On April 18, 2026, volunteers from Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership (HIPP) and Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) worked together to burn the accumulated wood in the brush pile at Curtis Farm Preserve. With a Harpswell Neck Fire Department (HNFD) truck on standby for the morning, the brush was turned to ash within a few hours. Our thanks go out to HHLT volunteers Craig Douglas (also a volunteer with HNFD), Tom Carr, and Ron Davis, and to HIPP volunteers Don Westfall, Linda and Dennis Wilkins, and Becky Gallery. With this debris gone HIPP will start re-building the brush pile with the coming work days for invasive plant removal.
HIPP employs multiple disposal approaches to deal with the invasive plant debris that volunteers cut or dig up at Harpswell preserves and town lands. Some plant debris can be left safely on-site when there’s no risk of the debris sprouting new growth or leaving seeds or berries that could germinate and further spread unwanted and harmful plants. It is less common that woody debris and brush accumulates to the extent it does at Curtis Farm Preserve that requires additional measures such as safely burning. More commonly, HIPP volunteers cut and bag invasive plant debris which they dispose of at the Harpswell Recycling Center and Transfer Station. See the March 2026 article on HIPP’s website about safely bagging and disposing of invasive plant debris.
