Eastern States Diversity Partners

The BLM Eastern States maintains relationships with schools, colleges and universities to reach out to the next generation of public lands stewards.

Featured Partnership

A group of college students pose in a wooded area on an island in the Wisconsin River.
Twenty students from the University of
Wisconsin pose on an island in the
Wisconsin River where they were
eradicating invasive species. 
Photo by Davida Carnahan

The Northeastern States District partners with students from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point to remove invasive species, collect native plant seeds, and install visitor information signs on a Wisconsin River island. Service-learning projects such as these may lead some students to a career path in the BLM or other federal agencies, ensuring the sustainability of the public lands for theirs and future generations.

Invasive plants spread at an alarming rate and out-compete native vegetation, changing the characteristics of ecosystems from southern Florida to the lakes and rivers in the upper mid-west. University of WI students joined Northeastern States District staff in using hand tools to help eradicate common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), glossy buckthorn (R. frangula), and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). Students also collected native plant seeds in order to reestablish those plant communities on many of the islands in Wisconsin and Minnesota rivers and lakes. In addition to providing special opportunities for students to accomplish projects on the ground such as this exercise to eradicate invasives, the Northeastern States District recruits college students as summer interns.