Sign Up for War of the Weeds 2024

Join us during War of the Weeds 2024 for NICHES 5th annual coordinated volunteer effort against our region's worst springtime invasive species: GARLIC MUSTARD!

Garlic mustard has become a damaging invasive species, and it has spread throughout woodland areas in across the midwest – displacing many native plants by outcompeting them. The most successful tactic for controlling garlic mustard is hand-pulling, and NICHES Land Trust needs your help! 

If left unchecked, this invasive weed can change soil chemistry, overtake the forest's understory, and diminish the beautiful display of native ephemeral wildflowers. With your help, the forest understory will be filled with a diverse mix of plants that provide food and shelter to abundant wildlife.

For this year’s effort, we will be hosting a series of garlic mustard pulling shifts at NICHES preserves within a 10-50 minute drive of Lafayette. This is our organization's single biggest annual volunteer push! If we can manage to fill every volunteer shift, it will provide over a thousand volunteer hours during a critically important stewardship window. All volunteers who participate for 2 or more pulling shifts will receive this years 'War of the Weeds' T-shirt featuring our top secret garlic mustard pesto recipe on the back.

Click here to sign up!

War of the Weeds 2024 kicks off on April 19 at Bachner Nature Preserve in Montgomery County. A full schedule of shifts is available below. Participants will receive reminder emails with info / property directions / and any updates 2 days before their scheduled shifts Please email NICHES Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator Sam Cody at sam@nicheslandtrust.org with any questions.

2024 War of the Weeds Schedule

• Friday, April 19 at Bachner Nature Reserve
• Saturday, April 20 at Granville Sand Barrens
• Sunday, April 21 at Shawnee Bottoms
• Friday, April 26 at Wright Rock Creek
• Saturday, April 27 at Crows Grove
• Sunday, April 28 at Frogs’ Glory
• Friday, May 3 at Granville Sand Barrens
• Saturday, May 4 at Berkshire-Tarnowski Forest Preserve
• Saturday, May 4 at Moyer Gould
• Sunday, May 5 at Frank and Ada Beineke Memorial Forest
• Friday, May 10 at Mulvey Pond
• Saturday, May 11 at Shawnee Bottoms
• Sunday, May 12 at Fisher Oak Savanna
• Sunday, May 12 at Warren Piece (park at Crow's Grove parking lot)
• Friday, May 17 at Weiler Leopold / Black Rock Barrens
• Saturday, May 18 at Ross Camp (Native Plant Fest)

Click here to see shift times and sign up!

Note: garlic mustard is hard to predict, some shift locations and target species may change as we get a better idea of where volunteer help is needed the most. Participants will be notified by email of any location changes immediately!