On May 13th TLC joined forces with the Greater Victoria Green Team (GVGT) at the Langvista Covenant near Mill Hill for the spring Blooming Broom Removal work party. Nine volunteers climbed the rocky Garry Oak outcrop towards Mill Hill to remove six cubic meters of broom from an area of 2,000 square meters!
Spring is the perfect time to remove Scotch Broom for several reasons: the root system of the plant is weakened as it puts its energy into growing flowers and making it easier for us to pull out from the ground; the bright yellow flowers make it obvious to pin-point their location; and most importantly the boom has not yet made seeds for dispersal. Scotch broom is not only an invasive species; it also poses as a fire threat and burdens those with seasonal allergies. With collaboration, the Capital Regional District (CRD) at Mill Hill had started pulling broom closer to the summit so that the seeds from those plants would no longer rain down onto the covenant below.
Although it was a cloudy day, the views atop Mill Hill were spectacular: from the south we saw the Olympic Mountains and the Juan de Fuca Strait, westward, Mount Wells and north to Gowlland Tod ridge. Within the first hour our enthusiastic team of volunteers pulled so much broom we had to test out our new stretcher. With the design advice from Colleen of the CRD, TLC Covenant Manager Torrey and summer intern Karen built a stretcher to carry tarped or ‘burritoed’ rolls of broom down to the waste bin provided by Alpine – see pictures below!
Our volunteers found an old backpack amongst the broom; it appeared to have been there for years as organic materials and moss had started biodegrading the bag. We also made friends with a garter snake who slithered around us as we worked. Lunch break came quick and we shuttled back to Mill Hill Park parking lot for a picnic with delicious sandwiches made by Torrey and sweet treats and juice courtesy of Amanda Evans of GVGT.
The sun peaked out from the clouds a few times after lunch and lit up all the colorful wildflowers on the hill such as camas, sea blush, chickweed monkey flower, pacific sanicle, broad leaved stonecrop and a few shooting stars. We moved down the hill and continued pulling broom. One of our volunteers spotted a Northern flicker poking its head out from a hole in a dead tree but was a little camera shy. We were joined by Melodie, one of the covenant residents, who often does broom removal on her own at the covenant; it’s always great to see residents who are passionate about native ecosystems recovery! Remember when pulling broom, you only want to pull little juvenile plants but cut larger plants at the root. This is to prevent soil disturbance which broom loves to germinate in.
It was quite the adventure carrying big bundles of broom down the hillside; our stretchers made it a lot easier. Check out the pictures below to see the before and after pictures of the dent, or shall we call it recovery of the area, which seems to be the most satisfying part.
