SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — An Onondaga County park is getting the community together to protect the environment.
Beaver Lake Nature Center will host an invasive plant pull event at the park on Wednesday.
“The point of this is to help native plants around the invasives to be able to flourish,” said Beaver Lake invasive plant specialist Leyna Delmonico.
When invasive plants are introduced to the environment, they can greatly disrupt ecosystems.
According to Delmonico, it is all about resources.
“They’re using all the nutrients like sunlight, water and space in general. They’re just competing for them better than the native plants,” she said.
If native plants can’t get the resources they need to thrive, it affects everything else around it, including animals.
“If native species aren’t around then the food chains and ecosystem chains that require those native species to be used are also disrupted,” Delmonico added.
Plant pulling events are hosted every Wednesday throughout the summer by Beaver Lake.