Every spring, U.S. colleges and universities shut down for a week or two, allowing students to relax at home or take a vacation from their studies. Some head to the beaches in Florida or other warm spots. But more students are trading their vacation opportunities for volunteer work projects in Miami and other cities.
At Everglades National Park outside Miami, Louie Toth is leading a group of students from the University of Wisconsin into remote areas of the forest.
Louie Toth teaches student volunteers to identify and remove invasive plant species in the Florida Everglades.
“This is a Brazilian pepper tree, and if you scan the area around it, you will see there is no other vegetation growing around it,” he explains.
The Brazilian pepper and other foreign plants were introduced by accident to the Everglades and now crowd out native species. Student volunteers are ripping out these invaders and trying to collect the seeds to prevent new plants from growing.