Here at SPAWN’s office we have a beautiful scenery out back next to the creek. All of the staff love to go next to the creek during their lunch. The biggest problem with the area is the Himalayan Blackberry. I think most of the community of West Marin has this nasty invasive creeping toward their territory.
Everyone has their special technique for destroying this invasive species, but there is no real easy way to do it. Rather than using nasty pesticides near the creek, we decided to tackle this using human power. Organizing a work party seemed to be a great way for the community to learn about salmonids, our local watershed, and why native plants are important for nature. Before we starting the removal we had a nesting survey done to make sure no harm was done to the song birds that could have been nesting in the area.
With the help of 18 volunteers and tools provided by Point Reyes, we removed a very large area near the creek. This was done by several steps of clipping the top layer and digging up the roots with a shovel.
After everyone had worked up a sweat, there was a nice meal provided for everyone. Everything was donated by Lagunitas Deli, Good Earth, Noahs Bagels, and Trader Joes. The creek will soon have lots of native vegetation to replace all of the invasives that were removed.
Thanks to everyone that was involved! 🙂
