For our recent volunteer day, we spent a Saturday morning working with the No Ivy League to remove ivy in Forest Park. Hennebery Eddy staff members, along with friends and family, pulled up ivy vines and chopped them into bits to create ivy free buffer zones around trees. This frees individual trees from being strangled by the ivy and, more importantly, it keeps the ivy from reaching the top of the tree canopy where it flowers and spreads seeds. It was pretty hard work for us, but the high school students with the No Ivy League sure made it look easy!
The spread of English Ivy is a huge problem in Forest Park where it overruns native vegetation and destroys wildlife habitat. Since 1994, volunteers and staff with the No Ivy League have logged over 80,000 hours and have removed nearly 100 acres of ivy in natural areas around Portland.