By Linda Winnie, Photos by Devvi Morgan.

              

10 volunteer workers gathered at 9 am on the cold Saturday morning of March 9 in the Montessori Elementary School parking lot to prepare for a morning of weed work at the Owen Sowerwine Natural Area. After Denny Olson, FAS Conservation Educator gave them a quick lesson on identifying and removing the seed heads of Houndstongue, the volunteers headed into the Natural Area on snow shoes, weed clippers in hand.

Their goal was to remove the tall burr-bearing seed heads of the invasive noxious weed Houndstongue before the burrs could get carried around this spring on animal hair and human clothing, and then drop to the ground to release Houndstongue seeds.

The snow was deep, so provided perfect conditions for the work. The tall Houndstongue seed heads stuck conspicuously up above the white covering, making them easy to spot and remove.

The volunteers worked for almost 3 hours clipping off the seed heads and stuffing them into bags. By the time they finished they had covered about ¼ of the OSNA mainland, and filled 12 large garbage bags with seed heads.

It was a fun morning that included good show shoe exercise and lots of laughs, and everybody got to help make a significant contribution to weed control at Owen Sowerwine Natural Area.

All agreed this was a 5-star event – recommended highly to all who might be thinking of joining in on the next OSNA Work Party.