Author Archives: Roy Tennant

Rebuilding a Trail Segment

Posted
Filed under Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

SnapShot-EditedThis morning six volunteer trail stewards met to rebuild two of our worst sections of trail on the Overlook. These sections are just below the top meadow and are rocky and difficult to traverse—particularly for runners. Prior to today, four wagonloads of packable gravel had been hauled up to the job site. Even so, we could have used more.

After about three hours of work we had rebuilt the two sections of trail to our satisfaction (at least for now, there are a few mop-up jobs left to finish off the segments).

In rebuilding these parts of the trail, we essentially went through several phases:

  1. Demolition: removal of rocks and boulders from the path (some of them quite large and deeply embedded).
  2. Rough-in: filling of holes from boulder removal with smaller rocks and large gravel; recreating the trail foundation.
  3. Final smoothing and sculpting: layering packable gravel and soil to create a smooth path and packing it down.
  4. Declaration of success and congratulations: The necessary acknowledgement of what was accomplished and kudos all around.

At the start of our work I had set up a time-lapse camera to capture a greatly sped up version of the morning, which I then edited into a less-than-five-minute video that ends up being slightly comical. I hope you enjoy it.

The Earliest Thistle Season Has Ever Begun

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Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Plant Life, Stewardship

IMG_3659Today I found an Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) plant (see picture). It’s the earliest I have found it, with the previous record being November 10th. I fault the early rains we’ve had this month.

What this means is that I will now turn the bulk of my trail efforts to pulling it from along the trail, primarily on the Montini Preserve, where we have yet to push it back. Last year, sadly, I didn’t even get close to achieving that highly desirable result. My hope is to do a lot better this year, which would mean removing all of the trailside plants by about June.

This is going to be a long eight months.

Dia de los Muertos • Day of the Dead Cemetery Tour

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Filed under Events, Fall, Fundraising, History, Mountain Cemetery, Stewardship

Tour Sonoma History through Mountain Cemetery

Saturday November 4th, 2023
10 am OR 12:30pm
$40 Suggested Donation
REGISTER

The Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards invite you to take a lively, informative walk through our historic cemetery with our own amateur historian Fred Allebach.

Meet ranchers and ranch hands, real estate tycoons, farmers and farriers, carpenters and stone masons, quarry-men, grocers, butchers, bakers, maybe a candlestick maker, and many more! This fundraising event is limited to 25 participants per hike. We sell out every year, so register early to be sure you get a spot!

We’ll have a hike at 10am and another at 12:30. Your $40 donation includes the walking tour, cookies and cider. All proceeds go toward improvements on the Overlook Trail. The Trail is solely supported by private donations.

The Season of the Child Soldiers

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Filed under Trail Maintenance, Yellow Star Thistle

IMG-2860When I started this effort to remove invasive thistle from the Sonoma Overlook Trail, and then also the Montini Preserve, I thought, in my ignorance, that it was a battle. Over time I realized it was a war. And not only a war, but a war of attrition. That is, who could last longer? Us or them? In the end I know it’s them, but I will take a bite out of them. A serious bite.

Where I’m taking the most serious bite is on the Yellow starthistle, which has been battled down to a few meadows on the roughly 200 acres of the contiguous Montini Preserve and Sonoma Overlook Trail.

For example, today I went out and removed all of the Yellow starthistle from one of the remaining Overlook Trail meadows where it appears. And I’m here to tell you that they are sending in their child soldiers (see picture). These are the plants that are the equivalent of the invasive species “hail mary,” which pop up at the end of the season and only have a single flower/seed pod to try to propagate.

Frankly, when you are mostly pulling these “child soldiers” you know you have it on the run. That’s when you double-down and seriously eff them up. Count on me for that.

Yesterday’s Monthly Trail Workday

Posted
Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Plant Life, Stewardship, Yellow Star Thistle
ThistleWorkday

Priscilla, Tom, Roy, Elizabeth, and Kurt. Jamie took the picture.

Yesterday a crew of six stewards, including me, headed out to clear the upper Sonoma Overlook Trail meadow of invasive Italian thistle. We made one complete sweep of the upper meadow and emerged with ten contractor debris bags full of the nasty weed, as well as some remaining invasive Yellow starthistle, which unfortunately was a surprise.

Elizabeth Garsonnin, Priscilla Miles, Jamie Nelson, Tom Sours, and Kurt Teuber came out to help with this important battle. If we hit Italian thistle hard now on the upper meadow, before it completely drops its seed, we have a chance of eventually eradicating it instead of allowing it take over completely.

Although we’ve been largely successful in pushing it away from the trail, we are still challenged in large areas where Italian thistle is gaining the upper hand. On the Montini Preserve, my focus has been simply to get it off the trail, as that is the only reasonable goal for that property at the moment. But on the Sonoma Overlook Trail property, we have an opportunity to eradicate it further back from the trail. Eventually, some years from now, my goal will to be to not even see it from the trail, but that is clearly some years out still, and may never be achieved on the Montini Preserve, where it’s fairly rampant.