Trouble in the Understory

Imagine returning to a favorite woodland you knew as a child but had not visited for decades. You recall a hardwood stand in southern Wisconsin where the ground was carpeted with a dense array of native wildflowers. Now, you find instead dense patches of exotic buckthorn shrubs, some ferns, a carpet of garlic mustard in places, and scattered jack-in-the-pulpits. You see only an occasional mid-sized tree and a dearth of seedlings. This article was written by Don Walker and Sarah Wright for Woodland Managment, Summer 2006.

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