Just about now, the buds on the Morrow's honeysuckle at Fort Necessity will begin popping open, a sure sign of spring, as it has been for 250 years.
Problem is, the honeysuckle isn't supposed to be there at all. A bigger problem is, it's just about everywhere in the woods and meadows that make up the National Park Service site.
Ranson, a park ranger, is the natural resource specialist for Fort Necessity National Battlefield and the Friendship Hill National Historic site.
"Honeysuckle is the main exotic that impacts the battlefield scene and the open areas, along with multiflora rose," Ranson said. "We've got Japanese stilt grass that's coming in; we've got Japanese barberry that's impacted the forest.
"All these were (planted) thinking that we were doing a good thing in the past. We've learned since then that they have millions of dollars worth of impact on the economy."
Dan Watson, head ranger for the 900 acres of land that comprise the Fort Necessity site, said the National Park Service is attacking the problem of invasive plant species on several fronts.
"We've taken initial stages of it already and have taken out some non-native pine trees," Waston said. "The honeysuckle is an ongoing process. Eventually, the plan would be to get the historic treeline established where it was wooded around the fort, so that we can accurately interpret to the battle the way Washington and his troops might have seen it."
"This project is a perfect blending of historical and natural resource issues," Ranson said. "You bring back the native wildlife habitat diversity and you'll have your battlefield scene that was there. Of course, you and I won't live long enough to see the trees get to be huge like they were when the battle took place."
The National Park Service details the significance of the site: "The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage was set for the American Revolution."
The 250th anniversary of the battle and the expanded programs throughout 2004 was followed in the fall of 2005 with the opening of a new visitor and education center. To the west of the new center off Route 40 in Farmington stands a replica of the small, circular fort that shielded Washington and his troops.
Ranson said plants such as the honeysuckle and multiflora rose have been in Western Pennsylvania since the 1700s and 1800s. As evidenced by the hillsides covered in honeysuckle, the plants -- brought from Europe and Asia -- spread and squeezed the habitat of plants like viburnum, red osier dogwood and alder trees. That change also affects the habitat of the American woodcock, a bird that depends on clear areas for its mating dance.
"We found more biodiversity with the natives than with the honeysuckle," Ranson said. "The honeysuckle forms what they call 'biological sink.' It looks really good to wildlife because it produces all these berries and it's got all this cover, but the structure of the plant seems to impact nesting success for birds.
"Snakes and other critters can get to the nests so much more easily than the natives. The fruit of the honeysuckle is more sugar, whereas the fruit of the viburnums and other natives are more lipid and fat protein, better for those birds that have to migrate."
Ranson, a West Virginia native, has been at Fort Necessity for more than a decade. Recently she's been working at marshaling a volunteer force that can assist with controlling the invasive plants at the fort and also improve awareness of the impact of invasive plants.
Paths have been cut through the fields of honeysuckle at the fort. Ranson is hoping that the spreading of herbicide scheduled last year to kill off the honeysuckle will happen this summer. That work, funded by the park service, also is done at dozens of park sites in the northeastern United States that share the invasive plant problem.
"Every bit of it is tied to funding, and what we don't get through funding we just have to do as best we can with volunteers and shovels and leather gloves and pulling," Ranson said.
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