T.C. Williams Students Visit Dyke Marsh

On the morning of April 29, 2016, 24 students and three teachers from Alexandria’s T.C. Williams High School’s International Academy visited Dyke Marsh to observe in action some of the lessons of their biology class and to try their hand at suppression of invasive plants. 

International Academy students speak or are learning English as their second language.

FODM volunteers Beth Wells, Su Kim, Lew Cabe, Robert Smith, Eldon Boes, Orron Kees and Ned Stone served as mentors for the visit.  The students used a brochure developed by FODM, “What Can I See [in Dyke Marsh] in the Spring,” to discover some of the natural resources of the wetland, including ospreys, redwing blackbirds, trees cut by beavers, a water snake, a dead baby duck, live baby geese, cattails, tulip tree flowers, poison ivy and much more.  Under supervision of FODMers and National Park Service staff, the students concluded with attacks on garlic mustard, English ivy and multiflora rose, common non-native plants in the preserve.

Photos courtesy of Ned Stone