Boulder Greenways Weeding on Wheels-Teasel-7/18

Trailcology joined Wildlands Restoration Volunteers and Boulder Greenways thursday evening for a volunteer project along the South Boulder Creek Bike Path. The aim of this project is to eradicate invasive teasel ( (Dipsacus spp.) that is rapidly invading natural areas in Boulder and along the Front Range and displacing native plant populations . Teasel is a biennial plant native to Europe but has quickly spread across the United States and has been classified in Colorado as a Noxious Weed List B Species. According to the Colorado Weed Management Agency, List B includes plants whose continued spread should be stopped and local management agencies are required to implement plans for the eradication of this non-native species. Unfortunately, it thrives in sunny, disturbed areas such as flood plains and along the sides of creeks and irrigation ditches. Our project site on the east side of Boulder has been plagued by both common and cutleaf teasel in the past few years. This is the second year WLRV and Boulder Greenways have worked in this area are there are already visible signs of native plant life returning to this important wildlife corridor. It was pretty cool to join this project and help get rid of this ugly alienesque plant thats invading our state.

Common Teasel

Cutleaf Teasel

Although dark skies threatened rain throughout the evening, our crew was able to stay dry and bushwhack our way along this heavily overgrown section of South Boulder Creek. The method for getting rid of the teasel included: snipping below the top to prevent seeding and then cutting the stalk off as close to the ground as possible. If the teasel was in the flowering stage we cut and bagged the flowers to prevent the spread of the weed.  Although this was simple work, it still felt like a treasure hunt as we searched for teasel hiding in the brush.  We made several passes along the riverbank before concluding for the evening.  It was great to see so much support for this project. 

-Jon

"Greenways are ‘the paths to the future’ as they link people to the outdoors. They 

meet an ever growing need, a need to leave the hectic city (if only for a moment) 

and to experience earth beneath your feet and fresh air in your lungs—to feel life 

and to feel alive. "

-Victoria Louge- Backpacking in the '90s-1995

Not the most scenic section of trail but still important.

We managed to avoid the rain even with  these ominous clouds in the background

Gathering the crew

Ready to cut down the teasel!