Pampas Pull Proves Prosperous

The Trail Stewards recently enjoyed a fun and educational workday with State Parks during our Invasive Plant Workday on Dry Dock Trail. The Dry Dock Trail is located in the Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State Park.  State Parks inherited the Big River Unit from Hawthorne Timber Company, spearheaded through a fundraising effort by the Mendocino Land Trust in 2002.  (Various bonds and grants went into purchasing the property).  Dry Dock Trail is a former logging road that was rehabilitated into a trail.  It is one of several that connect the popular Big River Trail to the vast network of trails within Jackson Demonstration State Forest and the Mendocino Woodlands State Park to the north.  

Terra Fuller, Senior Environmental Specialist with State Parks, is working to decommission the old logging roads within the Big River Unit, with the goal of restoring the watershed. Road decommissioning requires large earth moving equipment to remove fill material from road crossings that block natural stream channels.  After the work is done, invasive plants often move in.  

State Parks Senior Environmental Specialist Terra Fuller discusses how decommissioning old logging roads benefits the watershed.

The area we hit near the Dry Dock Trail had been populated with young Cortaderia jubata; jubatagrass sprouts.  Jubatagrass, similar to its relative, pampasgrass, is an invasive giant tussock perennial grass with saw toothed leaves and white to pink flower plumes. Jubatagrass seeds itself freely, dispersing long distances. Once established, it can grow uncontrollably, crowd out native plants and create a fire hazard. Its native range includes the Andes of northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.
Jubatagrass is easily pulled when young, but extremely difficult to remove by hand when mature.  We will need to return year after year to help the native plants get established, but eventually the old logging deck pictured below will return to a forest. 

One of multiple piles of pulled jubatagrass that the group worked to remove from the old log deck

Terra and volunteer coordinator Amelia Schall from State Parks were a wealth of knowledge and a joy to work with.  Thanks to them and our volunteers for helping us beautify our trails and make our forest healthier!

JP O’Brien discovers the dangers of jubatagrass