Today we went out onto the dunes to check out developments of the invasive species of plants that inhabit them. On the sand dunes behind McCallum pond we saw a lot of Russian thistle, a type of tumbleweed. Russian thistles are low and bushy, growing from 1/2 foot to three feet tall. When they have leaves they are green and fleecy, and the bush has purple stems. The stems and leaves have fine, painful prickers on them. When the plants mature, they become dry and brittle with yellow coloring. After this, during a windstorm, they will break off and roll across the landscape, dispersing seeds and creating a more widespread outbreak of the weed's population. Natives of Russia, the plants now live also in many Middle Eastern countries and arid parts of the western United States.
Russian thistle is a problem on the sand dunes where we were looking. The best way to remove the bushes is by poisoning or pulling them up. My aunt is coming up with a plan to eliminate the presence of these weeds from the dunes.
We also went to another set of dunes- the ones with the fringe-toed lizards- which had a different set of problems. The predominant weed there is called Sahara mustard, and it's really taken over. A large portion of the dunes and the sand fields around them are completely coated with the mustard. The plants prevent the dunes from moving and shifting like they're supposed to, and also drives the fringe-toed lizards to a smaller portion of habitat, as the lizards will only live in places with some open sand.
Saharan mustard is originally from Africa and the Middle East. It grows up to three and a half feet tall, and blooms yellow, although less vibrant than other mustards. It prefers to grow on sand dunes or loose, disturbed ground. When it gets wet, the seeds stick to passerby and spread to new regions. On the dunes here in the Coachella Valley it's extremely difficult to remove. It can't be burned because it doesn't burn well and would harm the native plant and animal life. Fires also can be very dangerous in climates this dry and would require incredibly careful supervision and control. It would also be dangerous to mow the weed because it could be a danger to the animals, and poisoning would have the same effect. Mowing would also only spread the seeds and enlarge the already massive seedbank in the ground. The most careful method to remove it would be hand pulling in spring when the plants are young and not yet seeding. The only problem with this is the massive amount of territory the mustard's taken over. There's so much, it would take a hundred people several weeks of very long, industrious days to pull it all. Probably longer. But that's what the plan in the works is. If there are enough volunteers, then it'll get done sometimes. It will also take years of weeding diligently every year to remove the seed bank, but eventually it should hopefully be recovered.
Russian thistle is a problem on the sand dunes where we were looking. The best way to remove the bushes is by poisoning or pulling them up. My aunt is coming up with a plan to eliminate the presence of these weeds from the dunes.
We also went to another set of dunes- the ones with the fringe-toed lizards- which had a different set of problems. The predominant weed there is called Sahara mustard, and it's really taken over. A large portion of the dunes and the sand fields around them are completely coated with the mustard. The plants prevent the dunes from moving and shifting like they're supposed to, and also drives the fringe-toed lizards to a smaller portion of habitat, as the lizards will only live in places with some open sand.
Saharan mustard is originally from Africa and the Middle East. It grows up to three and a half feet tall, and blooms yellow, although less vibrant than other mustards. It prefers to grow on sand dunes or loose, disturbed ground. When it gets wet, the seeds stick to passerby and spread to new regions. On the dunes here in the Coachella Valley it's extremely difficult to remove. It can't be burned because it doesn't burn well and would harm the native plant and animal life. Fires also can be very dangerous in climates this dry and would require incredibly careful supervision and control. It would also be dangerous to mow the weed because it could be a danger to the animals, and poisoning would have the same effect. Mowing would also only spread the seeds and enlarge the already massive seedbank in the ground. The most careful method to remove it would be hand pulling in spring when the plants are young and not yet seeding. The only problem with this is the massive amount of territory the mustard's taken over. There's so much, it would take a hundred people several weeks of very long, industrious days to pull it all. Probably longer. But that's what the plan in the works is. If there are enough volunteers, then it'll get done sometimes. It will also take years of weeding diligently every year to remove the seed bank, but eventually it should hopefully be recovered.
Mara,
ReplyDeleteYour post brings attention to the issue of labor intensive work. In many cultures, the environment thrived due to the harmonic interaction between people and nature. Our modern American culture has moved so far from previous symbiotic models, most impressively our friends the K!ung of the Kalahari. The challenge for your generation is going to be how to convince the many people totally connected to artifice to sometimes let go and venture into nature as you are doing. How can we mobilize hundreds of people to spend (what a word!) a week in the Mojave pulling up Saharan mustard?!
MrN
Sounds like the war I was waging on goatheads in our old driveway. You and Mr. N are right, though. get a lot of people out working together and you CAN control things like this.
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