News from the NWS Invasives Team - Newport Wilderness Society

by Maureen Flatley, Deb Ford, and Rick Foster

Our ongoing work to limit the spread of invasive plant species at Newport continues in 2025.

In May, we coordinated several volunteer workdays focusing on garlic mustard removal along Lynd Point trail and campsites 1 and 2.
Spotted knapweed continues to be removed from Newport beach and the dunes at Lot 3. (Summer 2024 knapweed removal work made a significant dent in the problem.)
A total of 10 boot brush stations have been installed at critical points along trails and near campsites.
Two interpretive boot brush stations have been installed: one as visitors leave the Lot 3 picnic area and head for trails; one as visitors leave the Monarch Trail meadow area and enter the wooded trails.
Master naturalist Maureen Flatley led a ‘hike and help’ interpretive walk on Lynd Point trail in June. Of the eight people who attended, five were completely new to identifying invasive (and native) species.

Thanks so much to everyone who has answered the call to help with invasive species remediation! It is not very sexy work, but it helps us make a difference year over year.

Garlic Mustard Removal

*_{Stacey McKendry researching whether string trimming is helpful…with decidedly mixed results; May 2025}*

*_{(L-R) Stacey McKendry, Rick Foster, Anne Davies, Mary Ellen Sullivan, Chuck DiVerde, and Marianne Sorensen with a nice haul; May 2025}*

Spotted Knapweed Removal

*_{Rick Foster hauling out Spotted Knapweed from beach dunes at Newport; July 2025}*

*_{NWS President Mark Glasser and his granddaughter Kyra helping remove Spotted Knapweed from beach dunes at Newport; July 2025}*

Boot Brush Stations

*_{Tom Flatley and Francis Osorno with the finished interpretative boot brush station at Lot 3; July 2025}*

As of July 2025, NWS has purchased and installed 10 boot brush stations at critical locations around Newport. Two previous articles have highlighted this work. You can read them here and here.