Recap: Ladies Digging in the Rain!
March 20, 2019
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About 50 volunteers spent the 2019 Ladies Dig Day in Pogonip working on the Emma McCrary Trail. The weather predicted rain, and boy did the weather deliver! We experienced quite the downpour while we were out working, but we didn't let that stop us from getting some great work done. There's something great about doing trailwork in the rain. It turns a fun day into something that feels more like a big adventure! Our goals for the day were to clear drains, do some brushing, remove trash, and clear invasive species.
Checkout the Dig Day schedule for upcoming opportunities to get involved. If you want to support the work we're doing, please consider becoming a member!
This One's For the Ladies
Our inaugural Ladies Dig Day in 2018 was one of our favorite weekends of the year, so we were of course beyond excited when Juliana Bicycles wanted to partner with us to bring it back again in 2019! The second annual Ladies Dig Day was held on Saturday, March 9, in Pogonip. This was a very special trailwork day just for the gals. We like to host this event because we want to provide a fun opportunity for women to work together, while creating a welcoming environment for first time trail builders. Plus, when we have a woman as passionate as Emma Ussat planning our trailwork days, you know ladies will get some special opportunities! We're pretty proud that MBOSC's team of staff and interns if 40% female (4 out of 10 is a pretty good ratio in the bike world!), and we're even prouder that we have so many amazing ladies in our riding and trail building community. The Ladies Dig Day is an awesome opportunity to celebrate all these strong women!
About 50 volunteers spent the 2019 Ladies Dig Day in Pogonip working on the Emma McCrary Trail. The weather predicted rain, and boy did the weather deliver! We experienced quite the downpour while we were out working, but we didn't let that stop us from getting some great work done. There's something great about doing trailwork in the rain. It turns a fun day into something that feels more like a big adventure! Our goals for the day were to clear drains, do some brushing, remove trash, and clear invasive species.
MORE ABOUT INVASIVE SPECIES REMOVAL...
MBOSC's own Emma Ussat was a Trail Crew Leader at the Ladies Dig Day, and her crew was focused on clearing French broom. Emma wanted to share some background on why we remove this plant...
Trail work isn’t always about trails. Sometimes we think outside the tread, and focus on such tasks as invasive plant removal. French broom can be found at nearly every turn on the Emma McCrary Trail. With it's bright yellow flowers, it is not the ugliest plant, so why do we care? French broom is an invasive species hailing from the mediterranean region and threatens native species. It grows in dense thickets and blocks sunlight, outcompeting many native plants, some of which are considered endangered.
Other negative outcomes of French broom to consider are its gigantic root system and the affect it has on bugs that live underground, like the endangered Mount Hermon June Beetle, as well as its nitrogen balancing properties, which are bad for native soil systems, such as the sandhills. It's preference for California climate allows it take over forested areas and shade out tree seedlings. To makes matters worse is has a tendency to catch fire, and the leaves are toxic to animals.
So what can we do? We can remove it whenever we see it, and as often as possible. Removal is complicated. When the plant is small, about one inch in diameter or less, you can rip it out of the ground easily by grabbing the base and pulling towards the sky. Once the plant is fully grown, up to four inches, and looking like a small tree, it is much harder to pull out. Luckily, the City of Santa Cruz lent us some handy weed pullers and they worked like a charm. The weed pullers grasp the base of the plant, and you are able to leverage with the tool to uproot the plant. About five volunteers were able to remove most of the french broom surrounding the trail in the small area we were working. While we are proud of our efforts at the Ladies' Dig Day, there is much upkeep to be done.
Since french broom seeds have a prolific seed cycle, favor our climate, and form such large root systems, we may never fully eradicate the plant in Santa Cruz. However, with our combined efforts, we may manage giving the native species we all love, such as live oak, tan oak, madrone, trillium, hazel, buckeye, sorrel, and sword ferns, a chance.
Trail work isn’t always about trails. Sometimes we think outside the tread, and focus on such tasks as invasive plant removal. French broom can be found at nearly every turn on the Emma McCrary Trail. With it's bright yellow flowers, it is not the ugliest plant, so why do we care? French broom is an invasive species hailing from the mediterranean region and threatens native species. It grows in dense thickets and blocks sunlight, outcompeting many native plants, some of which are considered endangered.
Other negative outcomes of French broom to consider are its gigantic root system and the affect it has on bugs that live underground, like the endangered Mount Hermon June Beetle, as well as its nitrogen balancing properties, which are bad for native soil systems, such as the sandhills. It's preference for California climate allows it take over forested areas and shade out tree seedlings. To makes matters worse is has a tendency to catch fire, and the leaves are toxic to animals.
So what can we do? We can remove it whenever we see it, and as often as possible. Removal is complicated. When the plant is small, about one inch in diameter or less, you can rip it out of the ground easily by grabbing the base and pulling towards the sky. Once the plant is fully grown, up to four inches, and looking like a small tree, it is much harder to pull out. Luckily, the City of Santa Cruz lent us some handy weed pullers and they worked like a charm. The weed pullers grasp the base of the plant, and you are able to leverage with the tool to uproot the plant. About five volunteers were able to remove most of the french broom surrounding the trail in the small area we were working. While we are proud of our efforts at the Ladies' Dig Day, there is much upkeep to be done.
Since french broom seeds have a prolific seed cycle, favor our climate, and form such large root systems, we may never fully eradicate the plant in Santa Cruz. However, with our combined efforts, we may manage giving the native species we all love, such as live oak, tan oak, madrone, trillium, hazel, buckeye, sorrel, and sword ferns, a chance.
Post-Work Celebration
Once the digging and French broom pulling was done, it was time for the post-w0rk celebration! Juliana treated us with an extra special treat: cocktails from Venus Spirits! Juliana also brought some special prizes for our raffle, including this amazing Juliana beach towel, all packed up nicely in this cute Juliana tote bag! We enjoyed swapping stories and sharing laughter with old and new friends alike. After all, meeting people and making new friends is the best part of Dig Days!It's all about the community
We love our Dig Day community, and every chance we get to to hang out with our favorite crew of trail builders is a great day indeed. Thanks to all the awesome women who joined us for the Ladies Dig Day, and thanks to the friendly gents who helped out as Trail Crew Leaders. We can't wait until the 3rd annual Ladies Dig Day in 2020!Checkout the Dig Day schedule for upcoming opportunities to get involved. If you want to support the work we're doing, please consider becoming a member!
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