What do the terms ‘mitigation’ and ‘invasive species’ mean? Several Storm King School students learned the answers to this question when they volunteered recently at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum (HHNM). The task was to help the staff at the museum’s outdoor nature center combat invasive plant species in the surrounding area. Their target: Japanese Barberry– a prickly bush with small, rounded leaves and red berries.

“Invasive species disrupt the native environment. The problem is that non-native species can grow fast and upset the balance of local ecosystems,” explained Annie C. ‘24 and Daniel Z. ‘25 in their presentation to the student body about the project. “Japanese Barberry is spreading throughout the northeastern United States with its advantages over native plants. Their leaves that are out earlier in the year and they retain them longer which gives them an extreme growth rate,” continued Daniel. “The Japanese Barberry also supports tick and mouse populations that promote Lyme and other diseases. Their thorns also restrict the movement of wildlife, domestic animals, and hikers.”

To remove the plants, the students were taught to first identify the Japanese Barberry among the other plant growth. Then, they were instructed to use clippers to cut as close to the root as possible. Finally, HHNM staff members dug out the roots to keep the plants from spreading in the future. “We removed approximately 50 Japanese Barberry plants in total and fully removed most of their roots,” Daniel commented.

“Our day at HHNM was quite a bit of work and it rained a little. However, it was a lot of fun and we learned how important and hard the job is to mitigate this plant. I cut a lot of Japanese Barberry plants and I feel like I achieved something important,” continued Daniel.

The staff at HHNM was also very happy about our students’ contributions over several weekends, writing “A big THANK YOU to Annie, Daniel, and all of our amazing volunteers from The Storm King School [who] tackled another successful day of invasive species removal, concentrating on Japanese Barberry. We are so thankful for our amazing community!”

Storm King Volunteers:

  • Abby P. ’24
  • Wei Shun C. ’26
  • Ana D. ’23
  • Evangeline G. ’26
  • Stephanie L.’24
  • Steven D. ’27
  • Daniel Z.’25
  • Annie C. ’24
  • Juliana D. ’27
  • Eniola K. ’23
  • Emma C. ’27
  • Mrs. Shrem and her son, Eli