New Volunteer Team Works to Free Hampton Roads Trees From Choking Ivy

A retiree's backyard renovation has grown into a regional effort to protect trees from invasive plants. Ruth Amundsen and Melissa Teates have launched the Coastal Invasive Removal Team, known as CIRT, with the goal of rescuing trees around Hampton Roads.

Amundsen began the project after replanting her Norfolk yard with native species a few years ago and ending up in a fight with English ivy. "I grew to hate English ivy over the next two months," she said. She then noticed the vine all around her, including on trees carrying what she described as hundreds of pounds of it and that were "obviously going to die."

Her research led her to Teates, a member of the Norfolk Tree Commission who shared her worries. Together they now describe themselves as being in "tree rescue mode," and they estimate that tens of thousands of trees in the area are threatened by invasive species.

Ivy is the group's chief target. According to the organizers, it weighs trees down, draws away their resources, bores holes in the bark and traps moisture that can speed up fungal infections. Teates said she has watched trees recover after the vines were removed from them and from the ground at their base. "They were literally dying because they were starving to death," she said.

Teates said the region needs more trees, which help absorb flooding and provide shade and habitat for animals. She argued that the first step is keeping the ones already standing, but said work against invasive plants is somewhat "fragmented." Cities look after trees on public land but cannot keep pace with the ivy, she said, while local environmental nonprofits such as the Elizabeth River Project and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation generally focus on shoreline species like invasive phragmites.

CIRT has teamed up with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, which supplies removal tools. Michelle Ueltschi, the group's Hampton Roads organizer, said trees are central to its work on climate change. Growing trees take in carbon dioxide and "hold it in their bodies for the length of their lifetime," she said. When vines kill a tree early, she added, that carbon returns to the atmosphere.

This fall, the team has held weekend volunteer cleanups at Norfolk sites including Elmwood Cemetery and Lakewood Park. On Sunday, a small crew worked on a thicket of trees behind Honda of Norfolk along Tidewater Drive. Volunteer Morgan Willett said ivy will probably never be eradicated, but its harm to desirable plants can be limited. "It's kind of cathartic, because you can see the progress as you go along," Willett said.

Amundsen pushed through overgrowth to reach one tree, using a hammer and crowbar to pry thick vines from the trunk. She called the work hard but rewarding. "If I stand next to a tree that's going to live 10 or 20 years longer and be providing shade and housing for wildlife because I got in there and sweated, it's just a huge sense of personal joy," she said. "I swear I can feel the tree relax."

The group hopes to expand to other cities and is asking residents and organizations to suggest sites, including private backyards. Its last cleanup of the season is set for Nov. 14 at the Hermitage Museum & Gardens from 9 a.m. to noon. More information is available on the organization's website.