A Proviso Rotary Club turns 100 Page 3
Alien Invasion Cause For Concern
Vol. IX No. 6
Westchester student’s art to appear on vehicle stickers
vfpress.news
Page 8
No, not that one, but another one and the invader is Buckthorn – a harmful tree species, expert says By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
There’s an alien invasion happening under our nose, but most of us don’t see it. It doesn’t involve UFO’s or the typical tropes of pop culture conspiracies. No, this invasion is much more mundane. “I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s everywhere,” said Dave Coulter, a horticulturist and arborist who presented information on the invasion at a Jan. 18 public meeting hosted by the Green Residents of Westchester (GROW) Ecological Commission. The “it” that Coulter references is the tree species Common Buckthorn, easily spotted as green shrubbery lining the edges of forest preserve. Most motorists flying down Wolf Road or 31st Street are blithely unaware of its existence, but Buckthorn is a serious problem, Coulter said. Buckthorn is considered to be an invasive species because it isn’t native to the local ecosystem and because its presence causes real harm — to humans and other living beings. Native to Europe and western Asia, Buckthorn reduces forest diversity by “outcompeting native plants, causing longlasting damage to the soil and the larger ecosystem,” Coulter explained in a slide deck. “Its dense thickets shade the ground from sunlight, making regeneration of oaks and other plants difficult,” he added. “Buckthorn also generSee BUCKTHORN on page 7
COURTESY VILLAGE OF BELLWOOD
Bellwood village officials and community members gathered on Feb. 1 to raise the Pan-African Flag over Village Hall. Officials in Broadview and Maywood also raised the flag over their respective village halls at the same time on Thursday. A group called the Grassroots Community Collaboration came up with the initiative as part of an array of Black History Month programming planned throughout February.
Pan-African Flag Raising Kicks Off Array Of Black History Month Commemorations Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood marked the start of the annual commemoration by raising the flag above their village halls
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Sue Henry, a Broadview resident, said recently that she and other community members in Proviso Township longed for more deliberate and widespread programming and events during Black History Month. So, they organized the Grassroots Community
Collaboration (GCC). On the first day of Black History Month, GCC launched the start of its month-long array of programming and events in Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood with the raising of the Pan-African Flag. Village officials in all three suburbs gathered at the See FLAG RAISING on page 4