Taking on the ultimate invasive...

That's right, it's early fall and time to take on Japanese Knotweed.  The only thing going for this weed in comparison to other stuff we have to deal with is that it doesn't have thorns.  Otherwise, it's pure evil - a plant that grows back from mere fragments (so you can't cut it down), has dense root systems (can't just pull it out), grows incredibly quickly almost anywhere along a riverbank (can't crowd it out with native plants), and can therefore only be fought with herbicide.  While this particular invasive is nasty, it does lead us to some beautiful locales; we are currently hiking the Big Quilcene River, surveying and spraying the knotweed we find.  This job will take us almost all the way through the end of September, to the end of our service year.

Lou spraying Japanese Knotweed

Chris taking a GPS point

Lou helping James out with his bug-spray needs

Hello from Port Hadlock WCC! Apologies for the long haitus.  July has been crazy - full of jobs, members on spike, members on summer break...however, we're finally all back together kicking butt.

Our first order of business was to recieve Crew of the Quarter in the WCC Program in recognition of our hard work both on the job and in our volunteer activities.

What can we say.  It was inevitable.

After attaining this lofty title we headed for a job with the WDFW fixing up a restoration site and prepping an old building for excavation.  Jobs included mowing, ivy-pulling, and cutting out invasives and trees in the way of the excavator.  We also did a field trip over to the Gary Oak planting site to help volunteers with weeding.

Before

After

However, the majority of our time has been spent on the beautiful Dungeness River working for the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe. 

The riparian area is infested with butterfly bush, a big tree-like woody shrub that looks like lilac and has a tendency to completely out-compete native plants.  Armed with chainsaws, loppers, and herbicide, we cut the trees/bushes down and sprayed the stumps to prevent them from growing back.  This will allow natives such as cottonwoods and conifers to grow.  These large native trees are key to large woody debris recruitment in rivers and help to create the log jams needed for healthy habitat.

James about to throw down some Butterfly Bush pain...

AJ cutting a particularly large specimen

 

 

 

Lou excited to saw

Packing it in after three weeks of work.