On October 1st, DA sustainability committee members, DA faculty members, parents, and experts came together to fight a common enemy: Tree of Heaven. It’s an invasive species from China that is spreading in east coast forests at an alarming rate. Another reason this tree is a problem is that it harbors the spotted lantern fly, an invasive insect that feeds on vegetation such as grapes, apples, hops, walnuts, and other hardwood trees.

During a long ago renovation project at the Upper School, DA acquired an 11 acre plot on Ridge Road as a drop zone for construction equipment. After years of disuse, this lot has turned into a grove filled with Tree of Heaven. The Biodiversity Subcomitee of the Student Government Sustainability Committee organized a workday to tackle this problem. Ms. Caruso (DA environmental science teacher) and Peter Schubert of the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council provided supplies and taught the group how to attack the trees. One method is “Hack and Squirt”, where on a bigger trees, one person uses a hatchet to make a diagonal chop for each inch of tree diameter into the base of the tree. Another person sprays a 20% Glyphosate solution into the chops while a third spray paints the tree to mark that it has been treated. On very thin trees, we used the “Cut and Paint” method: one member cut the trunk straight through and another dabbed the cut surface with Glyphosate. Lastly, there was a team that went around picking up trash and identifying the native and non-native plant and animal species that could be found in the lot. 

After several hours of effort, the work group had treated and/or cut roughly 200 trees in the grove. While we did great work out there, the job is far from finished and it will take many visits and treatments to fully eradicate the Tree of Heaven from the property. DA hopes that this area can be used as a place for sustainable education and future labs.