{"id":6559,"date":"2023-05-25T23:46:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T20:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2023-05-26T00:01:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T21:01:26","slug":"on-the-oddly-satisfying-war-against-invasive-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/news\/on-the-oddly-satisfying-war-against-invasive-species","title":{"rendered":"On the (Oddly Satisfying) War Against Invasive Species"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is a great deal of satisfaction in wresting weeds out of the earth. Backbreaking and endless as the chore may be, there is a tiny but unassailable sense of triumph in it, feeling the soil give suddenly, yielding the stubborn root, and the foe lying defeated in your hand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Diana Gabaldon,\u00a0A Breath of Snow and Ashes<\/em><\/p>\n

One June morning I stand up from my crouch, take my handkerchief from my back pocket, take off my hat, and wipe the sweat from my forehead. I look around. I\u2019m in a meadow covered in yellow star-thistle (Centaurea solstitialis), an invasive plant<\/a> that covers entire meadows across Northern California. I despair at the idea of pulling it all by hand, as there\u2019s so much of it and I\u2019m alone. That\u2019s when the question that has saved me countless times since comes to me: \u201cDid I make a difference today?\u201d To which the answer is\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0\u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done this work for over a decade, and in the last four to five years I\u2019ve been out several days a week<\/a> from November\/December to July\/August. I\u2019ve essentially learned by doing, while consulting with staff at the\u00a0Sonoma Ecology Center. What I\u2019ve found is that doing this work requires being intelligently methodical\u2014and absolutely relentless.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yellow star-thistle came to California from South America around 1850. This fecund flower can put out 30,000 seeds per square meter, 95 percent of which is viable shortly after landing, according to a\u00a0University of California\u00a0website. (Photo by Natalie Jagoda via iNaturalist,\u00a0CC-BY-NC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is some of what I\u2019ve learned:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a battle, it\u2019s a war of attrition<\/strong>. We can\u2019t win, all we can hope to accomplish is to reduce the level of invasion to a manageable<\/a> level. We may be successful in keeping a particular species off the properties completely, or away from trails, with due diligence over years, but we will never completely rid these properties of invasive species.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t look up<\/strong>. Invasive species removal is a long game\u2014something that takes concerted effort for many years to reach your goals. Think of saving for retirement: It takes work over a long period of time to achieve lasting goals. The point is that if you see the entire job before you, you may despair. But if you keep your head down and only look at what\u2019s right in front of you, then you have a chance of going on, and really making a difference in the long term.<\/p>\n

Look up<\/strong>. This is not a negation of the previous point, but sometimes it can really help to break out of your focus and enjoy where you are. Look off into the far distance, see the wildlife, feel the breeze, and drink it all in. If you\u2019re enjoying yourself you\u2019re more likely to keep doing the work.<\/p>\n

Set achievable goals<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0When I first started pulling invasives, I had no goals. I just went out and did it. But when I took it on as a project, I discovered the need to set goals. Initially, in my ignorance, I set the goal of complete eradication. That was an unreasonable goal, it\u2019s better to set a more modest goal of, for example, removing it from the trail edge. Once that\u2019s achieved, another goal can be set. But don\u2019t rush it, or you may become frustrated.<\/p>\n

Know that one plant pulled today means ten you won\u2019t have to pull next year, and a hundred the next<\/strong>.<\/em> If one plant seeds another ten, and those each seed another ten the following year, very quickly you have exponential growth that quickly becomes uncontrollable. Knowing this can help manage discouragement.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t start at zero tolerance<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0In serious infestations there is no way you can get it all at once. You may need to hit the same area half-a-dozen times or more. Only set an area to \u201czero tolerance\u201d\u2014where you pull everything you see\u2014when the area warrants that designation. It may take several years to get to that point.<\/p>\n

Use a variety of strategies, fit for purpose and timing.\u00a0<\/strong>When I first began this work, I thought that pulling was the only strategy to use. But I realized that we could use a lot of different strategies, depending on the situation, the time of year, and other factors. Early in the season I begin with pull and toss, then move to pull and carry out when it starts to put on seed, and finally end up at weed whack. We\u2019ve also experimented successfully with an application of 30 percent vinegar. There may be others still. The point is to be flexible, learn, and adjust as needed.<\/p>\n

Know that there\u2019s never just one<\/strong>. This is a rookie mistake\u2014thinking that when you spot one invasive weed that\u2019s all there is. This is almost never the case. As soon as you zoom in on that one weed, you will see others\u2014perhaps many others.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The gnarliest bouquet. Star-thistle is poisonous to horses, by the way. (Photo by Roy Tennant)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t let one patch get you down<\/strong>. When I first started I thought I needed to pull everything in a patch before moving away. But I quickly realized that for sanity I needed to take a break. Sometimes you just need to walk a bit and restart, and that\u2019s fine. These days I only work until I feel like moving on, since I know I will be back tomorrow or the next day to fight it back farther.<\/p>\n

Only do what you want to do.<\/strong>\u00a0Otherwise you may never come back.<\/p>\n

Use the seasons to your advantage<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0Invasive species have their own timetable, and some like Italian thistle come in early, while others like Yellow star-thistle, come in later. Meanwhile, you can get Scotch broom pretty much any time. Time your work appropriately.<\/p>\n

You need to pull the big plants before you see the small ones<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019ve often been over the same ground multiple times, finding new plants each time. First, you pull the big plants, then you pull the small ones, then you pull the tiny ones you didn\u2019t see before getting the others, or that came on later.<\/p>\n

The idea of ridding even a small part of California free of invasive species seems like an impossible task, mostly because it is. But it\u2019s still very much worth doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I make a difference today?\u201d Yes, yes I have. I hope to see you out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is a great deal of satisfaction in wresting weeds out of the earth. Backbreaking and endless as the chore may be, there is a tiny but unassailable sense of triumph in it, feeling the soil give suddenly, yielding the stubborn root, and the foe lying defeated in your hand.\u201d \u2014 Diana Gabaldon,\u00a0A Breath of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6578,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions\/6578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}