- A fast-spreading invasive plant is threatening parks and yards in Delta Township.
- Experts advise neighbors to report sightings and brush their shoes off after walks in areas where lesser celandine is present.
Watch the video above to see how the plant is growing at Grand Woods Park.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"I do a lot of walking, do a lot of hiking, and backpacking in my free time," said Delta Township neighbor, Anna Schiller.
Schiller walks the trails at Grand Woods Park often and noticed a new plant growing in the forest.
"And I thought, wow those are really pretty, I wonder what those are, and I went and looked them up—and they are horribly invasive," she said.
Then she found the same plant—lesser celandine—outside her own home.
"I don't think there's any other way it could have gotten back there except for me coming here and tracking it back home, so that's a big problem for me at my residence," Schiller said.
Rachel Cuschieri-Murray is part of the team trying to prevent that from happening. She’s the executive director of the Eaton County Conservation District.
"If you think dandelions are bad, they got nothing on lesser celandine," Cuschieri-Murray said.
She showed how the plant is starting to take over Grand Woods Park.
"You can see how it is starting to cover the area. In another couple of days, when it warms up, you're not going to be able to see the ground. It's going to be a carpet of green leaves with yellow flowers, and it's smothering everything else out," she said.
Cuschieri-Murray said lesser celandine is preventing native wildflowers from growing and disrupting Michigan's ecosystem.
"Our parks are disappearing. It's taking over our parks, and you can't see the beautiful things that you used to see. And it's only a matter of time before it shows up in your yard," she said.
Invasive species experts like Stephanie Day are asking neighbors to report areas of lesser celandine and to be mindful of how they might be spreading it unknowingly.
"It's really important to clean your boots off and shoes off in order to prevent the spread of invasive species," Day said.
So that neighbors like Schiller can continue to enjoy the outdoors.
"It's such a pretty ecosystem, and I'd be really sad to lose all of it," Schiller said.
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