Raise funds for your local group by pulling invasive plants

It’s time to get outside to pull together and raise funds during our annual Garlic Mustard Pull-A-Thon. Now in its eleventh year, the event encourages folks across southeastern Wisconsin to protect their local woodlands by pulling this invasive plant. More people are participating each year, so spread the word and join us to help stop the spread of garlic mustard!

Here are our Annual Pull-A-Thon objectives (yea, let’s DO THIS!):

• Promote repeated control and proper disposal of garlic mustard and dame’s rocket in our parks and natural areas.
• Promote public awareness of invasive species issues.
• Share control methods and best management practices with landowners and managers and strengthen local volunteer efforts.
• Raise educational funds for SEWISC and our partner organizations.

Visit 2023 Garlic Mustard Pull-A-Thon for more information.

Check out our web-based workday calendar!

Let’s get outside again this spring with friends, family and co-workers and help to improve our neighborhood natural areas! You can find opportunities on our web-based Volunteer Workday calendar. Easily view the calendar by choosing Volunteer Calendar under the Volunteer tab on our website home page and selecting any of the eight counties located in our region. Click on a posted event to access additional workday details such as location, time and contact information. Join the opportunities in your neighborhood!

If your organization would like to advertise an event on the calendar, simply click Work Days Event Submission Form under the Volunteer tab on our website home page.  Make sure you include: 1) the name of your event, 2) date and time, 3) location with address, and 4) contact information. SEWISC Staff and volunteers will receive your event submission and post the information to our calendar as soon as possible.

Many people in southeastern Wisconsin work to control exotic invasive plants in our natural areas. During 2023, SEWISC will team with Johnson’s Nursery, Inc.TM and Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin to offer our Invasive Plant Management Workshops. Take this class to ensure that you are using the most appropriate, efficient, up-to-date, and least environmentally damaging methods in your control efforts.

This is a hands-on, bring-your-own lunch class, limited to 20 students to provide excellent instruction. After an introduction to the general ecology of the five functional groups of invasive plants (shrubs, perennial forbs, clonal perennials, grasses, and annuals/biennials), we discuss, demonstrate, and practice all applicable control methods (chemical and non-chemical) for these five plant types.

Workshop topics include:

• Identification of our common and relatively new invaders
• Planning and strategy for an effective control program
• Use of hand tools and herbicide application methods
• Herbicide concentrations, mixing, and safety
• Restoration strategies for badly infested sites
• Native planting suggestions for continued restoration
• Record keeping

Spring/Summer Workshop
Saturday, June 3, 2023
9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Ellwood H. May Environmental Park (Maywood)
3615 Mueller Rd, Sheboygan, WI 53083
Instructor: Dr. James Reinartz

Workshop fee: $60.00

Workshop class size is limited and classes fill fast, so mark your calendar!

Registration for the June 3 workshop will open on May 1, 2022.

Can’t make the June workshop? Save the date for our Fall class on Saturday, September 9 at:

Kenosha County Center  19600 75th Street, Bristol, WI 53140

We would like to thank our new 2023 Sponsors who support the mission of SEWISC by providing generous financial assistance

Rapid Response Sponsor:

Johnson’s Nursery, Inc.

Early Detection Sponsors:

Native Niche, LLC

Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC

Join Johnson’s Nursery, Inc,  Native Niche, LLC and Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC in their support of SEWISC, the only regional organization dedicated to invasive species prevention, education, management, and control in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Check out the SEWISC Store

Kick off your 2023 invasive species management season with some flair while helping your team pull garlic mustard and dames rocket or cutting and treating buckthorn on your property. Choose from many fun adult and youth t-shirt sizes and colors. Don’t forget to add a SEWISC coffee mug to your shopping cart!