Throughout Missouri are many individuals making significant progress in the early detection and control of invasive plants. The Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP) is pleased to highlight their work!
Jack McDonnell, the Program Manager for the Forestry and Community Conservation Department with Beyond Housing, took time out of his busy schedule to describe his invasive plant control work. Enjoy!
Please describe Beyond Housing–its mission and main activities. How does invasive plant control figure into the mission?
Beyond Housing is a nationally recognized, place-based community development organization that serves the 24:1 Community in North St. Louis County—the 22 municipalities within the Normandy Schools Collaborative footprint that share a single high school. Beyond Housing is dedicated to strengthening families and transforming our under-resourced communities to create a stronger, more equitable, and prosperous St. Louis, once and for all. This is accomplished through housing, education, health, economic development, and ecological programs.
Invasive plant control is a key part of that mission because healthy, resilient natural spaces contribute directly to community well-being. Removing invasive species like bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) and kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) restores biodiversity, improves stormwater management, increases access to safe and enjoyable green spaces, and strengthens ecological assets that benefit residents over the long term.
What is your professional title? How long have you been with Beyond Housing and what are your primary responsibilities?
I am the Program Manager for the Forestry and Community Conservation Department. I have been with Beyond Housing since 2023. In this role, I oversee municipal and organizational ecological projects, manage our full-time workforce development team, and coordinate vacant lot remediation and urban forest initiatives across the 24:1 Community. My responsibilities include project management, technical expertise, securing funding, ensuring long-term stewardship, and building partnerships that expand ecological and natural resource management capacity.
What is your professional background?
I began my career as a Member and then Crew Leader with the Southwest Conservation Corps, an AmeriCorps program in Colorado, where I managed high alpine trail construction and timber stand improvement projects. I later worked with private tree companies and the St. Louis County Parks Forestry Department before joining Beyond Housing. Over the years, I have earned ISA Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessment Qualification credentials, a Missouri Public Operators pesticide license, and I am a Missouri Master Naturalist. My skill set has been built through a combination of field experience, formal training, and collaborative work with experts in urban forestry, ecological restoration, and community conservation. I attribute much of my professional success to the AmeriCorps model and to the people with whom I have had the privilege of working.
What are some of the invasive plant control projects you have been involved with at Beyond Housing? Why are they important? What has been the impact?
One of our most significant current efforts is our Kudzu Coalition, a network of communities and organizations working to stay informed about infestations of this growing threat. We partnered with the City of Bellerive Acres, Great Rivers Greenway, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and the Missouri Department of Conservation to begin the eradication of kudzu bordering Great Rivers Greenway trails and the Bellerive Bird Sanctuary. This is a unique and challenging project because kudzu, like most invasives, is admirably tenacious, and the work has just begun. To build momentum, we followed this project with a workshop for regional parks, municipalities, and other stakeholders to highlight the importance of kudzu monitoring and to provide training on how to identify and manage kudzu in their own communities.
We have also hosted several invasive plant control workshops for municipal public works departments across the 24:1 community. This hands-on training equips staff with practical skills and best practices for identifying and eradicating invasives in effective and manageable ways.
Lastly, we have converted over 8 acres of honeysuckle-infested woodlands into burgeoning new native plant habitats through our stewardship program. Our crew manages these properties on behalf of municipalities and organizations to transform vacant lots, unused turf lawns, and overgrown woodlands into native plant habitats. We currently steward over 12 acres in total.
None of this work would be possible without the great municipalities and organizations we partner with, and our department is thrilled to continue removing vegetation that negatively impacts the lives of residents in the communities we serve while replacing it with long-term, cared-for native habitats.
