Saddle up, pardners. Volunteers are being deputized to round up some weedy invaders in and around Rock Creek Park.
On Saturday, September 25th (which is also National Public Lands Day), the National Capital Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) and Rock Creek Conservancy are leading their first “Weed Wrangle,” during which volunteers will remove invasive species and give native plants more room to grow and thrive.
The Weed Wrangle is a multi-site event structured like Rock Creek Conservancy’s annual Extreme Cleanup. Local Weed Wrangle sites include:
- Broad Branch Stream from 9 a.m. to noon
- Rock Creek Picnic Area #1 (across Tilden Street from Peirce Mill) from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
- Melvin Hazen West from 2 to 4 p.m.
(If these links don’t work, try this one.) If volunteer spots fill up at those cleanups, there are many opportunities to help out at other locations.
John Burwell is leading the Broad Branch Weed Wrangle, and he is well-acquainted with the place and the job. He and his band of weed whacking volunteers got started last winter. If the weekend temperatures were above freezing, they were out there.
Volunteers should bring their own gloves, water and snacks. Rock Creek Conservancy recommends long sleeves to protect against bugs and poison ivy, and shoes people don’t mind getting muddy. And, it asks that everyone wear a mask.
If you’re interested but the event doesn’t fit into your schedule, there are always more weeds to wrangle. Rock Creek Conservancy regularly adds more invasive species-clearing events to its calendar. For example, additional invasive species removals are scheduled at Melvin Hazen East on October 2nd and Melvin Hazen West on October 9th. And for more experienced volunteers interested in becoming certified Weed Warriors or brushing up on their previous training, there’s an event at Beach Drive and Joyce Road on October 16th.
Kathy Sykes says
I assume the clever title of this piece “Round up invasive weeds” is without the use of pesticides such as Roundup.
FHC says
Exactly! Rawhide, not herbicide.
Agi Kiss says
I tried to click on some of the links on this page to get more information on some of the events, but every link (except the Oct 2 invasive weed removal at Melvin Hazen East) took me to a page that had apparently been removed!
FHC says
Huh, we see that too… The website seems to be undergoing a redo.
Here’s a link we found to all of the Weed Wrangle events: https://www.rockcreekconservancy.org/weed-wrangler-event