- NARRATOR: It sounds like some science fiction plot.
- A plant like that could take over the world.
- Oh, it's nothing, come on.
- NARRATOR: We think they are friendly.
We welcome them to our neighborhoods, and then?
[pod pops]
[plates shatter]
[screams]
[menacing music]
- KELLY CONRAD SIMON: They're a little bit like
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
They come in quietly, nobody really notices,
until all of the sudden, they completely take over.
- NARRATOR: Many boaters and swimmers have tangled with
invasive plants in the water,
but the invasion of non-native plants by land
may be easier to miss.
- KELLY: Oh yeah, look at all of them.
- NARRATOR: Unless you know what to look for.
- KELLY: That's the problem right there.
- NARRATOR: Exotic landscape plants are escaping our yards
and invading natural areas.
- You can see that most of the plants out there,
it's green and it's beautiful, but most of the plants
out there are Ligustrum.
- NARRATOR: These plants quickly turn diverse woodlands
into places where little else can grow.
- Here's a mature Ligustrum right here.
And look at that trunk, how many stems it has.
It's slowly kind of spreading itself and every foot and a half
you've got a new plant coming in.
It's just amazing how quickly it can just take over.
- If you look kind of up in the canopy, up above you,
it's completely Ligustrum.
- RENE: See how dense the shade is?
Ligustrum always wins.
- NARRATOR: With shade and sheer numbers, Ligustrum,
nandina, Chinese tallow, and others,
are out-competing native plants.
- This definitely has a very strong impact
on our ecology, which impacts our wildlife.
- NARRATOR: Invaders do not provide food and shelter
for wildlife as well as native plants,
but birds also, unknowingly assist the invasion.
- This is what birds are now adapting to as their
food supply, and of course they're spreading it,
recycling it, and planting more and more along our creeks.
- This must be how they propagate.
There are millions of them.
[menacing music]
- NARRATOR: In West Texas, the growing menace is salt cedar.
Brought to America as an ornamental
and used for erosion control,
salt cedar has wreaked havoc across the Southwest.
- Salt cedar invades very quickly.
- They drink up all of the water,
they exude salt through the leaves, so it creates
a monoculture, it's just not very good wildlife habitat.
- NARRATOR: At Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso,
a team works to restore the natural balance.
[chainsaw starts]
[chainsaw revs]
- One down, a thousand to go.
- There's not enough ways to kill a salt cedar.
- LOIS: What we're trying to do is just remove the non-native
plants and put back the natives in, and uh,
give it a little help here and there with the water.
- Yeah, that's about six feet.
The salinity is .4%.
- LOIS: It just needs a little jump start.
[branches snap]
- NARRATOR: Restoring this landscape's natural history
is an extra challenge because of its human history.
- It's a combination of a natural wetland
and a series of archaeological sites,
dating back to at least about 4,500 years.
It's a challenge because we can't dig a hole
without having an archaeologist present.
We have to screen the dirt and make sure we're not digging
into a site, and you can go probably 10 feet
in any direction, you'll probably hit something,
so you've got to be real careful.
[chainsaw revs]
- LOIS: It's taking quite a while, but one step at a time,
it's a very, very important site.
- KEVIN: Alright.
If I wasn't hopeful about the future,
I wouldn't be here doing this.
But the battle against invasives,
that's going to be going on for a long, long time.
- NARRATOR: Back in Austin, another crew wages war
on those exotic shrubs invading local parks.
[shredder rumbles]
- CHARLIE MCCABE: We'll have the professionals work with
chainsaws, mowing equipment, and work with chippers.
We use the volunteers to help us with areas that we can't
get to with machines.
- There we go.
- CHARLIE: They'll help us with cutting with hand tools
and then dragging out.
We've seen good results, so we're continuing to chip away
at it, no pun intended, and see what we can do
in this area especially.
- It's just all over.
Notice there's no grass, nothing but Ligustrum,
so that's why we're doing this.
- NARRATOR: On a Saturday morning, dozens of volunteers
help the Austin Parks Foundation clear out invasives
along Shoal Creek.
- NADINE: If you can imagine having to do this with
one or two people, it would take forever.
- GROUP: Timber!
- All these people, we are just doing a big swath
in record time.
It's just amazing.
[wood chipper crunching]
- In 20 years, they're all that will be left unless we
take the weed wrench to them, so, definitely worth the
investment of time.
- WOMAN: It's coming.
- NADINE: It really is a lot of hard work.
But it's great exercise.
- We're evening up the score at this point.
And, uh...
we may even be getting ahead of them.
- MAN: You got the stick!
- CHARLIE: You know if we can get many players all working
together kind of collectively and really target
specific areas, we can see a big change.
- NADINE: Can you see a difference already?
[menacing music]
- There must be some way of destroying this!
- KELLY: There are various ways to remove exotic
invasive species.
Physical removal,
burning during particular times of year,
or even using herbicide.
The best method of keeping invasives out of a landscape
is to make the choice not to plant them in the first place.
- NARRATOR: What we buy and plant directly
impacts ecosystems...
- KELLY: A lot of birds like to nest right down in the
very center of those bunch grasses.
- NARRATOR So folks like Kelly work to make those
impacts more positive.
- That switch grass will hold the soil down
and be a really nice addition.
We really encourage people to take a look at the
tags on the containers and see that species are
native to Texas, and explore those plants that might be
not only pretty, but also good for wildlife.
- CATHY: It is more cost-effective in the long run.
- KELLY: Those are going to look really nice.
- CATHY: Obviously, you're going to save a lot of water if you
don't have to water grass
and so, by removing grass and adding under-story trees
and shrubs, you are going to have the beauty,
it's easier to take care of, and then as your woodland matures,
you have more and more wildlife.
[knocking]
- NARRATOR: Cathy Nordstrom is a native plant landscaper.
- Hey! - Hi!
- NARRATOR: She helps homeowners transform their
yards into wildscapes.
- The Turk's cap looks great.
It has really done well.
- CAROL: We were bored with the grass.
The children had left home, we did not need to have a
soccer field in our front yard any longer,
and so this was our time to be innovative
and do what we wanted to do.
- NARRATOR: So, this landscape of turf grass and exotic shrubs
has become something more interesting...
for people, and for wildlife.
- CAROL: We're letting nature be a part of our lives
instead of trying to regulate it so much.
It gives you a good feeling that you've done a little bit of
something for the environment that a front lawn cannot do.
- NARRATOR: Fortunately for all of us who enjoy nature,
this alternative to planting invasive plants is catching on.
- They enjoy all the butterflies and the hummingbirds;
it's that kind of a thing where people see it and then they
want that for their own yard.
[music]
- What do we do when plants attack?
You know, if we value natural places, if we value
native wildlife species, like chickadees and titmice,
we have to remove some of those exotic species
and let some of our native Texas plants take their place.
- CATHY: Get to know the natives in your own area.
That's the best advice I could give.
- FILM NARRATOR: A simple method had been found,
preserving life on earth.
Mankind survives.
[triumphant music]
- NARRATOR:
in your area, visit the Texas Wildscapes program
on our website.