Volunteers are working to pull invasive plants at the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria.
“We’re trying to return it to what it was,” said Paul Charell, volunteer.
More than a dozen people spent their Wednesday morning pulling invasive plants, like mustard, along the Bluff Trail.
“You hear that pop, that’s how you know you got it,” said Debbie Josephson, volunteer. “We’re digging up the medium-sized to larger-sized ones.”
Josephson has been volunteering for the past five years.
“I wanted to give back to the community. I walk here almost daily. I love this Fiscalini Ranch,” she said.
The work will help stop the spread of invasive plants from crowding out native ones like poppies.
“This mustard plant, if we leave it, it will get so big. It will produce thousands of seeds. Next year, those seeds would just take over,” said Michael Thomas, coordinator.
“It’s infesting the coyote brush that’s here, and if it grows, it can take over the nutrients from the coyote brush,” said Marvin Josephson, Friends of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve Board member.
The recent rain is helping with the removal by softening the soil.
“It’s a lot easier to get this stuff. We can make more headway when we do this,” Josephson said.
Thomas says that invasive species grow and spread a lot faster than native plants.
“It’s not as good nutrients for the local animals like deer, ground squirrels and such,” he said.
For now, they will be leaving the pulled mustard plants upside down at the ranch.
“This will bring nitrogen and nutrients back to the soil. There’s no need to carry it off until it’s full of seeds,” Thomas said.
Given that the ranch is 437 acres, the event coordinator says the work will never fully end.
If you are interested in becoming a Wednesday Weeder, click here.
