The blitz day - aka Weeding Bee - was a huge success!
About 25 people came out, including most of the TISG group, joined by Geoff's wife Judy, honourary member for the day. The main target area was in the Butterfly Meadow, between the tarp and the rail fence to the north. This is a large patch, with a lot of DSV mingling with many other plants that belong in the meadow. The group worked very hard, most people being there from 9 to about 1, with a mid-morning break at the Interpretation Centre.
The area was pretty much cleared of DSV, taken out entirely by pulling. This is proving to be the most efficient way of taking out DSV that is growing among other plants. Although the DSV stems seem to become more brittle as the plant matures, it was still quite easy to pull them out singly and in clumps without breaking them off. The pulled plants were carted to the sumac growing on the south side of the ravine, where they were used as a thick mulch. The understory of this extensive stand of sumac is almost entirely DSV; vines reaching up into the trees were torn down before armloads of DSV from the meadow were tossed on top. We'll need to monitor this for effectiveness. Several of us took photos, for both the TISG blog and the FWG blog.
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