On the April 19 Workday, a terrific group of volunteers, including students from Citrus and Mt. San Antonio College as well as community members and Claremont Colleges faculty, worked on two projects – removing Maltese Star Thistles and sampling plants in the experimental plots in the burn area.
The attack on Maltese Star Thistles (Centaurea melitensis, also called Tocalote) continued in the area west of the entry drive, with volunteers pulling any thistles that had popped up since the last workday and expanding the treated area west and south. We’ve treated most of this area previously, but we we were able to do a more thorough removal than in the past and also extend the treatment area farther than in the past. The thistles were noticeably thicker in the previously unweeded areas, indicating that our treatment is having an effect.
Volunteers seek out and uproot Maltese Star Thistles. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Volunteers seek out and uproot Maltese Star Thistles. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Volunteers seek out and uproot Maltese Star Thistles. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Dave Willber (Citrus College) with a giant uprooted Maltese Star Thistle. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Volunteers also helped sample plants in the experimental plots in the area that burned in September, 2013. Understanding whether removing non-native plants aids recovery of the natives obviously requires that we have a method for monitoring the vegetation in each of the plots. Prof. Diane Thomson (Keck Science Biology) has devised a protocol for sampling the plants in each plot, and we were fortunate to have volunteers familiar with native plants to assist Prof. Thomson and BFS Director Marty Meyer in identifying and counting plants in the plots.
Steven Minkler (Citrus College), BFS Director Marty Meyer, Prof. Diane Thomson (Keck Science Biology), and Richard Rojo identify and record plants in one of the experimental plots. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Both Star Thistle removal and plant sampling in the plots will continue through the next few workdays, so join us if you can! We can use as many hands as we can get!