Streams of Thought: Tackling invasive buckthorn is both a physical and mental battle

As I brushed my teeth in front of a mirror on a recent Sunday evening, I noticed multiple red scratches on my forearms.

I wasn’t surprised I was mostly oblivious to the sting of pain from those minor wounds; I’d not long before cleaned the blood from the backs of my hands and a cut or two on my face. But it was the sweat, some of which had soaked my cap, that’d I’d found least appealing about my recent project: another afternoon of battling buckthorn.

After a while, the scourge of my woodlot – that invasive, pervasive shrub – almost seems to get into my head, becoming not just a physical, but a mental battle. Man vs. invasive woody vegetation.

More than a decade or more, and the war still rages. Small victories, frequent defeats. No winner declared, and, it occurs to me, never will there be.

Greg Hoch knows what I’m talking about. The DNR’s prairie habitat leader resides in mid-Minnesota and, like me, lives in a world in which, come November, he can gaze into the woods near his home and see the most unwelcome of colors: green.

With rare exception, “If you see anything green out there right now, it’s buckthorn,” he says.

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Hoch dutifully goes about addressing his buckthorn issues when able. If he can, he’ll cut the “bigger stuff” all fall and winter, while also treating the stumps with a chemical meant to kill the roots – necessary if you’d rather not see sprouts/shoots coming from the stump come next spring.

But his efforts are handicapped – as are mine – by neighbors whose level of interest in managing their own buckthorn ranges somewhere between intense and passing. If ever there’s a need for neighborhood collaboration, it’s in the realm of buckthorn control (if that’s possible). Birds, you see, don’t really care where they relieve themselves after they’ve devoured buckthorn berries.

In some areas of the state – buckthorn is wide-ranging – where the buckthorn takeover is greatest, Hoch says questions raised in conversation run from practical to philosophical. In other words, can buckthorn be eliminated? Doubtful. Controlled? Maybe. It’s what you hear about most other invasives, aquatic or terrestrial, from Asian carp to Asian lady beetles.

And, one might ask, why does buckthorn control matter?

There are a number of reasons, but for our purposes, consider these two, per the DNR buckthorn website: Buckthorn out-competes native plants for nutrients, light, and moisture, and it degrades wildlife habitat.

And, the website says, it “forms an impenetrable layer of vegetation.” Don’t I know it.

Potential treatments to reduce the prominence of buckthorn in our woods are plenty, from chemical treatment (spraying) of the small stuff to cutting and stump-treating to goat grazing – yes, the delightful goat with a not-so-selective appetite has been deployed to, at least temporarily, control buckthorn.

Currently, research continues at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere to learn more about controlling and understanding my backyard scourge. And, as I’ve sat in my deer stand of late, I’ve overlooked what might actually be deemed progress.

I may not win this war, but I will not lose it.