Category Archives: Stewardship

The Third Wave

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Filed under Invasive Non-Natives, Invasive Species Removal, Italian Thistle, Winter

IMG-2727I’ve been pulling Italian thistle (an invasive monster) since mid-November. It’s now mid-March and we still have very young plants coming in (see pic, gloved finger for scale). Today, I decided to call it the “third wave” but I have no idea if it comes in waves at all, or just constantly. Or if it comes in waves, how many can we expect? Five? Ten?

All I know is that it will continue to come in for quite some time, and I need to keep an eye out for these little guys probably well into May. Part of the reason may be the very wet winter we are having, as none of the thistle is bolting yet but the plants, in some cases, are becoming very large. This presages a massive stalk, which will mean more bulk to deal with when we need to begin bagging the thistle and carrying it out.

Also, the rain is preventing me from using 30 percent vinegar to battle big patches, since I need sun to follow spraying, not rain that will wash it off. So far we haven’t many stretches of dry weather.

Sorry to be a Debby Downer, but these are just some of the challenges we face when attempting to control invasive thistle on these lands.

Making Room to Stand in Front of the Display at the Top of the Trail

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Filed under Rock Reduction, Stewardship, Trail Maintenance, Trail Smoothing

IMG-2691Recently I noticed that there was very little room to stand in front of our display at the top of the trail (see picture). Frankly, I couldn’t believe why that spot was chosen, when moving it several feet to the left would have been better by far. But whatever, it’s what we now need to deal with.

That’s when I decided that I needed to reduce the rock in front of it so people could comfortably stand in front of it and read the text as well as compare the picture to what they could view from that point. So I brought up our cordless rock chisel and got all medieval on the rocks in front of the display. The result is now what you see here (see picture). Although at first it was easy going, as the rock split along clear lines of weakness, it soon got harder, and I was literally chipping away at some very hard rock.

IMG-2693I finally gave up sooner than I would have otherwise, leaving a ridge of rock jutting up from the trail, since at the time I had no other choice. Perhaps later I can reduce it more, and create a smooth surface, but one battery’s worth of power is about all I can take on my wrist.

Porter Abodeely and Sunrise Rotary Work Day Successful

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Filed under Acts of Service, Events, Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

Presentation School student Porter Abodeely, with the assistance of his father JJ, arranged and performed a trail workday with the help of Sunrise Rotary this past Saturday. Sonoma Overlook Trail steward Fred Allebach coordinated with Porter and JJ to guide the workers to the best jobs for the students and for the trail.

There were two crews, one focused on the kiosk area and the other on the upper trail. The kiosk crew performed these tasks: cleaned the trail entry, swept the kiosk area, moved rock thanking the Kiwanis Club for their trail donation back into place, removed trash, swept and weeded the entry staircase steps, cleaned the entry path drain, cleaned the drain above the staircase, swept the stone walls, lightly sanded picnic table top, and cleaned leaves out of table cracks.

The upper moved extra rocks from the new steps to a pile at the Toyon Trail junction, filled eroded areas in the new treads, raked gravel back out to the center of the trail and swept the steps.
The pictures are kindly provided by JJ and are published here with his permission. We extend our appreciation to Porter and JJ Abodeely, Sunrise Rotary, and Fred Allebach for making this happen!

Controlling Water on the Trails

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Filed under Rain, Stewardship, Trail Maintenance, Weather, Winter

The Trail Maintenance Team for the Sonoma Overlook Trail does a variety of tasks, but one of the most important things we do is manage the flow of water across the trails. Essentially, what we try to do is to move the water off the trail as soon as it comes on. The best way that this happens is in sheet flow from the upper side of the trail to the lower side, but that is rarely the situation we can accomplish.

One challenge is that water often comes onto the trail not in a gentle sheeting flow, but in what is essentially a tiny creek. Another is that it isn’t always an option to have the water sheet off the downhill side. We often need to allow it to flow down part of the trail before directing it off in a waterbar (a channel we cut in the trail to force the water off the trail).

There are also other structures we build to manage water. Perhaps chief among them is the armored swale. An armored swale is essentially a deep channel you cut in the trail that you “armor” with rocks so it doesn’t erode as the water flows over it and off the trail. Another strategy we use to encourage sheet flow off the trail is cut the “berm” or the very edge of the trail that can build up in a way that keeps water on the trail instead of allowing it to sheet flow off of it.

All of these structures require ongoing maintenance, and the more subtle structures require more maintenance than the more dramatic ones.

Over the last few days (one of them during the recent rainstorm) I was out renewing the structures in place and cutting berm to better enable water flow off the trail. I also deepened a few waterbars and performed other tasks to better channel water from the trail.  I will again be out there tomorrow afternoon during the rainstorm with a shovel, to see what needs fixing. It’s part of what we stewards do.

The Game is Afoot

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Filed under Fall, Invasive Non-Natives, Invasive Species Removal, Italian Thistle, Plant Life

Picture of an Italian thistle plant.

A young Italian thistle.

I know what all five of you who read this blog are thinking: “Oh no, not again!” you’re groaning. And I don’t blame you.

Yet again I’m blogging about invasive species management on the Overlook and Montini properties, as I have for years. But as you might imagine, there’s a reason for that, and it’s because we’re in a decades-long fight that we may never win.  So buckle up, buttercup, here we go again!

I first sighted Italian thistle popping up in early November. Certainly by November 8, two days earlier than last year, I noticed more than one patch of it. Therefore, today I went out on the Montini Preserve and pulled not only the one pictured plant (the largest one I found today), but also many other, much smaller plants. The game is definitely already afoot, thanks to some early rains.

So far I’ve been unable to tell if our previous work has made much of an impact on the problem. My instinct is that we haven’t yet, that we still have a ways to go to seriously reduce the seed bank present in the soil. There seem to be plenty of plants along the trail on the Montini, which is where I’ve focused much of my attention, so there doesn’t seem to be much progress there. Yet.

But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that invasive species management is a long game. And few people know what the long game takes better than I do, I submit. So once again I saddle up, and enter the fray. I’ll see you out there.