COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Officials in western Iowa will consider seeking a $200,000 state grant to help remove invasive trees and plants taking over a Council Bluffs park. The Daily Nonpareil reports that non-native trees and plants – like black locust, buckthorn and Ohio buckeye- have crowded out native species in Fairmount Park. Parks Director Larry Foster will ask the Council Bluffs City Council on Monday give him the go-ahead to seek the grant.

Foster wants a 28-acre section of the park to go back to oak savannah and understory trees, as well as Loess prairies. Wood chips from the removed trees would be used to surface a nature trail within the park that would connect with a nearby neighborhood trail to the restored area