Regional meeting conducted at Glenwood Barsness Park

The West Central Regional Landscape group held their quarterly meeting at Barsness Park on Tuesday, Oct. 1

Kylee Berger, Department of Natural Resources Forester helped coordinate the meeting. Kylee has been working with the Barsness Buckthorn Brigade, the City of Glenwood, and local private landowners in the management of the highly invasive buckthorn since 2021. 

Attendees included State and Regional DNR staff, regional and local Soil and Water Conservation staff, private land management providers, private goat service providers, Glenwood City staff, and volunteers from the Barsness Buckthorn Brigade (BBB).  

Wayne Zimmerman of the BBB provided a history of the volunteer group and an overview of the work accomplished in Barsness Park. He also described the impact of DNR Legacy grants and  the great community support for  Barsness Park. 

Zimmerman reviewed  how the volunteers have focused on “high value areas” such as trails, scenic views (many view areas of Lake Minnewaska had been lost to 20 to 30 ft high Buckthorn), and popular Park features such as the Table and Chair area. He also shared how the bike trail and disc golf volunteers have done great work on removal and management of buckthorn and had helped increase awareness of the devastating impact buckthorn was having on the Park.  

Grants have allowed for moving beyond just “high value areas” and have focused on removal of large areas (approaching 100 acres) of dense seed bearing buckthorn.

The group had a working tour of areas of work done by the volunteers, city, and grants. The tour began by wetlands in the northwest area of the park and then through an area of oak forest. The group followed the tar walking path through the native prairie area and  enjoyed great views of the lake which had been previously blocked by buckthorn. The group then crossed Park Road and went over “the Knob” which was the site of a designated prairie burn. They returned to wooded areas and had a stop at the Table and Chair. The final section of the tour involved walking through areas where the goats had been used to manage the buckthorn.

Group discussions included “best practices,” management options, and need for long-range planning. 

The group was amazed/impressed by the work done, but emphasized that it is a critical time for maintenance as the buckthorn can return with a vengeance and warned that what we have done could easily be lost. The diversity of the park; native prairie, wetlands, a variety of forests, savannas, and various terrains makes it a “Gem,” but also requires diversity in management practices, Zimmerman explained.

Information gathered during the meeting will be of great value to the City and Buckthorn Brigade in planning and their ongoing work, he added.