2023-2025 Photos and commentary

In 2023 the Friends Greater Eloise Stewards (formerly the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG)) conducted 12 events during the year concluding with three buckthorn events in October with the work concentrated in a new area approved by the MPRB southeast of the upland garden where Jim Proctor discovered a hillside with a pond hidden by buckthorn and honeysuckle. Photo above - a view of part of the area with work underway. Below - a large section of the savanna with invasives cut down and ready for treating or stripping. Photos by Jim Proctor.

Jim Proctor wrote to the volunteers in an email:

In our recent efforts just outside the Garden fence we’ve uncovered something really exciting—a small un-forested slope which sits above a small pond. This spot was obscured by a wall of non-native trees and shrubs including buckthorn, honeysuckle and Amur maple. Now that the invasive shrubs and trees are partly removed, we can see that it has great potential as a lovely meadow with a view of the pond below.

This is a nice counterpoint to the more densely wooded maple bowl. The new area has an ephemeral pond, but quite open to the sky, surrounded by grassy meadow and open oak woods and savanna. On Saturday 11-11-23 we finished weeding buckthorn sprouts in a swath along the top of this hillside and seeded it. We also weeded and seeded into the adjacent wooded area just to the north.

MPRB Natural Resources staff provided us a generous supply of buckthorn replacement seed mix from Minnesota Native Landscapes. It contains a mix of grasses, sedges and forbs to compete with any future invasives. Recent research shows this is very important. We’ve done modest seeding in the past, but we plan to make this a more significant part of our efforts going forward. Thanks MPRB!

Below: Minneapolis Parks Superintendent Al Bangoura joins the work force at the final buckthorn event of the fall. At left Jim Proctor instructs on the weed wrench. Photos Jennifer Olson.

2024

The Greater Eloise Stewards conducted 20 events during the year beginning with garlic mustard work in the spring with three scheduled sessions in April/May, although the first was a bit wet.

Work then moved to the new area southeast of the Garden where a pond, once obscured by nonnative honeysuckle and buckthorn, was being restored to a new meadow of native herbaceous plants, some of which were planted in the fall of 2023. During early summer the group was in the process of growing out hundreds of plants from seed purchased by the Friends. A small number were ready to plant during a June 15 work session. Then they started tackling dense buckthorn among the beautiful ancient white oaks adjacent to the area cleared in 2023.

Below: The pond in the oak savanna with partially restored hillside. 2024. Photo Jim Proctor.

These work sessions continued with “pop-up” dates when time was available on quick notice to the volunteers, ending with 3 scheduled-in-advance sessions to end the work in October.

In October Jim Proctor wrote to the volunteers:

Just look at these pictures! I think the savanna pond area is becoming one of the most beautiful spots in the Minneapolis Park system. Gorgeous old white oaks; an open woodland with long sight lines; a pothole pond with emergent vegetation where owls bathe and wood ducks gather; a large red oak snag that provides habitat for wildlife; a very lengthy white oak limb that is truly a sight to behold.

Wattles: Things that control erosion. You have seen them all over at construction sites - long tubes filled with some substance that slows and filters water thus controlling runoff from a storm and allowing some water to recharge groundwater.

Traditionally wattles have been made of sticks held together by stakes and interwoven with twigs and branches. A log by itself can be a wattle if use for erosion control purpose. Wattles have been used this way in Roman times and long before. The technique is also used for fencing and wall construction.

So now they come to Wirth Park. Originally suggested by James Shaffer, Natural Resources Supervisor for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, wattles are being used to repair eroding gullies that have formed on unofficial trails in areas where the volunteers have begun removing buckthorn. The group uses ratchet straps to compress the bundles, and tie them up on tables, so it is easier to do and then they are staked in position. Please don’t mistake these for cut buckthorn that someone forgot to remove.

Below: Wattles and logs provide slope erosion control in the area of Wirth Park being restored.

Below: Gathering wattle material in Wirth Park. FIPAG photo.

2025

Below: In 2025 work sessions were expanded to two times per month all year around, weather permitting. Here a group clears buckthorn from a hillside in the savanna. Photo Jim Proctor.

Activity continued through the summer months until the entire area above the pond, east to the Park boundry and west to the maple glen was cleared of invasives with reseeding of selected plants. Photo Jim Proctor.

Below: A panoramic view of part of the savanna with new native plants growing in the sunlight. Photo Jim Proctor. Larger Image