Augusta, GA

‘It just takes over’: Augustans fighting back against invasive plants at local parks

Published

2 years ago

June 16, 2023

‘It just takes over’: Augustans fighting back against invasive plants at local parks

With more than 1,500 acres of parkland, Augusta has a ton of greenspace. But is the “Garden City” growing friendly florals or botanical bad guys?

JP Moss is a consultant for wildlife management at Fort Gordon. But on his off-time, he is managing a combat operation of his own: locating and killing Pendleton King Park’s invasive species.

“The misconception people have is if it’s green, it’s wild and good,” he said.

On a recent stroll through Pendleton, Moss pointed out some of the trees, vines, bushes and other plants in question. While they don’t particularly stand out as dangerous, they are actually a foreign, rapidly-reproducing problem doing damage to the local ecosystem. What’s worse is that these plants make up a majority of the 64-acre park and are flourishing in other spots across town.

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The Invasion Plan

Augusta University Professor Emeritus of Ecology Donna Wear explained that residents will often grow these plants at home because they are pretty. But the problem comes when plants like the silver berry grow fruit.

“Birds that are opportunistic are going to eat those berries, and then the birds fly away,” Wear said. “They defecate later, and people don’t understand that when you have a seed in bird feces, that feces is absolutely loaded with everything that seed needs after it germinates to get it started.”

But while birds love these plants, they can actually be very bad for them.

“The birds aren’t really used to a lot of these plants being here,” Moss said. “Things like Cedar Waxwings actually eat Nandina, another plant we have problems with, and they will die.”

Birds have spread these seeds to Phinizy Swamp, the Augusta Canal, Reed Creek and everywhere else in between. Once there, Augusta University Ecology Professor Brandon Cromer described how these plants grow at an extraordinary rate because they have no predators, throwing off the biodiversity.

“When someone brings a species like this in here, it has no natural controls, so it just takes over an area,” he said.

Plan of attack

There are various programs and organizations whose mission it is to clean up local parks. On Pendleton’s end, Moss has been raising money to replace the invasive species with more Augusta-friendly plants. Now he is gathering volunteers to help pull the invasive plants out of the ground and has a blog providing updates on the project. AU students like Austin Plagens have been among the volunteers.

“Knowing that there’s people out here trying to learn more invasive species and get the community involved has been a big thing for me,” Plagens said. “I wrote a big paper on it for my English class. Involvement of the community actually produces healthier ecosystems.”

Closer to home, residents can do their part by learning everything they can when considering what to plant at their home or business.

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Villainous vegetation

In addition to those already mentioned, here are some more of the common plants seen in gardens, parks and other green areas that are actually bad for the local environment:

English Ivy
Bradford Pear (Also known as the Callery Pear)
Elephant Ears
Japanese Honeysuckle
Monkey Grass

It’s important to note that just because a plant is foreign doesn’t mean it’s invasive. For example, lavender is not native, but it is not harmful or a super spreader.

Friendly fauna

Here are some of the native plants that would be good to replace invasive species with:

Sunflowers
Native Honeysuckle
Tickseed
Mountain-Laurel
Sonias
Muhly Grass
Dogwood
Yaupon Holly

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Augusta, GA

‘We need help’: Ga. airport underfunding could hinder expansions

Published

1 hour ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

‘We need help’: Ga. airport underfunding could hinder expansions

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – Municipal airports across South Georgia could see improvements paused or canceled because of a lack of funding from federal and state officials.

Regional Airports need $83.5 million per year for improvement projects, but Albany, Valdosta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Brunswick, and Columbus only receive $16 million from the FAA and $2.8 million from the state.

Airports outside of Atlanta are receiving the shorter end of the stick when it comes to federal and state funding. Airport officials say that they hope that with more grant funding and the expansion of a few projects, it will increase more revenue right here in the Good Life City.

“If we don’t improve our infrastructure and our facilities, we will continue to lose our business aviation to other states. Some of the other states are receiving anywhere from 30 to 80 million dollars worth of funds, where we’re getting around 19 to support 7 airports outside of Atlanta and that’s a challenge,” officials say.

In Albany, the airport has upcoming projects to bring bigger planes, more commercial flights, and Cargo airplanes to the city. But with the lack of funding, the completion of that project is at risk.

“We’re looking at a runway extension which will be a huge project over 100 million dollars and funding has not been identified for that project. So where would we get that money? Well, we need the Federal Administration and the State of Georgia to give us more support,” officials say.

While officials say the airport needs some improvements, passengers say they love the convenience of being able to travel right outside their backyard.

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Augusta, GA

North Augusta Baseball gets one last swing at Riverview Park

Published

10 hours ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

North Augusta Baseball gets one last swing at Riverview Park

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – We’re just under two months away from baseball season and this year will be a bittersweet one for North Augusta’s baseball and softball teams.

While many players would much rather play at a brand-new facility, Riverview Park has been home to the Yellowjackets for a long time now.

After this season, however, North Augusta will finally have a new place to call home.

But, they will have one more chance to close out a phenomenal season before transitioning to the new stadium next year.

You’ve seen the construction and you can see the vision.

In just a few more months, across the street from North Augusta High School will be two brand-new facilities.

The newest home of the Yellowjackets baseball and softball teams.

“It’s a chance to have something that is ours,” said Lynn. “Our own atmosphere at school. It’s going to be exciting.”

The over $8 million project was slated to be completed ahead of this year’s season, but after multiple delays like the impact of Hurricane Helene and just how big of a project it truly is, the facilities are still several months from being ready for play.

In the event construction concludes as originally planned, Head Coach Kevin Lynn says the team has no plans to move fields in the middle of their 2025 season.

“I don’t want to have summer ball starting there, I want our kids to start a regular season there,” said Lynn. I want them to open the season up and have a true home opener.”

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) looks on during pre-game warm-ups before an...

The good news is, nothing about this year will feel different for the team.

The Yellowjackets have called Riverview Park home for over 40 years and they’ll get one more chance to send it out with a grand slam.”I grew up watching my brother play here and many people before him, so being able to play here one last time feels really good.”

“I’d like to go out on a high note and finish up strong here. Our goal is to win all of our games at home since we play here all the time and know the layout more than anybody else. It’d be nice to accomplish those goals in our last season.”

Lynn’s team will open up on the road against Strom Thurmond on Feb. 11.

The Yellowjackets are 40 and 40 under Lynn as head coach.

It’s hard to believe we’re almost to baseball season, before we know it we’ll be talking about the Masters.

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Augusta, GA

2 young males dead after boat overturns in Screven County

Published

18 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

2 young males dead after boat overturns in Screven County

SYLVANIA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Two young males are dead after their boat overturned while fishing, according to the Screven County Sheriff’s Office.

According to a press release, around 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, emergency services received a call about a boat overturning in a pond off Poor Robin Road.

Upon arrival, deputies spoke with a young adult male who was located at the scene. The male reported he had been in a boat with two other young males fishing when their boat overturned.

The young male was treated for his injuries and released, according to officials.

Additional agencies arrived on the scene including the Screven County Marine Rescue Squadron and several local scuba divers.

“After an extensive 5-hour search, in 46-degree water, the bodies of the remaining two young males were located in the pond,” said Sheriff Norman Royal.

The investigation into the circumstances that led up to these deaths is still ongoing, but no foul play is suspected at this time, according to officials.

Screven County EMS, Screven County Fire, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Effingham County Fire and Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, also assisted in the response.

Sheriff Royal sends his thoughts and prayers to the families of these two young men and thanks all agencies that assisted and made their recovery possible.

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