Green Bay Field Office Biologist Gary Van Vreede instructs students on invasive plant removal as part of an invasive species education field trip.

Students from Sevastopol School locate and remove invasive plants as part of a field trip to Whitefish Dunes State Park.

The 5^th grade class from Sevastopol School recently traveled to Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County, Wisconsin, to learn about invasive species.  The field trip was lead by Green Bay Field Office Biologist Gary Van Vreede and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Educator Carolyn Rock.  Students learned about several local terrestrial and aquatic invasive species, the problems they cause, and what can be done to control their spread.  As part of the experience, students assisted with control efforts at the park by hand-pulling invasive plants.  In an additional exercise, the students used scientific collection and measurement tools to sample test plots to estimate the population of zebra mussels within the bay area.  Using the data they collected, the students learned how to measure, catalog and graph their findings.  The students were then able to compare their results to data collected by other classes over the years.