Students at Southwestern Michigan College have had a chance to learn about local invasive plant species and also fight them on their campus in Dowagiac. SMC Agriculture Tech Coordinator Stacey Rocklin tells WSJM News a group of about 50 looked for invaders at the college’s pollinator field on October 26.
“We were noticing some spotted knapweed coming in, and so we had students taking out spotted knapweed,” Rocklin said. “We also had students going through and doing counts.”
The students were joined by students from Indiana University South Bend. Rocklin tells us the spotted knapweed spreads quickly through seeds. Each plant produces thousands of them each year.
“It’s a short-lived perennial, and so you put that together with putting out all of those seeds every year, and you’re going to get a whole lot of it in one area.”
Rocklin says the plant has ripple effects through the ecosystem as it chokes out native plants. She tells us agriculture students learn about invasives as part of their program, and is hoping the action on October 26 will become a regular event.
