Post contributed by Conservation Corps of Minnesota, Youth Outdoors Crew 2:
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| 4-H volunteers adding cut burdock to the dumpster. Thanks for your help, that was a LOT of burdock to remove! |
During the past week, Youth Outdoors crew 2 (YO2) has focused
on burdock and other flowering invasive species. Tuesday, they worked in Como
Woodland Outdoor Classroom (CWOC) removing garlic mustard with a group of youth
from Cumen Christi for a couple hours in the morning. They then spent the rest
of the day cutting bolting
burdock in hopes to kill the plant.
Wednesday, the crew continued to work burdock, but had
reinforcements. A group of about 100 youth from 4-H Clubs around the state
volunteered in CWOC and
were able to load a one ton dumpster with burdock that had been cut. The
volunteers were a tremendous help in the burdock clean up.
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| Volunteers from Macalaster working at Hidden Falls. |
Hidden Falls was the destination for YO2 on Thursday where
they targeted invasives such as burdock and garlic mustard with a group of
volunteers until inclement weather concluded the event early. The volunteers
from Macalester did a great job in the little time they worked, pulling out
several bags of garlic mustard and loading a truck bed with burdock. For the
rest of the day between lightning strikes the crew worked along Como Lakeshore
pulling undesirable species such as black mustard, sweet clover, and campion.
Friday, the crew returned to the Victoria Rain Garden to cut out and
treat an area with dense invasive specie cover. Once the area was looking
presentable, the crew walked the lakeshore and targeted reed canary
grass. In the afternoon, Desnoyer was the next site to sweep for invasive
species and YO2 targeted both reed canary grass and purple loosestrife. Though
Desnoyer had several invasive species, it was very nice to see several
varieties of sedges and young oaks—a promising sign. The final project for the week was invasive
work at the Lexington-Nebraska rain garden. Several volunteer trees were taken
out along with dense areas of quack grass. The crew will return in the next
couple weeks to continue to clean up the garden.
