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LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Volunteers attack weeds in Laurel Park

David Lee works at Rhododendron Lake Park.

LAUREL PARK — Good weeds and bad weeds was the theme of the day as volunteers and AmeriCorps workers deployed to two town parks and a sod field on Sunday.

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At Rhododendron Lake in Laurel Park, David Lee pulled at a clump of weeds. On a ridge where he and four other workers toiled, non-native invasive plants were easy to find and hard to pull.
“We’ve got Chinese privet, English ivy, kudzu, oriental bittersweet,” he said of the non-native plants that choke off native flora. “We’ve got about 27 bad ones in this area.”
As for good weeds, another crew was working at a Super Sod field along the French Broad River to plant a patch of milkweed as a habitat for the migrating Monarch butterfly. A crew at the Park at Flat Rock worked on habitat restoration.
A former AmeriCorps volunteer, Lee now serves as steward of Hickory Nut Gorge for Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, the nonprofit agency that has helped set aside hundreds of acres of mountain wilderness. Nearby, along the lake, is a strip of land that the conservancy has preserved.
“It’s good to get these out of the way because these invasive plants unchecked will spread into the restored area,” Lee said.
The project, sponsored by Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and AmeriCorps Project Conserve, was part of “Make a Difference Day,” a national day of service. Administered by CMLC, AmeriCorps Project Conserve is a national service program in which 32 members dedicate eleven months of public service to Western North Carolina.
Shane Maxson and Erika Koffler drove from their home in Brevard to volunteer.
“Playing with plants is my favorite thing,” Maxson said.