GRAFTON, Wis. — The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust is working on several initiatives to help preserve water resources and natural areas throughout its nature preserves.

One of those efforts is to remove garlic mustard from the Bratt Woods in Grafton.

Molly Ticcioni was one of the volunteers helping pull the invasive species out of the ground. It was her first time volunteering with the organization.

“I was ripping the plant in half to keep the roots and the leaves separate and then we just put the roots on top of the leaves to keep them from regrowing,” said Ticcioni.

Although Ticcioni and the other volunteers made some progress, it’s still going to take a while to remove most of the invasive species. 

“It’s disheartening, but there are good people out here doing good work, so let’s just keep ahead of it,” said Ticcioni.

Dave Sedlacek is a stewardship coordinator for the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.

He said garlic mustard was brought here from Europe for food. It then spread quickly because of the lack of natural predators in Wisconsin.

“It grows very quickly. It grows first. It spreads out, so it competes with a lot of the other plants. It just gets taller, faster. It greens up sooner, so it gets the sunlight. It gets more energy. It also has a chemical compound in its root system that will deter other plants from growing next to it,” said Sedlacek.

The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust hosts several workdays throughout the year to remove invasive species and plant native species in its 27 nature preserves in Ozaukee and Washington counties.

Sedlacek said he is thankful for all the volunteers that help them conserve the land. He said he also hopes that volunteers will look at their environment differently after helping them.

“They can take this knowledge of treating invasive species and take it to their own neighborhoods and teach their neighbors, take it home with them so that these practices don’t stop at the nature preserves. They get to go beyond and we can see success fighting these invasives far beyond, just beyond our single workdays,” said Sedlacek.

As for the garlic mustard, Ticcioni said the plant can prevent other native species from growing in the woods.

And she said she wants to do her part in protecting those native plants as well as learning more about the biodiversity in the region.

“It’s definitely important to preserve the beauty of the woods here. We want all of the plants to have space to grow and flourish so we can keep the land the way it’s supposed to be,” said Ticcioni.