FRENCH BROOM RANGE US PATCH

Suzanne says she’s only seen bees and moths on the plant, and nothing else seems to eat or live in it.

Native animals seem to have no use for it. “It’s an aggressive weed,” Whelan says, explaining that it grows in dense aggregations, creating barriers for human recreation and plant growth. These taller shrubs create “ladder fuel” which allows the fire to jump into the canopy, creating a very dangerous burn. However, broom can grow into a tall shrub - she has seen it as high as about 15 feet. If fire came through the area with only native species, it would act to re-generate the soil. The broom replaces the mostly low-growing native ground-cover, Whelan explains. French broom removal makes way for this lovely native iris. Whelan says that while walking the trails at the end of summer, “you can actually hear the seeds pods pop open and the seeds explode out and sprinkle into the landscape.” These seeds can persist in the soil for 50 years, creating a formidable seed bank for the species’ long term survival. It also changes the habitat structure’s value for both animals and plants. She believes that the people who come out to volunteer, “have a connection to place and understand the connections between a healthy environment, a healthy water supply and a healthy community.”įrench broom is known as an ecosystem disruptor because it changes the cycling of nutrients, fire and water. “Locals have a great sense of ownership of Mt. “People want to come up here, they want to come out,” she says. Whelan says it isn’t difficult to find volunteers. That diversity combined with 150 miles of road and trails to hike, bike or ride horses, provides recreational opportunities for about 2 million visitors a year. The watershed boasts 900 vascular plant species, 400 vertebrate animal species, and many species of fungi and invertebrates, including about 50 plants of special significance. These lands are part of the UNESCO Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve, an internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot. The Marin water district manages almost 19,000 acres of Mt. She says you need to, “pull, pull, pull for a dozen years,” to make an impact. The Marin water district mowed the area for decades, but has been hand-pulling since 2010, and Suzanne expects they will need to continue for another six to seven years to be effective. The work is being conducted at Pine Point, 9 acres of which is infested with French broom. Volunteers clocked 3,000 hours of French broom removal in 2012-2013 fiscal year. Volunteers are given orange weed wrenches to remove the pieces that won’t come out by hand. She explains that it’s important to get the whole root out because if you break it, the plant just grows back more aggressively, and with multiple stems. Suzanne reaches down and pulls all the way to the root. The volunteers range from middle-school age to almost 70. “It is expanding faster than we can remove it.” “We’re making progress in strategic areas - we are not winning,” says Whelan. Volunteers have clocked 7,000 hours in the last year alone, and the broom is still spreading at a rate of 50 acres a year. Photo: Autumn Sartain.įor the past 12 years, the Marin water district has been working against all odds to get rid of the thing. French broom is a pretty ornamental perennial and a ferocious invader. Genista monspessulana has taken over an estimated 100,000 acres in California since its mid 19 th Century introduction as an ornamental, growing at a rate of more than two feet per growing a season. In the case of French broom, a woody perennial shrub that comes dressed up in attractive yellow flowers, removal has been a focus of native plant restoration efforts for many years around the Bay Area. As we reflect on the compounding problems facing the planet, as individuals it may seem like the best we can do is keep pulling the weeds we see in our own backyards, however intractable they might be. That might as well be the motto for Earth Day 2014. She laughs: “What are you going to do? Whatever you can.” One of the volunteers tells Whelan that the effort is “analogous to reclaiming the Sahara with watering can.” And yet, volunteers put in about 3,000 hours on Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) land during the 2012-2013 fiscal year in habitat restoration, much of it involving removing the “No.1 weed in Marin County.” Pulling weeds is not glamorous or easy work. She cautions them about the hazards of the job: ticks, poison oak, sunburn, uneven terrain, bees and general exhaustion from the heat.

FRENCH BROOM RANGE US PATCH

Suzanne Whelan stands in front of a thick patch of French broom and addresses a group of 17 volunteers who traded in last Saturday to help remove this invasive plant from the Mt.

French broom range us