Category Archives: Work Days

Crellin Lake & Trail Workday Success

Land Restoration, Land Stewardship, Nature Trail, Work Days

Group Work Day August 23, 2010. 8:00 – 11:30

Crellin Nature Trail, Crellin Lake , Community Leach Field

Prepared by Judd Adams

Volunteers: Odell Dehart, Linda Petrie, Mary O’Brien, Linda Bell, Susan and Lee Lamb, Judy and Harry Corwin, Wynne Dimock, Judd Adams and Oreo.

Crellin Nature Trail: Odell with weed whacker, nippers were Linda P, Mary, and Linda B. widened and trimmed the trail to the bottom and along the Sloan Trail to where we (Mary, Linda P. and Judd) stopped work on 8/19.  Linda B. also cut weeds.

Crellin Lake: Susan and Lee trimmed dead branches on trees along the right or east side of the lake.  The pile of cut branches was quite large and was left for staff to take to the slash pile.  Judd and Oreo trimmed grass around the lake, across the dam road on both sides and along the trail entrance to West Crellin Trail.  Pleased to report very few thistle and almost no mullein.  The vacant property on the west side of lake which was so heavily infested with diffuse knapweed was also very clean.

Community Leach Field; Wynne and Corwins worked on removing the weeds on the face which were (I think) mustard.  They did not finish and Wynne said she would come back later to complete the job.

To Do:

1)      Judd will return in a few days to spray the Canada thistle and mullein.

2)      West Crellin Trail needs attention to where the water crosses the trail – it is some what dangerous and I think I will ask Steve for a board to place across the water crossing.

3)      There is reportedly some confusion about the signs on this trail which we need to correct.

4)      I think it would be nice to paint the letters yellow on the signs for improved visibility.

Excellent day.  Good to see such a turn out.

8/28/2010 Note added by Susan:  “We also trimmed live growth on the pines to thin the trees, reduce ladder fuel, and fire danger. When it’s a bit cooler this fall Lee and I will trim trees on the other side of the lake. I also noticed the sign at the trailhead and thought that some yellow paint would improve its visibility. I’d be glad to paint the letters the day we trim the trees, if you can provide the paint.”

8/30/2010 Note from Ellen: “I hiked the trail yesterday and observed first hand what a great job was done. Thanks Ecology Committee!!

Trees Thinned at Gate 8

Forest Mgmt, Work Days
Andre feeds green slash into chipper with Oreo, Judd, Steve in background
Andre feeds green slash into chipper with Oreo, Judd, and Steve in background

10/3/09 9am-noon: Thanks to the following Ecology Committee volunteers who helped with this project: Judd & Steve (organizers), Ellen, Harry, Jeff, Judy, Linda P., Odell, Susan and Wynne. This was both a fire mitigation demonstration (trees thinned to >10 feet between trees and branches up to 8 feet) and a forest recycling project (green slash used to make Andre Roy’s hand cleaner: Dirty Jobs).

GE Map of Tree Project
Work site location

The dense Ponderosa pines SE of Gate 8 were thinned using a chainsaw crew (Jeff, Judd, Odell and Steve). The rest of us hauled large branches to the open work area and then nipped off and sorted out smaller, green branches (dime to quarter diameter), the optimum size for Andre’s process. He and his wife Mary brought chippers to grind the branches and pine needles prior to loading into their truck. Andre said our selected branches were “perfect” raw materials for his process, with a good ratio or “green to brown.” In return for our efforts, Andre paid $100 to the Ecology Committee!

Judd suggested that tree trunks from the project could be used for future GVM “buck and rail” fencing projects. Any additional wood generated will be donated for fire wood to families in need in the Red Feather Lakes area. Unusable branches were taken to the slash pile. Full details are in  previous post and click “read more” to see more photos.
 Continue reading Trees Thinned at Gate 8 →

GVM Tree Thinning Project

Forest Mgmt, Work Days

Meet at Gate 8, Saturday for Tree Thinning Project, 9-11am. 
10/02/09 Update from Judd: Tree Trimming volunteers as of 9:00am Friday
1. Chain saw operators: Judd, Jeff, Odell and a GVM staff person
2. Transporters and sorters move trees to process area and then cut branches to shredder or slash pile truck
3. Branch cutters use long handled nippers to remove the branches: Judy
4. Shredders feed green branches into shredder: Harry and Susan
5. Anything: Ellen, Wynne, Jim Petrie
Steve and I will be marking trees at 1:00 today.

9/28/09 Email from Judd: “At our last Ecology Committee Meeting [9/16/2009] we decided to start a new initiative of tree thinning on GVM Greenbelts and common property. We further decided we should begin with the area around the Association Office, were we can demonstrate what a properly thinned forest should look like. We would have a demonstration forest to complement our demonstration garden. Continue reading GVM Tree Thinning Project →

Batterson Greenbelt Survey June 21 2008

Field Monitoring, Land Stewardship, Noxious Weeds, Wildflowers, Work Days

Info added 9/1/09 Because of the Houndstonque at Gate 10 discussion…more info will be forthcoming.

Who: Linda Bell, Chana Fuller and Ellen Heath spent 7 person-hours working at the Batterson Greenbelt, where Charlie Bell and Butters Fuller accompanied us.
Weather: Sunny, low 70s
Description: At the Batterson Greenbelt, we mapped (with a Garmin nuvi 650) and weeded nine sites, see Google Earth map below. Linda helped us identify penny cress (PC), tumble mustard (TM), flixweed (FW), kochia (KO), and hound’s tongue (HT) which were there along with the usual suspects: Canada thistle (CT), Musk thistle (MT) and Dalmatian toadflax (DT). This area was very diverse and a nice contrast to Crellin Lake in terms of overall species diversity.

Map Notes:
Site 1–In a 50 ft diameter area, we clipped and bagged PC that had gone to seed, pulled or hand weed whacked KO, FW, and TM
Sites 2,3,4,6 — These were four test areas Linda Bell had flagged (last year?) to study the effects of stripping the leaves off of DT to weaken them. The numbers on the map indicate the number of plants in each 20 foot diameter area. Linda and Chana stripped the leaves in a downward motion.
Site 5 — This 50 ft diameter site had 100s of TM that we weed whacked before giving up.
Site 7 — We identified a 100 ft diameter area of disturbed soil as a weed hotspot that should be sprayed. The site had it all: CT, MT, HT, PC, F AND it is above Judd and Linda’s property. See photo.
Sites 8, 9 — These two sites are riparian areas with CT, MT.

Linda Bell’s Notes:

On June 24, 2008 Linda Bell emailed “Thanks Ellen for your very comprehensive notes and pictures. Just wanted to follow up with my own list of invasive plants from the reference names used in Weeds of the West. Cheers. Linda

Discussed, identified, not managed:
Stinging nettles
Canada thistle
Field bindweed
Smooth scouringrush (equisetum)
Cow parnisp

Identified and managed in very limited way
Dalmatian toadflax
Common mullein
Musk thistle
Flixweed
Houndstongue
Western sticktight
Smallseed falseflax
Tumble mustard (Jim Hill)
Field pennycress
Prickly lettuce (white sap)”

Eco SWAT Team Hits Gate 1

Noxious Weeds, Work Days

7/18/09 8 am: This morning 7 members of the Ecology Committee (Ellen, Harry, Jim, Jonathan, Judy, Peggy, and Wynne) tackled noxious weeds, mostly Diffuse Knapweed (DK), surrounding Gate 1. An estimated 700 pre-seed stage plants were removed in just over an hour, see 7/18/09 Work Log Report. During that time 30-40 vehicles drove by and Peggy suggested that we take advantage of the visibility by making an educational sign so passersby would know who we are and what we are doing…not wanting to be mistaken for those serving their Community Service sentences! Harry said that he and Judy have removed DK from under the fenceline along Red Feather Lakes Road in years past and they found many plants there again. The group was in favor of Jim’s idea to spruce up the rock island at the entrance by planting rugged, yet attractive, native plants. Jim reported that there are many DK plants at Gate 8, so hopefully this will be our next target.