Mary Warren did a great job thanking those who made the Biggest Week in
America Birding a wonderful experience for all, but I would like to give one
more big "Thank You."

Thank you so very much to Mary and all her many volunteers who put in so
much time and effort pulling Garlic Mustard!  It is boring, backbreaking
work, but without your efforts we would been very frustrated trying to view the
 many wonderful ground dwelling species.  I saw quite a few Lincoln's
Sparrows this year but I doubt I would have seen any had the garlic mustard not
been controlled.  Our native vegetation did a good enough job concealing
Mourning and Connecticut Warblers, but without the efforts of these people
much  of the boardwalk areas of Magee would have been carpeted with a
mini-forest  of garlic mustard - the way so many locations look now.  Imagine how
many thrushes and Ovenbirds we would have overlooked and how much time we
would  have spent waiting for White-throated Sparrows, Catbirds, and assorted
blackbirds to reveal themselves clearly enough to be identified.

I won't expound here on the evils of garlic mustard but it is so very much
more than just an annoyance to birders.  It impacts the entire ecosystem to
 the detriment of almost every other species of plant and animal not only
by  shading out other plants but also by producing chemicals with profound
effects  on other plants including trees.

Let the folks at Magee inspire you to help control garlic mustard in other
areas.  Join garlic mustard pulling teams.  Learn to recognize it both  as
a first year seedling and as a flowering second year plant.  Each plant
produces a tremendous amount of tiny seeds and those seeds can remain viable
for  seven years.  If you visit a garlic mustard affected area, clean your
shoes  afterwards to avoid transporting the seeds to other locations.  Garlic
mustard often gains a toehold in an area along trails this way so if you see
 plants beginning to grow in an area pull them before they can produce
seed.  Adult plants are tough and will continue to ripen their seed even  after
being pulled so ideally they should be bagged and disposed of but if you
are not able to do that, at least pulling them and throwing them on the trail
 for others to trod upon will help (stripping the flower buds from the
plant after pulling helps even more).

Once again, thank you Magee garlic mustard pullers!  Your efforts show
that control is possible.  Keep up the battle, and hopefully more of us  will
join in at Magee and other locations.

Sheryl Young
Sandusky

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