Wetland Cleanup Success

About a quarter acre of invasive saltmarsh fleabane (Pluchea) was cleared by students during last week’s Koheo wetland cleanup, creating an area under a native milo tree for students on field trips to eat lunch. Michael Kikukawa (left), Luke Kikukawa, Sarah Jenkins, Lily Jenkins, Moriah Jenkins and Brian Leer (not pictured) hauled cut fleabane shrubs and stacked the green waste for pick-up by Monsanto employees. Fleabane is a nonnative woody shrub that can overgrow wetlands and eliminate habitat for waterbirds.

Arleone Dibben-Young