Events
Upcoming Event:
Saturday June 14th "Let's Pull Together"
Day
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 The
CWNA Weed Report
An Update on Noxious Weeds--an issue
critical to residents of Century West
Neighborhood Association
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Spotted
Knapweed
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Dalmatian
Toadflax
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Saturday, June 14, is "Let's Pull
Together" Day
It's right around the corner: one of
the most important days of the year for
those interested in the preservation of
Bend's indigenous flora, and the
protection of its urban and
agricultural environment.
What is
it? On Saturday,
June 14th, a community-wide effort will
occur to put a serious dent in the
population of noxious weeds throughout
Deschutes County. This project, which
grew out of an initiative by Orchard
District Neighborhood Association
president Cheryl Howard several years
ago, has now expanded to include all of
Central Oregon, and has been recognized
by the State of Oregon as one of the
most effective grassroots efforts of
its kind.
The Plan.
This year, the idea is to focus on
infestations of Spotted Knapweed and
Dalmatian Toadflax (see photos above)
located in our own neighborhoods and
homeowner associations. As it has in
past years, Century West Neighborhood
Association will set up a meeting place
at the entrance to Cascade Middle
School's parking lot (also near the
second parking lot for the Skyline
Sports Complex). People interested in
participating are encouraged to show up
between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. before
returning to their neighborhoods to
pick and bag weeds. It will work best
if someone can scout the area in
advance for weed infestations and, if
possible, mark those spots with ribbon,
stakes, in-laws, or anything else
handy. With enough advance warning,
help in identifying and locating
hotspots can be arranged by
emailing me at dmlight@bendbroadband.com.
The Details.
The morning of Saturday, June 14th, a
table will be set up at the meeting
place near the Cascade Middle School
and Skyline Sports Complex parking
lots. Century West Neighborhood
Association will have gloves, bags,
water bottles, weed identification
materials, and of course, tickets to
the free barbecue and music at Drake
Park afterwards, at noon. (Free
t-shirts also go to all participants.)
Following the 2-3 hour project, bags of
weeds can either be transported back to
the meeting place by some helpful
neighborhood participant with a pickup
truck, or we will arrange to pick up
the bags ourselves if you let us know
in advance what street intersections
they will be left at. And then it's off
to Drake Park for fun, food, and
prizes.
In past years, Century West
Neighborhood Association's project has
been among the best attended of all the
projects throughout the county. We are
hoping for another good turnout. So,
get your neighbors and...Let's Pull
Together!
How important is this effort, really?
Very
important! Consider:
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Weed-infested agricultural ground
makes food more expensive. It costs a
lot of money to treat productive
ground for weeds that are competing
with food crops for moisture and
nutrients. Weeds that are not
controlled lower both the yield and
the quality of food crops, increasing
its cost to consumers. And many
noxious weeds are either unpalatable
or poisonous to livestock, causing
weed-infested pastures to be less
productive. On top of that, farmland
that is heavily infested by noxious
weeds loses its market value,
impacting the availability of
good-quality arable ground and thus,
again, raising the cost of food
for consumers.
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The Forest Service, the Bureau of
Land Management, the State of Oregon,
and Deschutes County all spend
money--the money they get from you
and me in taxes--trying to eradicate
and control the spread of noxious
weeds on public lands, which, among
other things, create ladder fuel that
promote forest fires. (According to a
Bend Bulletin editorial, the county
alone spent $115,000 last year
on weed eradication efforts.) Imagine
what other things that money could be
spent on, or what we could use it for
ourselves, if we could get rid of
most of those weeds once and for all?
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Noxious weeds affect private property
values. Most people know that such
weeds are not easy to get rid of
permanently, and once started and not
controlled, they usually tend to take
over ground from native plants. Now,
if you were considering the purchase
of property that was infested with
noxious weeds, how would it impact
your purchase offer? Or, would you
lose interest in the property all
together?
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And if that isn't enough, think
about the intangible value of
native plants that we consider
desirable but may find it difficult
to put a monetary value on, that are
being crowded out and overtaken by
invasive noxious weeds. On top of
that, many wildlife species are
affected by fast-spreading invasive
weeds that are less palatable and
nutritious than their preferred
native species.
For additional information,
contact:
David Light, CWNA Weed
Committee Chair, dmlight@bendbroadband.com
Bill Padgham, CWNA Weed Committee, bpadgham@aol.com
Dan Sherwin, Deschutes County Weed
Control, 541-322-7135
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Century West Neighborhood Association
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Annual Weed Pull Event
A Community-wide Weed Program, “Let’s Pull
Together”
Each June, Century West Neighborhood Association participates
in “Let’s Pull Together”, a tri-county
noxious weed eradication
project, sponsored by the award-winning SOLV Project Oregon, an
Oregon non-profit organization. The program involves
neighborhood associations,
community groups, government agencies, and individual
volunteers in an on-going battle against invasive and noxious
weeds in Central Oregon.
The project is also designed to educate the general public
about the threat that noxious weeds pose to our ecosystems.
Noxious weeds are
non-native plants that have no natural enemies within our
environment. They take over native vegetation leaving wildlife
with little or no food and by
creating wildfire hazards. Among the most serious threats
in our area are Spotted Knapweed, Diffuse Knapweed, and
Dalmation Toadflax.
Hundreds of volunteers participate in the half-day event,with
many having no prior knowledge of what represents a noxious
weed. A site
coordinator is assigned to each weed pull site, and often one
noxious weed
specialist is available to educate volunteers. Last year, in
four hours several
tons of knapweed were removed and bagged at over 17 locations
throughout the
tri-county area. Also filled were three public work dump
trucks, one
privately-owned dump truck, three 30-yard dumpsters, and one
15-yard dumpster.
CWNA coordinated the Skyline Sports Complex site, which drew 56
volunteers
(more than any other site in the county), producing nearly 30
bags of Spotted
Knapweed.
The state of Oregon spends more than 100 million dollars
annually in the battle against noxious
weeds.
“Let’s Pull Together” began as a Bend
neighborhood event in 2003, and expanded
to a county-wide program when Sisters and Redmond joined the
effort in 2004.
Last year, the community of La Pine participated, and the
project became a
tri-county effort with the addition of Crooked River Ranch and
Prineville.
The weed pull sites throughout the area are diverse: city
and county owned easements, park, school, and irrigation
district properties,
as well as private and public lands are included.
Useful links:
CWNA Weed Pull Chair: David Light dmlight@bendbroadband.com
“Let’s Pull Together” website: http://www.letspulltogether.com
“Let’s Pull Together” coordinator: Cheryl
Howard, howard@bendcable.com
Deschutes County: http://www.deschutes.org
(Dan Sherwin, 322-7135)
SOLV Project Oregon: http://www.solv.org
