Since Big Basin reopened to visitors on July 22nd, park staff has received numerous concerns about all the thistle sprouting on the Redwood Loop Trail, so the Trail Crew decided to continue its earlier work and spend another day 'weeding' before all the thistles disbursed their seeds and there was an even more widespread problem next year.
Before
After
Fortunately we had another good turnout of 19 and were able to fill twelve 64-gal plastic garbage bags with seed pods and removed an unknown number of thistle plants which were left on nearby burn piles.
It was nice having another workday with a slower pace and without the roar of chainsaws associated with the usual trail clearing work. By the end of the day, we had completely removed all large patches of thistle from the Loop and with each plant capable of producing up to 20,000 seeds in a season we made a significant impact over the past two workdays.
It will take a multi-year effort to eradicate the thistle completely, so we may be back next summer to continue the work.
The crew put 140 hours and with 2556 hour YTD we have surpassed the hours put in finishing the Scultz Bridge and Kirsch Trail for the Park’s centennial celebration. Thanks to Arnold Arcolio, Daryn Bieri, Nan Bowman, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, John Collins, Denis DeCeuster, Marc Koenig, John Martin, Sean Miller, Whitney Mitchell, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Cassie Sprenger, Bruce Washburn, Chris Young, and first timers Amit Patil, Audrey Sanford and Pooja Upganlawar, for their efforts.
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Mike and Bruce