Day 2: A Day in the Weeds

Day 2 – Southern New Hampshire

Hey all!

Today was our first real day in the field. We did invasive species removal today. You’re probably rolling your eyes at how boring that sounds, but it was actually quite engaging, both mentally and physically. We began our day with some readings on the different invasive plants, which I enjoyed quite a lot and the pictures were all really good (which is important).

We all grabbed some tools (a shovel, two weed wrenches and two clippers) as well as some work gloves and bug gear, and headed out. We first learned about the bittersweets, which are vines with simple leaves, very round leaves, and bright orange roots. Then we learned about multi-flora rose, which is not as fun to pick with its thorns. It’s identifiable because there’s a feathery part of the stem at the base of the leaf, which is unique. It also grows in a certain shape, rooting in each spot it hits the ground and its shape helps in identification.

After picking both of those, we took a water break where we saw a beaver pond and some dead trees with great blue herons and we even heard their call! Then we hiked upwards to remove some flagged species, which were the aforementioned two, along with common and glossy buckthorn, European barberry (and one small Japanese barberry). While we didn’t pick any because we only saw one too large to remove, we did learn about the autumn olive. This species is super cool because of the underside of the leaf looks like it has been spray-painted a silver color. But it’s totally natural. One of the other plants also had these crazy yellow roots which were so bright!

After getting seriously tired and removing all of the flagged plants, we headed back to the preserve. After our super intense weeding, our next job was to finish the weeding of a path at the office, which was a cake walk. We were very successful. One very important landmark event was finishing that trail. It looks super nice now. When we left, we came home all cleaned up and scarfed down a ton of food. However, Deanna did find a tick on her pants today and we found a ton of poison ivy in the woods.

But all is well. We all slept even better, tired after a full day’s work.

With love, your NH LEAF crew.