Natural Resources Specialist Restores City's Native Habitats
Bloomington's Natural Resources Specialist Wade Yunker oversees restoration efforts across 250 acres of the city's natural areas, transforming invasive-species-dominated landscapes into thriving native habitats.
Yunker manages a team of six staff members, including two full-time employees and four seasonal workers, focusing on restoring woodlands, oak savannas and prairies throughout the city's parks and natural spaces. The department's primary challenge involves removing invasive species, particularly buckthorn and garlic mustard, which crowd out native vegetation.
"We do a lot of work removing buckthorn and managing buckthorn, garlic mustard and buckthorn are kind of the two main culprits for invasion and destruction of our native habitats," Yunker said during a recent presentation to the City Council.
The department has achieved notable success at East Marsh Lake Park, where crews transformed dense buckthorn thickets into an open oak savanna with native plants now establishing throughout the area. The restoration work follows guidance from the River Bottoms Cultural and Systems Plan and the Bloomington Natural Resources Prioritization Plan for Parks.
Yunker's team also converts low-use turf areas in city parks to native prairie plantings, targeting spaces that receive minimal public use but would benefit from native plant communities. The specialist noted strong community and City Council support for natural resources initiatives has enabled the department's expanding restoration efforts.
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- The city's active conversion of underutilized turf grass into native prairie habitats.
- The ongoing battle against invasive plant species like Buckthorn and Garlic Mustard in urban parks.
- City council support and increased funding for urban ecological restoration efforts.
- The success of the East Marsh Lake Park restoration from a Buckthorn-covered lot to an oak savannah.
I oversee all of the city's natural areas responsible for maintaining approximately 250 acres.
Garlic mustard and buckthorn are kind of the two main culprits for invasion and destruction of our native habitats.
Where we're at today at East Marsh Lake Park used to be wall-to-wall buckthorn. Now it's an open oak savannah.
Source document
[0:00] [Music]
[0:19] [Music]
[0:21] so i over see all of the city's natural
[0:24] areas responsible for maintaining
[0:26] approximately 250
[0:28] acres of and actively each year i
[0:31] oversee two full-time staff and four
[0:34] seasonals bloomington's got a very wide
[0:36] variety of natural areas and i get to
[0:38] take care of them we got nice woodlands
[0:41] we've got nice oak savanas and prairies
[0:44] and all kinds of good things and i'm
[0:46] fortunate enough that i get to be a part
[0:48] in restoring them and maintaining them
[0:50] [Music]
[0:52] so since i was put in the position of
[0:54] natural resources specialist i've been
[0:56] able to begin looking at all of our
[0:58] natural areas in the city and work on
[1:00] planning out restorations in our work
[1:03] and i have guidance from river bottoms
[1:05] cultural and systems plan and the
[1:08] bloomington natural resources
[1:09] prioritization plan for parks i've also
[1:12] been working on converting a lot of our
[1:14] low turf areas into prairies throughout
[1:17] our parks looking at areas that the
[1:19] public doesn't use much that would
[1:21] benefit more from being native plants a
[1:23] lot of the job is finding the invasive
[1:25] plants and removing them from the areas
[1:27] and getting the native plants
[1:28] established uh we do a lot of work
[1:30] removing buckthornne and managing
[1:32] buckthornne garlic mustard and
[1:33] buckthornne are kind of the two main
[1:35] culprits for invasion and destruction of
[1:37] our native habitats so there's a lot of
[1:39] other inputs as well but our goal is to
[1:41] reestablish native plants get some
[1:43] native processes back that will help
[1:45] these systems long term to be self-
[1:47] sustaining but even as such it still
[1:50] takes input and maintenance to keep them
[1:52] i really enjoy seeing the restoration
[1:54] process through from the planning point
[1:56] of it designing the project implementing
[1:58] the project through establishment it
[2:01] really teaches you a lot of things with
[2:03] buckthornne work you get instant
[2:04] gratification of removing a large area
[2:07] of just thick trees that just crowd out
[2:10] everything after that the patience pays
[2:12] off as some of these areas take a while
[2:14] before you get the results you want to
[2:16] see where we're at today at east marsh
[2:18] lake park used to be wall to-all
[2:20] buckthornne now it's an open oak
[2:22] savannah with a lot of natives coming up
[2:24] the progress we've seen on this project
[2:25] so far has been incredible i never
[2:27] expected for a city this large in such
[2:29] an urban area for there to be this much
[2:31] open natural space and to be able to
[2:34] have a part in restoring that and making
[2:36] this stuff back into quality natural
[2:38] areas is really sweet there's a lot of
[2:41] support from the residents themselves
[2:42] from city council for natural resources
[2:44] over the past few years so that's been
[2:46] huge and allowing me to do what i do and
[2:48] to continue to improve all these natural
[2:50] areas hopefully i'll be able to continue
[2:52] that for a long time
[2:55] [Music]
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Other Topics from This Document
Management and restoration of city natural areas
Invasive species removal (Buckthorn and Garlic Mustard)
Conversion of low-use turf areas into native prairies
Implementation of River Bottoms Cultural and Systems Plan
Execution of Bloomington Natural Resources Prioritization Plan
Restoration project at East Marsh Lake Park
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