Articles That Educate – PLAN Jeffco

Pack It In, Pack It Out and Outdoor Ethics

December 1, 2016/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Outdoor Ethics may be summed up in the phrase Leave No Trace, and in Jefferson County Open Space Parks, like all other park systems, the rules of good outdoor ethics apply. Specific rules may be found in park regulations,

For the most up-to-date park rules, read the JCOS Parks Regulations and observe all rules posted in Jeffco Open Space Parks.

Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) Parks Regulations / Reglamentaciones en Español(jeffco.us)

which all park users should know and follow (see link at right).

Following are a few tips and reminders to ensure that you are following good outdoor ethics:

Pack it in / Pack it out.

Plan ahead! If you pack drinks and snacks, don’t be tempted to leave litter on the trail. Bring a bag for rubbish and keep it handy. Remember, wildlife will be attracted to your discards. Consider designating one member of your party to carry the rubbish bag and to ensure that all trash is placed in it. Use designated trash receptacles in the park.

Dogs—must be on a leash and under your control at all times. Dispose of pet waste properly.

Wildlife—should be viewed from a safe distance. Wildlife and their habitats including burrows, dens, and nests are protected. Don’t feed the wildlife.

Natural & Cultural Resources—may not be damaged or collected including wildflowers, wood, rocks, or historical or other objects.

Fires—are allowed only where designated and in provided grills, fire pits, etc.

Check for restrictions at Jeffco Sheriff Restriction & Bans / Fire Info Hotline: 303.271.8200.

As a Jefferson County Open Space Parks user, you are responsible for knowing and complying with all park regulations. Park regulations include important information about safety, swimming, boating, fishing, camping, missiles & crafts, team sports, noise, and more:

Jeffco Open Space Parks Regulations / Reglamentaciones en Español(jeffco.us/open-space/regulations/)

To ensure that you have the most current & accurate information regarding park closures, changes to rules & regulations, or any other changes to the parks or park systems call or visit Jefferson County Open Space Parks online at jeffco.us/open-space.

Slower Life: The Worms of Spring

May 1, 2016/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Did Charles Darwin retire after spending 20 years on his greatest contribution, On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection? Not likely. But he did slow down, in a sense. Where he had studied pigeons and chickens in his pursuit of inherited traits, he turned in later years to earthworms and plants, where his efforts were equally impressive though far less well known. Why did one of the world’s great scientists spend his last two decades studying the slow details of wormly lives and plant movements, painting his illustrious career into a seemingly obscure corner? No doubt part of the reason was escape from the attention (much of it hostile) his major work had attracted. But the greater reason has to be that he found these topics fascinating. In hundreds of careful experiments he plotted the movements of plants, showing their slow lives to be quite active on a scale difficult for us to perceive with casual observation. He showed that all parts of a plant are in constant motion, leaves and tips describing ellipses and loops in air without our ever realizing it.

Darwin was most impressed by roots, especially that first root of a young seedling, called the radicle. He likened the tip of the radicle to the brain of “lower” animals, guiding and deciding the best route through the soil. He compared the radicle to a wedge driving into the soil, but as it is a living, sensitive, and responsive wedge, he was inspired to say that

“A radicle may be compared with a burrowing animal such as a mole… By continually moving his head from side to side … he will feel any stone or other obstacle, as well as any difference in the hardness of the soil, and he will turn from that side; if the earth is damper on one than on the other side he will turn thitherward as a better hunting-ground. Nevertheless, after each interruption, guided by the sense of gravity, he will be able to recover his downward course and to burrow to a greater depth.”

Much as roots do, earthworms operate as wedges, pushing through soil in a similar fashion, extending a narrow head into an opening, then forcing their wider bodies in to enlarge it. Simple hydraulic action. As roots do, they sense and respond to nuances in the soil that you and I are incapable of detecting. One year during our lengthy wet cycle, I took advantage of the opportunity to conduct my own researches on earthworms. Not being as dedicated to science as Darwin, my experiments were mostly casual and even accidental: I spilled a bag of fresh rabbit manure in the middle of a hard-packed gravel driveway. When I returned a fortnight and several rainstorms later to clean it up, I discovered this tempting offering had attracted earthworms. Although the nearest hospitable soil was more than 20 feet away, they had responded to the dinner bell, that small chemical message sent down through the soil from the first organic material to hit that spot in more than 15 years.

Most of my recent earthworm observations, though, took place on roads. After rain, it’s nice to go out and recover a few earthworms for the garden. I chose some who retained ambition and vitality, as evidenced by their attempts to penetrate the asphalt. (I suspect they fared better before our road—or our world—was paved.) Then I gave them a test, spreading them out on a nice pot of soil. All they had to do was bury themselves to prove they were survivors. After one hour, a big pile of worms remained on the surface. Little movement was visible. After three hours, most of the worms were shorter, having gotten part of their length into the soil. An hour later, the unsuccessful ones got to be a snack for my chickens. (I know what decomposing worms smell like and didn’t need to repeat that experiment.)

Don’t you wonder where all those worms that wash out come from–and where they go? Despite the numerous victims of drowning, desiccation, and squishing, I’m convinced most of them make it back to friendly soil, if only to be forced out again by the next hard rain. A network of worm trails but few bodies in the soft silt this morning bears out this conclusion. As soon as the rain ends and air reenters the soil, they return home. They must, or we’d see none the next time it rained. Many, though, are lost forever: I saw one who had ventured indoors and made it across 20 feet of carpet before expiring into crispiness. Others are brought in by the cat, who doesn’t seem to know what to do with them and simply deposits them in the kitchen. Robins and others are happy to gather as many as they can eat. Some, I assure you, are rescued by a secret society of worm-lovers who venture out after each rain out of high regard for these important creatures.

Part of the reason for Darwin’s research must have been to help the public image of the earthworm, and he eventually even came to respect their intelligence, although keeping them on the piano in the parlor did not endear them to his wife. From most of us, worms get no respect even today. Yet they are always busy, processing and enriching about 18 tons of soil per acre each year. Darwin, in his research, was building on an idea presented earlier by naturalist Gilbert White, that “the earth without worms would soon become cold, hardbound…and sterile.”

Illustration by Jan Ratcliffe

Birds of Mount Falcon

September 1, 2015/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

On September 29, seventeen members of the “Tuesday Birders” spent four and one-half hours looking for and counting birds at the West (upper) end of Mount Falcon Open Space Park. One hundred ninety-five individual birds, representing 31 species, were sighted. At the upper park’s elevation, about 7800 feet, both plains and mountain species can be seen.

The most common mountain species were:

nuthatches – 18 pygmy, 6 white-breasted, and 2 red-breasted; and

dark-eyed juncos – 18 gray-headed, 1 pink-sided, and 1 Oregon.

The most common plains species were:

robins – 15 American and

sparrows – 10 chipping and 2 juvenile whitecrowned.

Cooper’s Hawk. Photo by William H. Majoros (Wikipedia.org).

Black-Capped Chickadees. Photo by CheepShot (Wikipedia.org).

Hawks included:

1 Cooper’s,

2 red-tailed, and

1 American kestrel (it really is a falcon).

Woodpeckers included:

2 Hairy and

3 northern flicker.

Jays included:

2 pinyon and

6 Steller’s.

Chickadees included:

16 mountain and

3 black-capped.

Bluebirds included:

39 western and

6 mountain.

Finches:

22 Cassin’s and

2 lesser goldfinch

Other birds identified were:

1 turkey vulture,

1 black-billed magpie,

3 American crow,

1 common raven,

2 brown creeper,

6 Townsend’s solitaire,

1 yellow-rumped warbler,

1 western tanager, and

1 pine siskin.

See also:

Mount Falcon Park

Birds of Chatfield

May 1, 2015/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Image: Great-horned owlets in the nest, sighted at Chatfield State Park. Photo by Rob Raker.

Hiking, biking and horse-back riding are not the only things that you can do in the open spaces of Jefferson County. Ann Bonnell, long-time PLAN Jef fco Board Member and volunteer naturalist (and inveterate birder) for Roxborough State Park, South Platte Park, Denver Botanic Gardens and the Audubon Society of Greater Denver, recently sent these photos from some of her Tuesday Birder excursions at Chatfield State Park, which she guides.

The Tuesday Birders are a group of dedicated bird watchers who visit a different area of the Front Range at least once a month.

Common Mergansers in flight over Chatfield Reservoir, photo by Jim Esten, April 7, 2015

Tree Swallows at Chatfield State Park, photo by Jim Esten, April 7, 2015

Meadowlark at Chatfield State Park, photo by Jim Esten, April 7, 2015

Tuesday Birder - Chatfield State Park - Meadowlark. Photo by Jim Esten.

Red-shafted Flickers (male at top, female below) sighted at Chatfield State Park, photo by Jim Esten, April 7, 2015

Tuesday Birder - Chatfield State Park - Red-shafted Flickers. Photo by Jim Esten.

Killdeer (nesting pair?) sighted at Chatfield State Park, photo by Jim Esten, April 7, 2015

Great-horned owlets in the nest, sighted at Chatfield State Park, photos by Rob Raker, April 7, 2015

Belmar Park, Englewood: Great Blue Herons engaged in nest-building. Photo by Jim Esten, April 2, 2015.

Tuesday Birder Group Visits Bear Creek Lake Park

March 31, 2015/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Tuesday Birders, led by Ann Bonnell, Dave Hill, and Phil Gerkin, visited Bear Creek Lake Park, a City of Lakewood Park, on March 31st for a four-hour walk amidst 58° – 75° weather to record bird species and numbers.

The following is their report:

Leader(s): Ann Bonnell, Dave Hill, Phil Gerkin

Observers: 30 (three groups)

Time: 0845-1300

Distance: 7.25 miles walked (combined)

Habitat: Reservoir, riparian, cottonwood, willow, cattails, open fields.

Elevation: 5800’

Weather: Mostly sunny, 58-75 degrees F, wind SE 0-5 mph.

Totals: 32 species, 217 individuals.

Summary:

Species Name	Count
Canada Goose	43
Gadwall	2
Mallard	18
Common Goldeneye	10
Western Grebe	1
Great Blue Heron	6
Cooper’s Hawk	2
Bald Eagle	1
Red-tailed Hawk	2
American Coot	1
Killdeer	3
Ring-billed Gull	2
Rock Pigeon (feral pigeon)	10
Eurasian Collared-Dove	4
Mourning Dove	1
Great Horned Owl	3
Belted Kingfisher	2
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	8
American Kestrel	2
Black-billed Magpie	24
American Crow	1
Common Raven	1
Black-capped Chickadee	7
American Robin	24
European Starling	2
Spotted Towhee	2
Song Sparrow	6
Dark-eyed Junco	2
Red-winged Blackbird	7
Western Meadowlark	17
House Finch	2

Tuesday Birder group visits Lair ‘o’ Bear Open Space Park

November 4, 2014/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Tuesday Birders lead by Dave Hill, Ann Bonnell and Mary Keithler, visited Lair ‘o’ Bear, a Jeffco Open Space Park, on November 4th for a three hour walk amidst 31 – 53° weather to record bird species and numbers.

The following is their report:

Leader(s): Dave Hill, Ann Bonnell and Mary Keithler

Observers: 27 (three groups)

Time: 0900-1215

Distance: 8.5 miles on foot

Habitat: Riparian, cottonwood, willow, mixed aspen and conifers, some Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir & blue spruce.

Elevation: 6427’-7361’

Weather: Mostly sunny; 31-53°F, SW wind, 0-8 mph

Totals: 19 species +3 taxa., 163 individuals

Summary:

Mallard	4
Red-tailed Hawk	3
Downy Woodpecker	4
Northern Flicker	4
Steller’s Jay	11
Western Scrub-Jay	3
Black-billed Magpie	8
American Crow	6
Black-capped Chickadee	36
White-breasted Nuthatch	5
American Dipper	1
Townsend’s Solitaire	2
American Robin	3
American Tree Sparrow	6
Song Sparrow	7
White-crowned Sparrow	7
Dark-eyed Junco	38 including: “White-winged” race – 1 “Oregon” race – 2 “Pink-sided” race – 4 “Gray-headed” race – 4
House Finch	14
American Goldfinch	1

On Golden Clouds

September 10, 2014/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Perhaps city folks don’t notice, but few who live in mountains and foothills escape knowing when the pines are doing their thing, and this spring was certainly one of the obvious ones. We see pollen adrift on spring puddles, pollen gathered from the roof to collect in rain barrels, pollen like golden dust all over our decks–marking the tracks of squirrels that have passed. We may fuss at the inconvenience of this annual deposition, especially if we’re the ones that sweep up, and we may question whether all the mess is truly necessary. Along the way to your deck, though, aren’t there a few compensations?

Pollen of pines and other conifers appears in great golden clouds loosened by spring breezes to drift and swirl across mountain landscapes. A combination of events makes this special sight possible, and you ought to consider yourself lucky to catch it. The dark green background of conifer dominance gives these seasonal clouds their dramatic visual setting, surprising newcomers and delighting residents with a familiar, yet mysterious, phenomenon. Probably there are other golden clouds—of grass, or cottonwood, or willow pollen—destined to remain invisible only because they lack the necessary dark backdrop to display themselves effectively.

The air is so filled with this evidence of male energy taking wing that even the evening news begins to notice. When mentioning pollen, does the weatherperson report that this massive outpouring ensures future generations of Colorado’s forests? Not so. Too often we take the presence of airborne pollen to be yet another inconvenience. But look at it from the other point of view for a moment. Perhaps the pollen grain finds it inconvenient to be forcibly snuffed up into a foreign and inhospitable land—our noses—where its germination processes can’t possibly aid the procreation of its species and can only annoy our own. Far from its intended destination, the inhaled pollen grain attempts to initiate a pollen tube on the moist surface of our nasal passages, chemically eating its way through the tissue, much to our continual discomfort.

Had the errant grain landed on a more hospitable surface, sifting down between the scales of a developing female pine cone of the correct species, its life would likely have been longer and more productive. The successful pollen grain spends the entire summer growing a pollen tube—dissolving its way through the soft tissues of the female cone. During the winter it is dormant, its growth arrested by cold. A new surge of growth in spring brings the tube within reach of the developing egg, where it deposits a sperm cell about 13 months from the time the original pollen grain left the parent tree. That’s a substantial lifespan for a single cell, and just the beginning for the seed that’s to mature in fall. But surely only a tiny fraction of pollen grains enjoy such a fate.

What good are all those unsuccessful grains? Besides the allergy-annoyance and resultant boost to the pharmaceutical economy, pollen grains collectively have plenty to tell. Carried by the slightest breeze and its own bladder-like wings, pine pollen spreads far and wide—in space and in time. Its abundance and resistance to decay make it an important fossil marker. Fossils and fossil pollen closely related to our pines have been found in Colorado from rocks deposited in Cretaceous time, as much as 100 million years ago. Other fossil conifers—and their typical two-winged pollen grains—date to the Carboniferous Period, some 300 million years ago. The distinctiveness and widespread occurrence of this pollen type have made it useful to us in another way—as evidence of past climates and environments. Pine pollen, for example, is regarded as an indicator of warm, dry climates, and is used extensively to document the comings and goings of glaciers during the last million years.

Pollen chronologies ought to be unreliable. After all, pollen can be carried far above the Earth on air currents, or it can be washed into rivers and transported out to sea. So far from its source, it may not be telling us what we think. You would expect strong winds and varied source environments to create an incomprehensible mix—a regional pollen stew from our golden clouds. The wide dispersal of wind-borne pollen surely blurs the distinctiveness of the record it creates. Despite such concerns, pollen dating works—ask any oil company who has profited by trusting the usefulness of this tool.

Illustration by Jan Ratcliffe

Living and Playing in Coyote Country

September 1, 2014/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Creating coyote-savvy open space users and residents helps reduce conflict between coyotes, pets and people throughout Jefferson County. Educating and motivating citizens to help preserve open space and the wild species that use it is at the core of the PLAN Jeffco mission. This is the first of two articles designed to improve our understanding of and to stimulate conversation about coyotes and their presence in our parks and communities. The comments and observations quoted below are actual observations and thoughts from Jefferson County residents and park users and are taken directly from the comment section of the Denver Metro Area Coyote Hazing Survey (Winter 2014).

Please join the conversation—send your coyote comments or questions to: mbonnell@cojefferson.co.us

Coyote Savvy Concept #1: Coyotes Make Great Open Space Managers

“We like [coyotes] because they take care of rodents such as mice and prairie dogs.”

“Frankly, I LIKE the coyotes. I avoid my neighborhood park because of the geese and their ‘leavings’ – the coyotes keep Crown Hill clean!”

Simply put, it pays to have coyotes living in open space. Coyotes help manage populations of would-be nuisance or economically damaging species such as mice, geese, rabbits and insects. Coyotes enrich our open space experience with a rare opportunity to watch an apex predator in action.

“Coyotes enforce the leash laws. They are helpful.”

“Off-leash dogs are an invitation for [coyote] conflict.”

“What we need is more responsible actions on the numerous people I see letting their dog run off leash. This is not good for the dog or the coyote.”

While coyotes are not officially part of the Jefferson County Open Space Volunteer team, they might as well be. Coyote-savvy dog walkers know that the best way to keep a dog safe when walking in coyote country is to keep it on a leash. As the local “top dog”, coyotes sometimes are compelled to see our domestic canines as direct competition for resources such as food and territory. This competitive urge tends to peak during breeding, denning and pupping season. In parks, this competitive urge can play out in “escorting” behavior where a coyote will trot, at a distance, alongside or behind a dog walker. Dog walkers experiencing this unnerving behavior should be prepared to shorten their lead and actively “haze” or scare the coyote off by yelling, waiving arms and using noisemakers such as a whistle or air horn. Dog walkers should never allow pets to approach pups or known den sites. As pups emerge and begin to explore their surroundings, coyote parents can exhibit heightened aggression toward dogs that get too close to pups or den sites.

“The majority of dog owners that I have seen…are morons, countless owners take their dog up to “play” with the coyotes…can you put up signs encouraging people to haze the stupid dog owners as well?”

Dog owners should never let their dog play with or chase coyotes. Coyote has earned its “trickster” reputation for many reasons. One is its ability to trick dogs into thinking they’re on a play date only to find the whole thing was a set up for an aggressive ambush by one or more coyotes. No matter how big your dog is, it is no match for a family group of coyotes. As some pet owners know all too well, coyote’s “top dog” behavior is not limited to open space. Unattended dogs left in backyards can also be perceived as direct competition for a local coyote’s food or territorial resources. Fences mean nothing to a coyote if it is feeling threatened by the presence of a domestic dog. Don’t take any chances with your best friend. Make sure you supervise backyard time, particularly at dawn, dusk and through the wee hours of the night. It may seem like a burden, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Coyote Savvy Concept #2: Which Came First, Coyotes or People?

“THE COYOTES WERE HERE FIRST…LEAVE THEM ALONE AND THEY WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE.”

“Coyotes need places to live since humans keep developing land where animals were living.”

“I feel we’re intruding on their territory, not the other way around.”

“They were here first. This is their land.”

“I hate coyotes, period. They’re too big a predator to be tolerated in a city.”

While there is no question that coyotes lived and thrived on the Colorado Front Range long before humans colonized it, the research community largely agrees that the presence of people has made being a coyote a bit easier in many important ways. The best thing humans did for the coyote was eradicate wolves, which are the only animal known to successfully manage coyote populations. With the absence of wolves and the addition of rich, irrigated landscapes with fruit trees and locally abundant rabbits, squirrels and mice, many note that urban coyotes live lives of luxury and excess far beyond the wildest dreams of their shortgrass prairie-scrabbling ancestors. If you look at it through the eyes of an incredibly opportunistic and flexible creature like the coyote, humans may have invaded the coyote’s original territory, and we have arguably improved upon it in some key ways.

Coyote Savvy Concept #3: Humans Have a Direct Role in Reducing Coyote Conflict

“My impression is that most conflict is human-created.”

“Education is the best way to preserve these animals in such an urban area.”

Regardless of how you feel about coyotes, knowing more about them, their behavior and ecology in urban environments can reduce your chances of experiencing direct conflict with them. Simple acts of stewardship like keeping your pet leashed, supervising your pet in the yard and keeping cats indoors, particularly at night, are a great start. Taking care not to inadvertently feed coyotes by leaving pet food and water out or leaving food scraps in parks is another way to do your part in coyote conflict mitigation. Taking a moment to scare coyotes away that come too close, engage you, or enter your backyard is a more active way to help reduce conflict. I think this survey respondent said it best, “Being cautious and aware, along with exercising a little common sense has served me well.”

Trails Through Time: A Geologist’s Guide to Jefferson County Open Space Parks

May 1, 2014/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Jefferson County straddles one of the most conspicuous and important geographic and geologic boundaries in western North America, the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains. To the east you can travel 1,100 miles across Great Plains and Central Lowlands before you sight the western foothills of the Appalachians. If you travel in the other direction you will cross or skirt mountain range after mountain range until you sight the Coast Range near San Francisco, more than 900 miles to the west. Many of these mountains have different ages and origins than the Colorado mountains, but they are all part of the great mountain belt called the North American Cordillera that extends along the western edge of the continent from Alaska through Mexico.

What is the reason for the remarkably straight and abrupt eastern flank of the Colorado Front Range? The brief answer is that it marks the edge of a block of ancient metamorphic and igneous rocks that has been uplifted relative to younger flat-laying sedimentary rocks that underlie the plains to the east. During the uplift, the sedimentary rocks along the boundary have been uplifted and tilted eastward to form the discontinuous line of hogback ridges that parallel the mountain front. Erosion during and after the uplift has removed the sedimentary rocks that once lay above the harder rocks of the mountain uplift, carved the scenic peaks and mountain canyons in the hard crystalline rocks of uplifted block, and worn away the softer layers of sedimentary rocks of the plains, but left a few of the harder upturned layers along the mountain front as hogback ridges.

Jefferson County Open Space Parks, as well as other nearby parks and National Forest lands, offer marvelous opportunities to explore the geologic story behind this singular landscape. At first the distribution of rocks of different ages and types seems almost random, but careful study of the rocks and landscape features reveals a captivating geologic story, a history that tells of the building of the foundations of the continent, the rise and destruction of long vanished mountain ranges, the ebb and flow of ancient seas, and the constant shaping and reshaping of the landscape in response to the never-ending interplay between uplift and erosion. This historical account is constantly being improved and expanded as new evidence accumulates and new interpretations evolve.

To read the rest, please download the full PDF.

Damnation Toadflax, Or How Pretty Plants become Problem Pests

September 1, 2013/in Articles That Educate /by planjeffcoadmin

Even a plant-lover, and I do consider myself such, can be challenged by some species, and the mellowest of us can be pressed into trophy hunting when circumstances are right. Summer is the season for bagging the biggest baddest trophies in our neck of the woods. Each year I’ve been going after my limit, but of course, you never run out of this bad boy. Its beauties, and I’ll grant there are some, are only petal-deep.

The object of my disaffection and prejudice this season, as in years past, is Dalmatian Toadflax (variously Linaria dalmatica, Linaria genistifolia ssp. dalmatica, etc.) This gorgeous yellow snapdragon is fast becoming one of the dominant foothills wildflowers of early summer. Its cousin, Linaria vulgaris (usually known as butter-and-eggs) is less robust in stature but equally capable of taking over property. It seems to prefer moist areas, while Dalmatian toadflax is doing just fine, thank you, on drier foothills slopes. According to Colorado State University, the two together occupy about 75,000 acres in Colorado, and “Toadflax invasion is favored by disturbance and they invade degraded areas such as roadsides, abandoned lots and fields, gravel pits, clearings, and overgrazed rangeland. In Colorado, these weed species are found at elevations from 5,000 feet to over 10,000 feet.” [Biology and Management of the Toadflaxes, by K.G. Beck]

How did it get here in the first place, you may ask. Remember its good looks. Like many of our noxious weeds, this Mediterranean native was introduced as an ornamental, as early as 1874 here in the western U.S. We can only hope we’re learning to be a little more cautious about those pretty faces we bring home from the greenhouse or nursery… be on the lookout!

That this Eurasian species has taken over most of the United States is documented here, by the USDA Plants database (plants.usda.gov). Grey color indicates its non-native status in the U.S. In Colorado, I suspect it occurs in many more counties than shown in the USDA map. Toadflax is sneaky, competitive, prolific, and adaptable. Heaven help our native flora! [Map source: plants.usda.gov]

Controlling toadflax

Although experts often say “don’t pull it—it just makes it come back stronger,” that never made sense to me. First, if one can get some of the underground parts, repeated pulling has to, in time, exhaust the plant’s energy. The key is “repeated.” Pulling must continue for 5-6 years to remove root fragments, and lateral roots also need to be followed and removed. Not a task for the faint of heart. Most land managers find “one-shot” spraying easier, as it avoids that constant responsibility. Second, if you can prevent the plant from setting seed, it seems that could also help; after all, one healthy mature Dalmatian toadflax plant can produce 500,000 seeds, some of which can remain present in dead stalks for up to two years.

So I started an experiment in my own neighborhood, ruthlessly attacking every sprig I could find while out walking around the block, especially after rain. Pulling weeds is so satisfying when the ground is wet, and you really feel like you’re getting results! When it’s dry, and stems snap off at ground level, you have to suspect your efforts are futile.

Hypothesis: Control of Dalmatian toadflax can be achieved by repeated, diligent hand-pulling.

Methods: Repeated diligent hand-pulling, wherever, whenever, but especially in the immediate home territory.

Goal: A reduction in the local population, or (at the least) a drastic decline in recruitment of new individuals by seed. If one can only keep them from flowering, that has to help, right?

Results: Bags of garbage, at least the inflorescences of which have to be treated like the hazardous waste they are, and the opportunity to have roadsides free of these yellow snapdragons! And, I truly believe, considerable success in knocking local populations back and preventing their expansion.

Thus the “bagging” of trophies is literal here, and like any good hunter, I felt compelled to document my success—so here’s the traditional shot of selections from my daily limit. (No, I resisted the impulse to have my picture taken holding them by the roots…)

Of course, you could also spray, and several options are available for that (consult an expert for advice on this option). As another approach, at least eight different insects have been introduced for biological control; many of these are available from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which operates an insectary in Palisade. These include beetles that feed on shoots and flowers, reducing seed production, defoliating moth, and stem- and root-boring weevils and moths. Every little bit helps. But remember, you too can be a biological control agent at home, where you can keep an eye out and attack stragglers.

So this spring, I ventured out again, attracted by a few sprigs of yellow that had survived my earlier treatments. With soil freshly wet by rain, I was ready to pull—but in the end I stayed my hand. The plants I was about to pull had problems already; they were mere shadows of the robust weeds I expected. Weak, spindly, and browning, they were already under attack. Knowing that weevils and moths had been introduced nearby in previous years, I opted to leave the offending plants in hopes that the insects would triumph! I returned to check in mid-August, to find plants that, despite recent rains, looked nothing like their former selves. Seed pods, if present, were tiny, and one plant would be hard pressed to muster 50 seeds if it produced any. Suddenly, I’m encouraged! Maybe the spread of these damnation toadflaxes can be checked after all.