Brad, I agree with you whole-heartedly about the need to pitch in the restore habitats, especially to remove invasive species like buckthorn. If each bird organization could designate a leader who could organize even just 2 removal events for families and 2 community education events annually much good could be done. Every urban and suburban birding event should include a buckthorn identification exercise. It is that serious a problem.
I live near Theo Wirth Park, and it is sickening to see the tiny cedars struggling to break through the buckthorn canopy. They never will. "Removal" efforts consist of lopping off buckthorn that sprout from the stumps. The formerly lovely Quaking Bog in the Park has been taken over, and there is no room in some areas any longer for tamaracks to take root because the buckthorn root systems are so thick, although there are only stumps above ground. It takes at least a 1/3 mile buffer around any protected area to recover, which means that the neighborhoods have to give up their buckthorn hedges as well. To see what the entire area should look like, step into Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary. MOU and Audubon should be at the forefront in pulling out these noxious plants. Even if you don't have the stamina to dig them out, break off the berried branches - birds eat them, for some reason, even though they are a cathartic (makes you poop - too much) and just at the time when they need to be putting on weight in the Fall, they ending up losing it. But, if you or your strong children can, dig out the plant too, because of the branching pattern, buckthorn ends up giving predators access to nests otherwise less accessible, and crowd out native plants and adversely impact the environment in many other ways. See these sites for great information: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug98/buckthorn.html http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h464buckthornco ntrol.html Kathy Connelly Hennepin County
