Public Lands
We are dedicated to protecting public lands for habitat conservation, outdoor recreation, biodiversity, and the valuable benefits they bring to our communities.
Blackwater Rail Trail Botanical Restoration Project
Friends of Blackwater was awarded a grant from the National Forest Foundation to begin the Blackwater Rail Trail Botanical Restoration project. Today, non-native “invasive species” like autumn olive, stilt weed, multiflora rose, garlic mustard, Tartarian honeysuckle, and Japanese barberry are choking out native plants like milkweed, an essential host for migrating Monarch butterflies. This project will remove many of the worst invasive species — those that present the most harm to native plants and animals — and replant the area with beneficial native species, many of which will be grown from seeds collected from existing native plant populations!
