Do you know the difference between a harmless three-petaled Trillium and a Dame’s Rocket? If not, a seminar on invasive plants to take place in the virtual and then real world aims to take away that confusion.

An organization called the Lower Chippewa Invasives Partnership will offer a virtual training May 4 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on ZOOM, to be followed by In-Field Training on May 6th from 1 to 4 p.m. or May 8th from 9 AM to 1 p.m.

The anti-invasive plant group seeks to “spread the word, not the plant,” enlisting citizen scientists to seek out, identify, and map local plant invaders. So what’s an invasive plant? That depends.

In the first place, they aren’t aliens—at least to Earth. They are, however, aliens to the environment they happen to be growing in, meaning (among other things) that they can outcompete the native plants and generally ‘take over.’ Some invasives are left to naUiral accident, while others are human aided in their spread.

To help put a stop to this and map the terrain, the Lower Chippewa Invasives Partnership this May 4th and followed by field training days later is all about. Those interested can find out more and register by going to the group’s website at www.lcinvasives. org, emailing [email protected] or by calling 715-539-2766, along with the group’s Facebook page.

Friend or Foe? This seeminly harmless flower, has a seedy past and bad reputation. Photo courtesy lcinvasives.org.