Krivchenia receives native plant recognition
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A Washington County man has received the 2026 Wild and Wonderful Award from the West Virginia Native Plant Society.
Mark Krivchenia received the recognition at the society's annual meeting in August at the Mason Town Hall.
"I am honored and was a bit surprised," Krivchenia said.
The Wild and Wonderful Award is given to those who promote native plants. Krivchenia has made people aware of the invasive plant problem and has given them the skills to do something about it, a release from the society said.
Krivchenia, after retiring and returning to the area, in 2022 began with the Broughton Nature Park in Marietta where he organized volunteers to eliminate plants such as the invasive Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle, privet, multiflora rose, autumn olive and Japanese barberry that shade native plants, preventing their growth. Autumn olive is the biggest problem, he said.
The invasive plants were cut a few inches above the ground and Krivchenia painted the stumps with a herbicide mixed with coloring and a bark-penetrating oil. As a result, Broughton trails that have been worked on are more open and inviting and some native plants in the seed bank have grown back.
He also organized native seed collecting and processing days. Several pounds of seed are made into mixtures each year and used in public parks and areas by volunteers.
Similar work at Middle Island in St. Marys and at Mountwood Park were Krivchenia-inspired.
Krivchenia praised the mission of the Native Plant Society.
"They do wonderful work and encourage native plants and a more-healthy eco-system," he said.
When most people think of the forests, they first think of the trees, but the understory, the vegetation that lives and grows under the trees, is equally important for a thriving eco-system, Krivchenia said.
"The understory of the forest generally gets overlooked. People focus on trees alone," he said. "The forest is a lot more than the trees."