{"id":65383,"date":"2025-06-09T21:32:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T21:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/?p=65383"},"modified":"2025-06-10T17:34:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:34:02","slug":"8-months-of-invasive-removal-at-parkerson-mill-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/8-months-of-invasive-removal-at-parkerson-mill-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Months of Invasive Removal at Parkerson Mill Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over the last <\/span>8<\/span> <\/span>months, <\/span>Daniel Gragson worked with the AUWRC as a Stream Management Technician, \u00a0removing and managing the invasive plants that have grown throughout Parkerson Mill Creek, the creek that runs through Auburn’s campus. He specifically focused on a prominent stream restoration site in the heart of campus. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This article outlines by month the work done, and <\/span>documents the changes that just one person can have <\/span>on<\/span> an area when they consistently work on removing <\/span>invasives<\/span> and caring for native plants. The following is an account written by Daniel of his 8 month efforts at invasive removal. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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October<\/b><\/p>\n

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This was the first time I went out to the site on my own to do some management<\/span>, the creek was not very visible<\/span>\u00a0with much of the bank heavily shaded out. In <\/span>addition,<\/span> the floodplain area i<\/span>s <\/span>choked with ground runners of the mos<\/span>t common invasive at PMC – Porcelain Berry (<\/span><\/span>Ampelopsis <\/span>glandulosa<\/span><\/span>)<\/span>. On my first week out at PMC this was the tree I decided to clear, this is a before and after image from the same location on the bank, the Porcelain Berry had <\/span>swallowed<\/span> this tree <\/span>and the surrounding ground almost entirely, but following an afternoon of work you could actually see the tree and the creek behind it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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A streamside tree with porcelain berry (on the left) and after it was removed (on the right).\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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November<\/b><\/p>\n

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By November I started to clear the invasive runners from the floodplain<\/span>, which will allow for more native grasses to grow in the Spring. <\/span>In the following images, you can see just how much of these trees can be taken over by invasive vines. There was a 20 foot patch of kudzu at the site which<\/span> looks just like an <\/span>impenetrable wall of green. I planned to tackle that problem once cooler weather set in.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Riparian area heavily infested with kudzu, porcelain berry, and other invasives.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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December<\/b><\/p>\n

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By December, winter is properly setting in; the leaves are turning <\/span>yellow<\/span> and the cypress are losing their needles, the grass is dying <\/span>back,<\/span> and you can start to <\/span>actually see<\/span> the cree<\/span>k through the leaves.\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Below is one of the piles of porcelain berry vines I was able to pull out of the trees along the stream in a single day. This was a particularly large <\/span>pile<\/span> but I tried to get about this much out once a week<\/span>, every week. It might look impressive, but I was able to pull close to 20 piles this large out of <\/span>the trees and stream area over the time <\/span>I worked on it!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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One of many piles of porcelain berry removed from the site during the winter.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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When manual removal is not an option (either from the vines being too large or their removal<\/span> could not be completed without breaking their host tree) <\/span>you can find the main stem of the vine make a heavy cut into it very close to the roots. Into this cut I would target-spray a <\/span>solution<\/span> of 40% glyphosate with blue ma<\/span>rking dye added<\/span> (it is important to keep this herbicide limited to only the target plant). In a week or so the vine would be dead and <\/span>be able to be removed easily from the host.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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January-February<\/b><\/p>\n

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The weather had fully turned cold at this point, there were no leaves on the trees and most plants had either died back or entered dormancy. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
In order to replant native plants along the stream, we needed to clear the current invasives so we could install live stakes (dormant cuttings of native plants). When plants are dormant is an ideal time to remove kudzu. T<\/span>otal kudzu removal can take months but is possible. Even in this state the <\/span>vines <\/span>remain<\/span> rubbery and difficult to <\/span>cut,<\/span> it is important when beginning removal to cut the root ball out – the point <\/span>where<\/span> all the vines sprout from. If you miss this<\/span>, as <\/span>you\u2019ll<\/span> see in the next updates, the vines will rapidly regrow once the weather turns warm.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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One of 5 piles of kudzu removed from the site.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dormant vines being removed along the banks of Parkerson Mill Creek stream restoration site.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Example of a root ball which must be dug out to remove the entire vine.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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March<\/b><\/p>\n

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The dormant period was rapidly approaching an end and we prepared to focus solely on live <\/span>stakings<\/span> and <\/span>replantings<\/span> of natives in <\/span>March. We harvested stakes\u00a0from silky willows and smooth alders, two trees th<\/span>at take very well to live stakes and flooded conditions. If you would like to know more about <\/span>livestaking<\/span> you can reference the Alabama Extension article here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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We planted rough 150 stakes like this along the most heavily impacted lengths of the stream. <\/span>Several were planted along the top where it was clear floodwaters were picking up speed and eroding parts of the bank. In addition to the live <\/span>stakes<\/span> we also planted <\/span>native <\/span>Clustered Mountain<\/span> M<\/span>int (<\/span><\/span>Pyc<\/span>n<\/span>anthemum<\/span> <\/span>muticum<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span> as ground cover where the kudzu used to be- sourced from the <\/span>Auburn<\/span> <\/span>Medicinal Garden.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Live stakes installed at the stream.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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April\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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As the weather got warmer, there was a<\/span> sudden sprouting of all the porcelain berry seedlings and kudzu from the root balls.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>You can see how rapidly these invasive grow from a seed, this one\u2019s roots are nearly three times the size of the plant above ground- its important during this season to remove as many of these as possible, it’ll never be easier than this to remove them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

April is when you can do the most effective work catching any kudzu roots you missed during the initial removal. <\/span> Usually<\/span> the kudzu roots are <\/span>very difficult<\/span> to spot, blending in with the dirt, but at this part <\/span>in<\/span> the season they will aggressively grow bright green vine shoots. Follow these shoots back to find the source and cut it out of the ground. <\/span>You can very effectively remove any kudzu that you missed in this way.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just one month after planting, the live stakes were already sprouting and showing growth. We had a\u00a0<\/span>roughly 80%<\/span> survival rate. <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span>These new plants and their roots will help protect the streambank.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Once<\/span> the invasive vines were out and some room to grow cleared the plants rapidly <\/span>moved in make use of all the available sunlight. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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May<\/b><\/p>\n

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Regular rain and warm sunny days meant that invasive removal got harder and harder as all the plants on the bank started growing in overdrive. The riparian area was completely g<\/span>rown <\/span>over in<\/span> foot tall grasses, which was a great sign as compared to this time last year when the <\/span>invasives<\/span> had ensured hardly any grass was able to grow out from underneath it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span> The bank formerly covered by kudzu is now unrecognizable<\/span>, there<\/span> is no more bare dirt with every inch of space covered with rapidly growing plants moving in on the prime sunlight.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They may be <\/span>pretty difficult<\/span> to see at this <\/span>point<\/span> but many of the <\/span>live stakes<\/span> planted alon<\/span>g the bank two months ago have begun sprouting leaves and budding<\/span>. We seem to have gotten close to 70% of the stakes growing, though this number can go up or down over the next several months as they get settled in. <\/span>All<\/span> these ground plants growing around the stakes is excellent<\/span>, these will help stabilize the surface soil while the stakes have a chance to grow their roots throughout the bank. <\/span>This stream bank is in a lot more stable place than it was previously.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The native mint that we planted has also taken off,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>it’s<\/span> not showing much lateral growth yet, but it is sending off shoots and increasing its size rapidly.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Streambanks with new grasses and growth after invasive plants were removed.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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The three species of minnow I saw in the creek (Rough Shiners, Stonerollers, and Bluehead Chub) were colored up<\/span> together, schooling and feeding<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As I leave this project, I have hopes the stream will continue to be cared for.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There have always been small schools of minnows swimming in the creek, but May is the breeding season for many of these species. <\/span>The three species of minnow I saw in the creek (Rough Shiners, Stonerollers, and Bluehead Chub) were colored up<\/span> together, schooling and feeding<\/span>. Bluehead chub <\/span>are <\/span>a very large<\/span> minnow, the one in the pool was <\/span>nearly 7<\/span> inches long, and during breeding the male grows large bony ridges on its head and builds pebble nests in the middle of the creek that all species <\/span>utilize<\/span>. <\/span>In addition to the minnows, I spotted a couple small sunfish and even a 3-inch bass, while these <\/span>aren\u2019t<\/span> much to fish for, the presence of these predator fish is a fantastic sign for the health of the stream.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Over the last 8 months, Daniel Gragson worked with the AUWRC as a Stream Management Technician, \u00a0removing and managing the invasive plants that have grown throughout Parkerson Mill Creek, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":65478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,111,155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-field","category-outreach","category-wrc-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65383"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65491,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383\/revisions\/65491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}