I stood in Greenview Park, enjoying one of the last nice days of autumn. Park Steward Jim Rogers handed me an apple from one of the old trees in the park. He told me this was a bad year for worms—surely a good sign. The apple was full of flavor, and to my gratification, free of worms. Where we stood was once a thicket of buckthorn surrounding the old apple tree, indicated only by the dozens of cut stumps nearby. For several years, Rogers has been working ceaselessly with a group of Greenview devotees called Friends of Greenview. Most of the labor and improvements to Greenview are coordinated and executed by Friends of Greenview, and general management is directed through collaboration between the city and Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Greenview, which includes meadows, woodlands, a pond, and a community garden, has a complicated history. It is part of a larger property, which stretches from Main Street to Greenview Drive, an area which was once a nine-hole golf course. This piece of land includes Greenview Park, Pioneer Woods, Pioneer Prairie, as well as Pioneer High School. There are no property boundaries between these entities. In 1953, the land was acquired by the University of Michigan to build Pioneer High School, and soon the question of land management arose. The City became involved when they agreed to mow Greenview biweekly. Today Greenview is mown only once a year in order to promote species diversity.

 

Friends of Greenview is a 501c3 organization that predates NAP, and as fiercely dedicated volunteers they are the driving force behind countless improvements at Greenview. Once NAP was established, the two organizations were able to work together to combat invasives with new techniques. For instance, prescribed fire is now used to control invasive shrubs in the oak-hickory forest of Greenview Park and Pioneer Prairie, and NAP hosts two yearly public workdays (spring and fall) for controlling invasives. The biggest challenges facing Friends of Greenview are the large swaths of buckthorn present. Rogers has taken on this challenge, evidenced by giant piles of dead buckthorn waiting to be chipped. Taking out large patches of fruit-bearing shrubs does remove habitat for some migratory birds. But not to worry, Friends of Greenview has received grants from DTE Energy and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to remediate those areas with native plants. Among these, dogwood (Cornus spp.) and crabapple (Malus spp.) are the most ecologically important for migratory songbirds. In addition to controlling invasives and planting natives, Friends of Greenview has plans to increase the herpetological diversity of the pond, as well. They are working with a herpetologist, to reintroduce Northern Leopard Frogs into the Greenview pond. Depending on the weather and hydrologic conditions of the pond, egg masses will be introduced in the spring of 2014.

 

Greenview is utilized by the classes at Pioneer High School as an outdoor science classroom, all the while learning the intrinsic and ecological value in restoration projects. In one simple – yet edifying – activity,  a class monitors the ground water levels near the Greenview pond with wells. Students are then able to form connections between weather and the amount of water available in an ecosystem. Pioneer students are also given the opportunity to use class time to help remove invasive shrubs, fostering the environmental ethic necessary to appreciate the natural world.

 

As NAP volunteers know all-too-well, buckthorn is not a plant that is easily defeated, and the long-term management goals of Greenview necessitate help from many hands. It requires years of dedication to clean out an area. Even then, the birds will always be there to plant more. “You might have ambitions to get rid of the buckthorn,” Rogers points out, “but what comes after that?” The only way to ensure the integrity of the ecosystems at Greenview is through the continuous help and diligence of Ann Arbor’s citizens. “People love this place,” says Rogers. And to that, we add, “protect what you love.”