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The pepper chase
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE CRYSTAL RIVER -- The plant is pretty enough, with deep green smooth oval leaves and bright red clusters of berries. The problem with Schinus terebinthifolius, the Brazilian pepper, is that it is a South American tree. Exotic plants and animals introduced, as the Brazilian pepper was, into a nonnative area can become detrimental to the local, native species. Lecanto Middle School seventh-grade science teacher Marcie Clutter recognizes this problem and is not content to just let it be. She has mobilized her students into doing something about it. Clutter, 52, is the adviser for the middle school's Environmental Builders Club, which is the middle school organization associated with Kiwanis. "I've had that club since I started teaching here," Clutter said. "Seven years." She agreed to advise the club if it would have a environmental theme. She is always on the outlook for some kind of project for the group. For four years her club members cut bamboo out of the Homosassa State Wildlife Park. Now her target is Brazilian pepper. She decided on the peppers when she had her seventh-graders at the Marine Science Station for an unrelated outing. She started looking around, saw the Brazilian peppers and said, "All right, there's our project for the year." The students have been out to the Marine Science Station four times this year clearing out the offensive plant. "It's a total monoculture. It's so invasive," Clutter said. "We actually dug it out by hand." There will be no more visits this year. Clutter said it is too difficult for the students to work when it gets hot out. They try to schedule the clearing outings during cool weather. Plus, she said, the students can remain enthusiastic for four or five visits, so she tries to keep it at that. "It was pretty labor intensive," Clutter said. "I was very proud of the kids." They did pretty well, though, in their first year digging out the pepper invasion. Clutter said they cleared out about three-fourths of it and will finish the job next year. She said this particular project has special meaning because it is a school site. After their last tree digging, Clutter and Jim Geary, their Kiwanis adviser, took the students out for pizza to thank them for a job well done. The Environmental Builders Club members who participated in the Brazilian pepper clearing project were: Neil Maves, Jessica Henry, Felicia Thompson, Kristine Torcator, William Cronshaw, Iliana Colon, Zech Sanders, Diane Schoonover, Jessica Mills and Crystal Marino.
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