Get Rid of Spartina

A Spartina is a plant that lives on the East Coast. It feeds many animals and provides a comfortable home for them. Most importantly, it stops soils from eroding away by using its roots to hold the soil together while it rains. Spartina only lives beside the water. But the plant was brought to the West, and it turned into a totally different story. It might be a hero in the East, but it’s a nature-eating alien in the West. The children of elementary school are trying to stop the invasion. They study, do research, and take action. Below are the problems and solutions of Spartina. 

 The problem of spartina was that there were no animals in the West that ate the plants, it grew wildly, out of control. The heroic plant was brought to the West to help to stop erosions, raise cattle, attract ducks. Instead of helping, the roots clog up the mud, so the native plants can’t live there anymore, and when the natives can’t live there, the animals will have no more things to eat, which makes the animals die out. This is called an invasive species. It’s not native to the West and causes trouble there. 

The cause of spartina invasion starts when it was brought to the West. In the East, the plant thrives and contributes to the ecosystem. But in the West, the plant is an alien, it has no part in the ecosystem, and it’s an invasive species. The cause of it starts when Spartina was brought to the West. First, the hunters grow them there to attract more ducks for them to hunt. Second, engineers grew them, hoping to help the erosion. Third, the farmers feed the plant to cattle. Last but not least, as the temperature grew and the sea levels turned high, the plants spread so far that they reached the west. It started destroying the native plants because no animal in the West eats that kind of weed. It grew at extreme speed and took as much territory as it could get. The condition in the West is just too perfect for the spartina, with no predator, the weather’s perfect, so it thrives too quickly, killing anything in its path. 

There may be many problems about spartina, but every problem has a solution. The solution for spartina killing the native plants is to clean them clear from the west. But how? They’re all over the place, and they’ll keep spreading as long as they have habitat. That’s where the elementary school takes action. They want the town to know how dangerous it is. To start, they held town meetings to discuss the situation and how to get rid of it. They’re also traveling to the capital in Olympia to discuss the problem. They’re even snipping off the tip to prevent it from growing. Second, they stop any people from bringing anymore Spartina to the west, and advising people to help. There are also other ways of getting rid of it, for example, taking animals and plants that eat spartina to the area and attack the plant.

In conclusion, Spartina is helpful in the East, it creates a wetland habitat and an invasive species in the West, and it kills native plants. It has its advantages and disadvantages in different places. Spartina was brought to the West and thought as helpful, but it got out of control and spread quickly, killing the plants and animals in its path. Although there are problems, there are also solutions to it. For example, advising people around to take care of the environment and make sure no invasive species roam. Instead of welcoming every plant, we should cooperate and wipe the spartina out of the west and bring back the native plants.