When invasive plants jeopardize the AT, this ‘strike team’ fights back
During the sunny mid-morning hours on the Tennessee border in Pisgah National Forest, a small group of volunteers at the Appalachian Trail’s rugged, remote Lemon Gap trailhead prepare for battle — not with litterbugs, poachers or vandals but instead with one of the many invasive plant species that threaten the region’s delicate natural ecosystems.