Throughout April Carmel Clay Parks & Recreation (CCPR) is offering an Invasive for Native Tree Swap program to promote invasive species awareness. For each invasive species removed from your property, CCPR will reimburse you with a native tree sapling to plant in its place. To receive a free native tree, take a photo of the invasive removed and submit your work to volunteer@carmelclayparks.com. Tree saplings will be available for pickup through the end of the month.
Removing invasive species from parks, neighborhoods, and other natural areas and replacing them with native plants helps better the ecosystem and provide food and habitat to wildlife. Invasive plants are not indigenous to a particular area, meaning they were transported here through some other means. Invasive species outcompete native plants for resources such as water, sunlight, and soil nutrients. This displacement of native species causes harm to the environment, public health, and the economy.
Interested in learning more about why we plant native species and how we handle invasive plants? Visit our park stewardship page.