As we move into a new academic year – and a new season of volunteer workdays – it’s fun and satisfying to look back on what we accomplished last year and to look at some photos not previously posted.
As usual, we started off with cattail removal, which you can see here, here, here, and here. Once that was done, we cleared the lake trail and planted a bunch of plants before winter break.
The spring semester was almost all about mustard and other invasive annuals.
We started each workday with instruction on how to recognize and remove the target plant:
We pulled a whole lot of mustard – Sahara Mustard, Mediterranean Cabbage, Short-pod Mustard, Field Mustard – you name it!
And at the end of the spring we were pulling tocalote (aka Maltese Star Thistle) as well as mustard.
And, of course, in June we had our special workday with the Sustainable Claremont Green Crew for Invasive Species Action Week.
All those pulled weeds got stuffed into cans or loaded into the truck to be taken to the collection point, where they are taken away for a landfill or composting.
We also pulled some other invasives – notably Horehound and a Peruvian Pepper Tree at the top to the ‘Neck’.
After all that pulling, volunteers headed back to the outdoor classroom for a well-deserved pizza lunch.
Although, sometimes the pizza took a while to get there …
And we volunteers happy for a job well done and a tummy full of tasty pizza.
And a happy field station, where the native plants can thrive.
Thank you, than you, volunteers!!!
And now we start another cycle! This year’s workdays have just begun. The next one (cattails, of course) will be Saturday, September 21, if you’d care to join us. You can see the whole schedule for the year here.