BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — In the woods of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, over a dozen volunteers are gathered off the beaten path, helping to remove invasive plant species.
"It's really awesome to see whenever people choose to spend their free time helping out with the environment," remarked Neil Miller, a seasonal Park Ranger with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Guiding them is Miller, who says about a third of all plants in the park are invasive. And they are a big problem.
"They spread really quickly, and they don't allow any space for these native plants to thrive,” explains Miller. “Which means there's a reduced amount of the native insect population and then so on and so forth with the animals and everything that relies on them."
So how did the plants get here? This land is former farm fields and homes. The early settlers brought plants from across the ocean to feel more are home, unaware of the damage they could do.
"We have privet behind us. We have honeysuckle, we have multiflora rose and then we have some bittersweet on the ground," said Miller.
The volunteer programs' main season stretches from April to the end of October. Older adults to school age kids lend a hand, but there is education as well.
"Getting them out in nature and really showing them and letting them see for themselves what can happen whenever they're not controlled," explained Miller.
Miller gets to see the pride volunteers get after a job well done.
"If you were a United States citizen, you own these parks,” said Miller. “You can say, like, I helped make this place what it is, I helped restore my national park."
Most volunteer opportunities are for a few hours, Thursdays and Saturdays. The program is co-managed with the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a non-profit friend's group.