March 4, 2023
The dawn of an immense effort. Today marks the beginning of the end of the reign of exotic pest plants at Pendleton King Park. No more will they go unchecked, reproducing rampantly and taking over the fragile urban wetland ecosystem at the park. Our effort begins in a strip of woods sandwiched between disc golf hole #7 and the wetlands. An eager crew of seven undaunted AmeriCorps members, currently based at Fort Gordon, joined me to kick off the effort. Enter the Ivy League.
Now just look at that pile of English Ivy. These folks did not back down from the challenge and stared the problem in the face. I am extremely grateful to them for their assistance kickstarting this project. Pulling English Ivy may not be a glamorous undertaking, but it is definitely a noble one. And we were rewarded in knowing that native flora and fauna will directly benefit from our actions. We were also rewarded with a couple dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts :). Plants and animals such as the following:
Hexastylis arifolia - Little Brown Jug
Symplocos tinctoria - Horsesugar
Euonymus americanus - Hearts-a-bustin
Plethodon sp.
We gave it three solid hours of effort and went home feeling that we had done our share.
March 18, 2023
Back at it! Staying true to the schedule of working on the first and third Saturdays of the month, although we weren't blessed with the same crisp spring weather as the 4th. Today's morning was a bit chilly, but we proceeded undeterred, peeling back the carpet of English Ivy even further upslope. Again I was joined by the AmeriCorps team, and again I was so blessed to have their help. Sadly their time in town is almost up, and I will dearly miss their assistance. Thank you AmeriCorps!!
Despite the cool weather, spring was in action in the woods of Pendleton:
Passiflora lutea - Yellow Passionflower
Up the hill I was dismayed to come across a Chinese Elm seedling, an emerging invasive tree and probably the offspring of the one planted in the parking lot.
Ulmus parviflora - Chinese Elm
On its way to public enemy #1 status!
So concludes another productive day of slow and steady progress! Unfortunately for me AmeriCorps is on their way to improving other communities, but I am so grateful for their help! I encourage anyone that wants to get out and join the effort to save the park to meet me at 9 am on April 1st, no joke!
See you out there!
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