East Lansing dedicates part of five-year plan to removal of invasive plants

EAST LANSING, Mich.—East Lansing continues to battle invasive plant species that have affected local ecosystems. In response, the city’s Parks, Recreation and Arts Department is at work removing and preventing these species from spreading.

Invasive species are non-indigenous species that are introduced usually from other countries. Without any natural predators or diseases to keep them in check, invasive species can spread and outcompete native species, which harm the natural ecosystem.

Stephanie Day, invasive species coordinator with Mid-Michigan Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, is responsible for invasive species management in Ingham, Eaton, Ionia and Clinton counties.

“There’s various methods of invasive species pathways,” Day said. “It’s kind of a combination of humans causing the spread, but then also it being spread via wildlife.”

“For example, an invasive amur honeysuckle plant,” Day continued. “People planted that as an ornamental in their yard—but birds will eat the berries and can carry them off, and the berries can end up in the forest or in a place they weren’t supposed to grow.”

Cathy DeShambo, the director of Parks, Recreation and Arts for the city of East Lansing, is responsible for all 31 parks and additional trails in the city. She claims that the city is fighting invasive species through its five-year community parks and Recreation plan for 2025–2029. 

The five-year plan will allow for significant grant funding support from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Currently, the city is in the process of creating the plan with input from community members through an online survey and community meetings. 

“What that allows us to do is increase outreach in being able to capture the funding to help with managing invasive species and increasing native plants and native landscaping throughout the city,” DeShambo said.

“Last year, we did write for quite a large grant to remove invasive species,” she continued. “We weren’t successful in getting that grant, and it really spoke to us how really competitive it is to get grant funding in this area, and how much of a need there is in other communities, too.”

The current boots-on-the-ground attempts to manage invasive species in the city of East Lansing are run by the Parks, Recreation and Arts Environmental Stewardship Program.

“We have really integrated the stewardship priority into our strategic priorities for the department,” DeShambo said. “It is unique in that not a lot of communities have the kind of volunteer participation that we have, and that’s really what makes this program special.”

Heather Majano, the coordinator of the program, has been working with invasive species for the past 12 years. She oversees the volunteers and identifies locations in need of work, in addition to her role in educating community members.

“We have a pretty strong core group of community volunteers that come out,” Majano said. “Some of them are professors, some of them are folks who have desk jobs that can’t wait to get out into the woods every weekend, and some of them are families.”

“It’s all ages really, and all abilities come out,” Majano continued. “It’s pretty amazing to see the diversity of our community out in the woods.”

According to Majano, after an invasive plant is removed, it may continue to regrow for approximately the next 10 years, even with continuous monitoring.

“We can’t always do that because we are a small program, but I’ve definitely seen some good success stories for restoration in a couple of our parks,” Majano said.

Two success story examples Majano gave were that of Harrison Meadows Park and Albert A. White Memorial Park, which have been brought nearly to full restoration of native and diverse wildlife after volunteer work over the years.

The Environmental Stewardship Program has been incorporated into the five-year plan due to its widespread and effective outreach to the community. 

“[The volunteers] are learning about invasive species and how to manage invasive species,” DeShambo said. “From a sustainability perspective, it’s a program that touches so many people and it has that ripple effect out beyond when the volunteers take that information away and implement it in their own yards.”

If you are interested in the East Lansing Environmental Stewardship program, reach out to Majano and learn more about the program at cityofeastlansing.com. And for more information about identification and removal of invasive species in your own backyard, visit Mid-Michigan Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area.

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