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.