Vine Squad
Saving trees since 2012
Invasive vines choke and smother trees - ultimately killing them.The Hastings Vine Squad is a group of resident volunteers seeking to preserve the health of our trees (and ourselves!) by removing invasive vines. Come join us for productive fun and exercise. No experience necessary: we provide training and equipment. In two hours, you'll feel good about making a difference and saving a tree. You'll meet new people and learn about the plants in our ecosystem.
2022-2023 Schedule: Saturday mornings, 11am-1pm (unless noted otherwise)
The Vine Squad Lops November to April
Our most up-to-date schedule is posted in the Conservation Commission calendar. (View online, or subscribe to the calendar with a google account.)
January 21 - Lenoir Preserve
February 5 - SUNDAY - Stanley Avenue, meet at Stanley & Clunie
February 18 - Field just south of the LOFTs on Saw Mill River Road; link for where to park
April 1 - Train Station Parking Lot: vines along the north west corner
Contact
To join our mailing list, email us at vinesquad@hastingsgov.org. For information on working on Hillside Woods Restoration Project, click HERE.
A bit more about vines
The vines we encounter most are porcelain berry and Asiatic bittersweet, which were both imported from Asia over a century ago, and English ivy, imported from Europe in the 1700s. Porcelain berry takes over huge swaths of land, suffocating trees and extirpating native flora, while the fauna that relied on the native plants now face a landscape barren of the vegetation they need to survive. Bittersweet and English ivy strangle, weaken and eventually fell trees. Birds eat these vines' colorful berries, spreading them along their flyways and expanding the infestation. While it's good for berry-eating birds to have food to eat, these vines don't support the insects other birds eat. Also, the berry-eating birds lose on nutrition, as fast-growing porcelain berries and asiatic bittersweet have more sugar and less fat than, for example, the native dogwood berries they've crowded out.
Other invasive vines choking Hastings, each with its own set of impacts:
- Asiatic wisteria
- Japanese honeysuckle
- Fiveleaf akebia, or chocolate vine
- Mile-a-minute
Come on a lop and learn to identify these plants and more!
Saving Our Sidewalks: Lower Mt Hope, Before, During and After Vine Squad intervention, in concert with area neighbors:
Before
During
After
