Parks & Recreation

Duluth Invaders

Duluth Invaders is a service initiative organized by the City of Duluth to mobilize citizen volunteers to assist in controlling and removing terrestrial invasive plants in our public green spaces. Currently, the City is only able to support these great volunteers at a minimal level, for example, picking up cut invasives and lending out tools. Hopefully in the future, we will be able to provide more support. The 2024 annual meeting for the Invaders was held at Hartley Nature Center on August 20.

Invaders Group Contacts:

To borrow a tool or get a refilled blaster:
West side of Duluth - Parks Maintenance Coordinator, Abbie Hopper - 218-730-4331 or ahopper@duluthmn.gov
East side of Duluth - Hartley Nature Center Stewardship Coordinator, Matt Willey - 218-724-6735 or recreation@hartleynature.org
To request plant disposal / pickup:
Parks Maintenance Coordinator, Abbie Hopper - 218-730-4331 or ahopper@duluthmn.gov
General inquiries about land stewardship and land management in Duluth:
Natural Resources Coordinator, Kate Kubiak - 218-580-9150 or kkubiak@duluthmn.gov
Volunteering general inquiries:
218-730-4343 or parkvolunteer@duluthmn.gov
To report additional invasive species sightings and locations:
Please use EDD Maps: https://www.eddmaps.org/
When we have funding and capacity to address certain species or certain areas we use EDD maps as a source of information.

New members to the Invaders are welcome, though a waiver form must be completed once a year. This form can be found here: https://forms.duluthmn.gov/Forms/Parks-Voluntary-Waiver

We are still collecting information about the good work that volunteers provide to our City. It is a webpage form that can be found here: https://duluthmn.gov/parks/volunteer/report-your-volunteer-hours/. You can fill it out as many times as you like.

Why are invasive species so bad?

Invasive species often don’t have predators, so they are free to grow uncontested.
They often are very adaptable to any type of habitat, growing almost anywhere there is a disturbance.
They grow rapidly and choke out natural vegetation of the area, this often create monocultures.
They alter habitats for natural plants and animals, changing the ecosystem.
They are very expensive to remove and destroy, costing the United States an estimated 120 billion in damages annually.