This Monday, October 9,
the Tennessee Valley Wild Ones will kick-off Weed Wrangle™-Chattanooga 2018 (March 3)
with a talk by Eli Dickerson on removing invasive plants at Fernbank in
Atlanta. The meeting will be at 6 pm at green|spaces, 63 E. Main
St. Please come by.
If you wish to talk with
Eli informally, we will be meeting for an early dinner at 4:45 pm at Conga
Restaurant, 26 E. Main St. See you Monday!
Bill Moll
TVWO Program Co-Chair
423-702-5779
In fall 2014, Fernbank
Museum of Natural History in Atlanta embarked on an ambitious task of restoring a 65 acre
old-growth forest. The forest had become host to 50 different non-native,
invasive plant species that were choking out native plants and decreasing
forest biodiversity. Since that time over 30 acres have been at least partially
restored. This presentation will cover means, methods, successes and challenges
of this restoration project and include advice on how you can tackle these
ever-present invasives in your local forest or home landscape. Target species
include English ivy, Chinese wisteria, thorny olive, leatherleaf mahonia, and
various species of monkey grass.
Eli Dickerson is the
Ecologist and chief "tree hugger" at Fernbank Museum of Natural
History where he manages the 65 acre, old-growth Fernbank Forest. Eli is
an avid distance runner and enjoys exploring the trails of Georgia and North
Carolina. In his spare time he also serves on American Forests National Cadre
of Big Tree Measurers and manages Atlanta's Champion Tree Program. Eli
has B.S. in Biology from Winthrop University and an MBA in nonprofit management
from Georgia State University.