An Academic Resource of the Claremont Colleges
Posted in News on Oct 1st, 2019
The first two volunteer workdays of the 2019-2020 academic year were, as usual, devoted to cutting back cattails in pHake Lake. The cattails weren’t planted when the lake was first constructed. They got there on their own. And, boy, do they love it! They grow very tall and thick, extending their territory with rhizomes that […]
Posted in News on Sep 17th, 2019
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 […]
Posted in News on Jun 10th, 2019
The California Department of Fish & Wildlife designated June 1-9 as “California Invasive Species Action Week“, and we at the BFS are doing our part! We teamed up the Sustainable Claremont’s Green Crew to remove invasive plants from an area currently undergoing restoration. The area was bulldozed during the installation of a sewer line during […]
Posted in News on Mar 1st, 2019
As noted in the previous post, Sahara Mustard (Brassica tournefortii) has been a focus of volunteer efforts this semester, and here are a few photos from our first Sahara Mustard removal day on January 19. Thanks to Gerardo Vitale for some great pictures!
Posted in News on Feb 24th, 2019
The first two volunteer workdays of the spring semester have been all about mustard – specifically two winter-blooming mustards – Brassica tournefortii (Sahara Mustard) and Brasscia fruticulosa (Mediterranean Cabbage). Brassica tournefortii has been discussed before in these pages. This particularly nasty mustard has displaced native vegetation in large areas of Joshua Tree National Park and […]
Posted in News on Dec 7th, 2018
For the last volunteer workday of the fall semester, we had a record crew of 53 people, including large contingents from the Webb Schools, Bonita High School, and Citrus College, as well as Claremont Colleges faculty, staff, students, and children. They turned out to help restore the area bulldozed during renovation of the Redford Conservancy! […]
Posted in News on Nov 12th, 2018
On the November 3 workday, volunteers cleaned up around pHake Lake. A few days of strong Santa Ana winds in previous weeks had brought down limbs and some entire trees that were blocking the lake trail. One very large downed willow tree was removed by Johnny’s Tree Service, but the volunteers took care of the […]
Posted in News on Oct 21st, 2018
This past Saturday’s volunteer workday was what we expect to be the last cattail cutting for this year. The volunteers concentrated on widening the lake access on the south shore and also did some additional cattail tidying around the boat landing and the northeast corner of the lake. Here they are at work on the […]
Posted in News on Oct 11th, 2018
The Saturday, October 6, volunteer workday continued the cutting of cattails (Typha latifolia) as well as some bulrushes (Schoenoplectus sp.) and smaller rushes (Juncus sp.) on the edge of pHake Lake. This time the work centered on the northeast corner of lake to clear a site on the north shore that is used for collecting […]
Posted in News on Oct 1st, 2018
September 29 was another warm fall Saturday and another day of cutting cattails at pHake Lake. This time volunteers concentrated on the south shore of the lake, where access to the lake was almost totally blocked. After cattails were cut, they were piled into boats and hauled across the lake to the boat landing area, […]