Stewardship Saturday: Hallock Preserve Invasive Sapling & Knotweed Removal

Join us on Saturday, 11/29 as we cut out invasive saplings and knotweed patches and cover them up with landscaping fabric to suppress their growth for next year! We will be debriefed by the park staff at Hallock while we get ready and staff plan on bringing donuts and cider as a thank you for the work you'll be doing!

This program is available for all ages with adult supervision over the age of 14.

Meeting Time and Place: 10:30am to 1:00pm

Parking Instructions: If you arrive between 10:30 and 11:00am, please park in the main lot next to the park office. If you get here later than 11:00am and do not see us inside the office, drive to the upper parking lot that goes past the main lot. There is no toll booth and volunteers do not need to pay at a pay station for parking.

Backround Information: Hallock State Park Preserve has been used for many purposes before opening to the public in 2017. It was cultivated as farmland by the Hallock family from the 1700s to the early/mid 1900s. Since then the land has been used as a campground for scouts, an illegal sand mining operation, and at one point the planned grounds for a nuclear power plant before being purchased by the state in 2002. While the soil has recovered from all of this disturbance, invasive plants have had ample time to spread throughout the park. These invasive plants include mugwort, mile-a-minute, bamboo, japanese knotwood, barberry, and many more!

The park staff have been doing a commendable job of reintroducing native plants and grasses that can compete with these established invasive monocultures, however it is an uphill battle that requires extra hands from us for select projects.

Natural Hazards: Please follow our standard precautions for ticks! Wear light-colored pants, double socks, tuck pant legs into the socks and use a lint roller on all surfaces when done. Tick sprays, especially permethrin, work well! Don’t forget to do a full body check at home.

Poison Ivy may also be present however we will be avoiding as much interaction with this plant as possible and have poison ivy lotions in case anyone feels they may come into contact with it.

Also check out other Meetups in Riverhead.