Invasive vines strangle trees at Huguenot Flatwater.

Reporter Colleen Curran has a nice feature in today’s Times-Dispatch about volunteer efforts to rein in the many invasive species that constantly encroach on the James River Park System’s urban wilderness. It is National Invasive Species Awareness Week, as we detailed here last week, and the Friends of the James River Park kicked things off yesterday with a volunteer event — about 50 people showed up — at Pony Pasture Park.

“We have this beautiful park, but it’s sick. Invasive species has become an urgent problem,” Mary Wickham, who heads up the invasive plant task force for the James River Park, told Curran.

Click here to check out the rest of the article. There are volunteer events organized by different groups every day this week. Click here to learn more.