BOSTON -- Local students are helping in the battle against invasive weeds that are spreading and choking plants that are native to the area.

Kids Help Fight Plant Invaders

NewsCenter 5's David Brown reported that as an environmentalist and educator, Liz Duff, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, closely watches the ecology of Massachusetts salt marshes. They are places with a delicate balance between salt and fresh water. Recently, the salt marsh was a classroom for some Essex Elementary School students and the lesson was invasive plants.

"I've actually been seeing the phragmite spread down the road since we've been coming here all these years," Duff said.

The phragmite that is spreading stops certain birds from nesting, and pepperweed can be toxic.

"It alters the landscape so any plants that used to be growing are no longer there and the animals and insects, bacterias that relied on them. The whole cycle is altered," Duff said.

The invasive plants choke out the natural plants, which in turn alters the marshes' wildlife. That is one lesson the students were learning. Another lesson was that they can make a difference by weeding to stop the plants from spreading.

"These seeds are dispersed by the winds and the changes in the tidal currents here at the marsh. This allows the invasives to take over, choking out the native plants and forever changing the ecology here," Duff said.

"We are hoping they extend their knowledge of just factual scientific information to become invested in their surroundings and to really generate environmental stewardship," teacher Mindy MacNeill said.

"The native plants are food and shelter for all the wildlife here, so it's really important that we get rid of it so that the wildlife stays intact," student Lindsey Duff said.