Skip to main content

U.S. Forest Service


Passing of the Wayne National Forest Garlic Mustard Trophy

By Cheryl Coon on Sep 9, 2011

The following text describes this image.

Chad Wilberger (Athens Ranger) receives trophy from Tim Slone (Ironton Ranger).

The annual garlic mustard competition on the Wayne National Forest was again a success, with a transfer of the trophy between districts.

Every spring, Forest Service vehicles with large trash bags can be seen cruising through the Wayne National Forest. Starting in 2009, a friendly competition between Districts and the Supervisor's Office was started to see who could have the most bags. The contents of these bags? Garlic mustard, a prevalent non-native invasive plant species that impacts various ecosystems across the Forest.

This year the Athens Ranger District claimed the Wayne National Forest trophy from the Ironton Ranger District, past champion of 2009 and 2010. The one day competition was very close this year: Athens RD (32 bags), Ironton RD (31 bags) and S.O. (31 bags). Winning individual teams for each unit were: Team Shad and Scott (Ironton); Spam, Sausage, Eggs and Spam (Athens) and Mustard Mayhem (S.O.). Individuals from the winning teams all received prizes.

Over the whole garlic mustard "season" the Wayne National Forest pulled over 6,000 pounds of this invasive plant. Impacts from the yearly efforts are evident as teams reported fewer plants to pull, and in some cases, had to go in search of new areas to work in.

Congratulations Athens Ranger District for a job well done. The question is, who will be the champions in 2012? A special thanks to all the volunteers that come out yearly to help the Wayne National Forest fight the mustard invasion!