PROJECT OBJECTIVES The SUEIP interns are removing invasive plant species at the Sea Girt National Guard Training Facility at NJARNG facilities to prevent the takeover of invasive plant species.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND PROJECT RATIONALE Invasive species are nonnative species that are introduced into a new environment and cause harm to the environment itself as well as to the species that inhabit it. These species, if not maintained, can out compete, and displace native species. This causes damage to the ecosystem and even the economy, because hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on invasive species management in NJ annually.
At Sea Girt, the main invasive plant that we target is the Asiatic Sand Sedge. Once we locate where the plant is, we manually remove it using a shovel or our hands. Part of this project is to protect endangered species as well, and the plant that we protect at this armory is the Seabeach Amaranth. We locate the positions of this endangered plant and GPS their location for future reference. We try to go out to visit the protected areas at Sea Girt about once every two weeks all summer to keep close attention on the species management. This field work is done in the early hours of the morning when the sun is rising because Sea Girt contains a firing range near the protected locations that is used around 7:30 am. The interns must remove any Asiatic Sand Sedges and GPS any Seabeach Amaranth before the gun range is in use. This project has demonstrated conservation at a practical level for the SUEIP members. DELIVERABLES
BENEFITS TO SUEIP INTERNS Through this project, interns received:
Experience identifying invasive and protected plant species