Category Archives: Stewardship

The Season of the Child Soldiers

Posted
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.

An Update on the War

Posted
Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Stewardship, Yellow Star Thistle

ThistlePirates2Today I went out to assess the invasive Yellow starthistle infestation this year. I’m happy to say that it’s less than last year, but it’s still there. We may still be several years away from complete eradication.

But the really depressing thing to see is that Italian thistle is simply taking its place.

This has me thinking that my strategy needs to be this:

  • Eradicate Yellow starthistle (essentially steady the course on what I’ve already been working on).
  • Control Italian thistle in specific areas (trailside and on the Upper Meadow of the Sonoma Overlook Trail).
  • Clone myself. I’ve already signed up Dan Noreen to join “Thistle Pirates” (see graphic) and I hope to sign up others as well. If you wish to join, let me know. You get a free t-shirt, but be careful, as it can come with an obsession.

If you wish to join us, let me know! People along the trail are very appreciative of this work.

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

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Filed under Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

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!