Volunteers clear invasives from state park

Sharon Bielski from Indiana cuts back invasive plants on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

Tyler Lidgard’s voice rose above the sound of snapping branches and hand saws in the brisk fall air at Saugatuck Dunes State Park on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.

“How you all doing? Scale of one to 10,” the natural resource steward with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources shouted to the volunteers spread out through the dense brush.

“I’m 11!” returned John Finch, looking up from treating invasive plants as part of the stewardship event at the park, 6575 138th Ave.

John Finch cuts and treats invasive plants on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

Seven volunteers worked near the park entrance, controlling woody invasive species to protect the open dune ecosystem. Volunteers from the spring through the summer have been attacking the invasives.

The Sunday cleanup was the last stewardship event at the park until December.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Finch said. “Great weather. Great time of year.”

And an opportunity to walk to the beach at Lake Michigan after helping at the site.

Tyler Lidgard, natural resource steward with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and Becky Bruns of Laketown Township, cut and treat invasive plants on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

Sharon Bielski from Indiana was also looking forward to exploring the park and the trails to the beach after cutting back large swaths of the thorny Japanese barberry.

This was her first time at the state park. She was in the area looking for a place to move to and saw the need for volunteers.

“I always volunteer at the parks,” she said about her current home.

Blake House of Laketown Township cuts and treats invasive plants on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

For Blake House of Laketown Township, Sunday’s invasive work was a first though he worked at the state park over the summer.

“I live close to here,” he said. “I just wanted to come back and help.”

Tyler Lidgard, natural resource steward with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, shows volunteers the area to cut and treat for invasive plants on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

Lidgard explained the importance of keeping the invasives under control and away from the sand dunes. The invasives push out the native plants and will stabilize the soil, keeping the sand in place so trees grow and the dune ecology is replaced with forest.

“Then we have dunes no more,” she said.

Becky Bruns of Laketown Township stacks invasive plants she cut and treated on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 6575 138th Ave. in Laketown Township as part of a volunteer stewardship event.

Becky Bruns who lives just down the road from the state park attacked the barberry along with Lidgard. When the huge area was cleared and the stems and branches pulled aside, the stump treated with herbicide to kill the roots, Bruns and Lidgard gave a shout and high-fives.

“We put a big hole in that!” Bruns said.

The 1,000-acre park includes hiking trails of varying difficulty through dunes to Lake Michigan with 2.5 miles of lake front. The park’s 300-acre Patty Birkholz Natural Area contains a coastal dune system and three endangered plant species.