Statewide Weed Wrangle this Saturday 12 October 2024! Hoosiers Helping Indiana Habitat.

We are celebrating native Indiana habitat across the state this Saturday! Over 20 CISMAs will host a Weed Wrangle. We hope you will join us. These not only have a positive impact on the health of our parks, but are healthy for us too. We gather with others, chat, meet new people, and exercise for 2 hours all while removing invasive species in the places we have set aside as natural areas to enjoy.

Indiana County Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas (CISMAs) have been tackling invasive species via Weed Wrangles® in our parks and preserves for about 7 years. Volunteers have been working to ensure that these areas are exactly what they are designed to be: a natural place for people and wildlife comprised of native vegetation.

Weed Wrangles® are volunteer led invasive species management events held in publicly accessible areas across the U.S. Many states host one or two events a year. Several states, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida and a few more, host multiple events a year. Indiana hosts around 180 Weed Wrangles® annually (more than any other state).  We can do that because we have county level CISMAs that work in their communities to find local tools and resources for effective management. One effective tool is a Weed Wrangle®, which uses people (the best resource) to work for healthy parks. Gathering as many as possible for a few hours several times a year is impactful. We gather and have fun, learn something new, work in our communities, and remove invasive plants. Hoosiers understand the value of native habitat and how such habitat fosters healthy parks, forests, prairies, glades, water, soil and communities.  Hoosiers understand that it is local people that keep communities thriving. The positive impacts are immense when community members come together.

In 2023, Cayce McAlister from Tennessee, creator of Weed Wrangle®, asked Indiana CISMAs to hold a statewide wrangle on one day to show mass support for invasive species management. Saturday October 12, 2024, is that day.

Over 20 Indiana CISMAs have decided to host one of these fun (managing invasive plants can be fun when you do it with others), and impactful events. A table of the October 12 events is below. Please contact your local CISMA for more details, events and information about how your county is addressing invasive plants, https://www.sicim.info/cismas.

Join us for a couple of hours at a Weed Wrangle® near you and get ready to have fun and make a positive impact with others. Wear long sleeves, long pants, closed toed shoes and bring a pair of gloves and your water bottle.  

Point of Contact is Dawn Slack, dawn@sicim.info or Liz Yetter, Liz@sicim.info

Table of Weed Wrangles occurring on 12 October 2024 in Indiana.

Map of the locations of Weed Wrangles planned for 12 October 2024 in Indiana. Clicking on the map will take you to Google Maps where you can find location information.