Tree-cutting!

2.5 hours
Friday, Feb. 25

Adam and I met with Michael Ruiz again to do some new work: trail maintenance.  Invasive Australian acacia trees were overgrowing a trail by the baseball field, so we had two intersecting goals: make the trail more open and cut back the invasive species.  Michael showed us how to identify the invasive daisies and how to differentiate them from the native sunflowers.  He also showed us the lemonadeberry bush and the wild cucumber, both native.

We spent a few minutes pulling out invasive daisies, and the rest of the time cutting thick acacia branches with shears.  It was weird at first to be cutting a tree, but I kept in mind that these invasive species kept a lot of beautiful native species from inhabiting the area.  We got a lot done, clearing areas of the trail of overhanging branches and seriously cutting back on some of the trees to make it easier for someone to perhaps one day cut down the whole trees.