is consume sunlight and shade the ground so native species can’t get the sunlight they need,” he said. “They stay green longer into the fall. They steal sunlight earlier in the spring and longer in the fall and create an impenetrable barrier to the sun so there is no sun that reaches the forest floor at least in the south part of the timber.”
Read more in the April 30 Kossuth County Advance.