By Jim Hess, SWTU Conservation Chair
I want to give a special shout out to the following volunteers that showed up for a mid-summer special workday to battle out of control wild parsnip and other invasives in our prairie planting at the Basco Wildlife Unit: Mark Maffitt, Bob Harrison, Jim O’Brien, Jim Hill, Bob Brewer, Kieth Katers, Carl Fernandez, and Jim Beecher. The weather forecast was warm and humid, but luckily it stayed cloudy all morning, making the conditions a little more tolerant.
I am sure all these volunteers wanted to go home when they saw the mess we were dealing with. Besides wild parsnip, there was sweet clover, thistles, and Queen Anne’s lace. It was amazing to see what a prescribed burn can do to stimulate plants, the good and bad ones. The 7-foot-tall cup plants and towering sunflowers created an impenetrable wall to get to the invasives. I had to stand up on my tractor to see anything, concerned that I might run into someone.
After showing everyone what needed to be done, I started the Kubota to mow the dense populations of wild parsnips, which helped to open up the jungle in front of us. Bob Harrison joined in with a brush cutter. I was able to get the heavy infestations, doing my best to avoid the good plants (which are everywhere – you just can’t see them through the jungle). The volunteers went after the individual plants, the ones I missed, and along the river where I couldn’t go. We worked hard up to 12 noon, when I would say we removed 90% or more of wild parsnip and other invasives. A very satisfying day.
The original plan was for the county to mow the heavy infestations, but they are dealing with wild parsnip all over the county and were unable to do it. However, the smaller tractor could maneuver around the good plants and avoid the oak trees that were planted a couple of years ago. You couldn’t see them until you were right on top of them – they would have probably been mowed over with a larger tractor, along with the good plants. So it turned out to be a good thing that they couldn’t make it.
An addendum from Topf
Jim remembered a couple of large patches of parsnip on the southwest corner of the stream restoration and prairie that the crew could not reach on Saturday. Jim and Topf clipped and scythed those into oblivion a couple of days later. They also ran into a trout angler and dog lover who really appreciates SWTU’s efforts to restore water and land.
Photos “on the ground” courtesy Jim Beecher / Drone photos by Jim Hess.
A Heroic Workday – Crew Takes on Wild Parsnip
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Posted: August 4, 2022 by Drew Kasel
By Jim Hess, SWTU Conservation Chair
I want to give a special shout out to the following volunteers that showed up for a mid-summer special workday to battle out of control wild parsnip and other invasives in our prairie planting at the Basco Wildlife Unit: Mark Maffitt, Bob Harrison, Jim O’Brien, Jim Hill, Bob Brewer, Kieth Katers, Carl Fernandez, and Jim Beecher. The weather forecast was warm and humid, but luckily it stayed cloudy all morning, making the conditions a little more tolerant.
I am sure all these volunteers wanted to go home when they saw the mess we were dealing with. Besides wild parsnip, there was sweet clover, thistles, and Queen Anne’s lace. It was amazing to see what a prescribed burn can do to stimulate plants, the good and bad ones. The 7-foot-tall cup plants and towering sunflowers created an impenetrable wall to get to the invasives. I had to stand up on my tractor to see anything, concerned that I might run into someone.
After showing everyone what needed to be done, I started the Kubota to mow the dense populations of wild parsnips, which helped to open up the jungle in front of us. Bob Harrison joined in with a brush cutter. I was able to get the heavy infestations, doing my best to avoid the good plants (which are everywhere – you just can’t see them through the jungle). The volunteers went after the individual plants, the ones I missed, and along the river where I couldn’t go. We worked hard up to 12 noon, when I would say we removed 90% or more of wild parsnip and other invasives. A very satisfying day.
The original plan was for the county to mow the heavy infestations, but they are dealing with wild parsnip all over the county and were unable to do it. However, the smaller tractor could maneuver around the good plants and avoid the oak trees that were planted a couple of years ago. You couldn’t see them until you were right on top of them – they would have probably been mowed over with a larger tractor, along with the good plants. So it turned out to be a good thing that they couldn’t make it.
An addendum from Topf
Jim remembered a couple of large patches of parsnip on the southwest corner of the stream restoration and prairie that the crew could not reach on Saturday. Jim and Topf clipped and scythed those into oblivion a couple of days later. They also ran into a trout angler and dog lover who really appreciates SWTU’s efforts to restore water and land.
Photos “on the ground” courtesy Jim Beecher / Drone photos by Jim Hess.
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