Monday, January 9, 2012


Pictured above is a Chinese fisherman hauling his nets.  Actually, it is stone sculpture I found this afternoon, made by an unknown artist (not me).  I suppose it could also depict a volunteer wearing a rain hat, hauling away a bundle of ivy.

Ivy is the most critical element of the ecosystem at ELP.  If left unchecked, it will destroy the entire forest.  I have cut through ivy trunks four inches thick with 25 annual rings inside.  It can pull down trees in wind storms.  It displaces native lichens and mosses and licorice ferns.  Ivy blankets the ground so no new evergreen trees can seed themselves.  Ivy never sleeps.  Many trees in the park have been cleared of ivy once, but it is creeping back up them again.  If you simply cut ivy on the trunk of a tree, it will grow new vines across the gap and reanimate the severed portion, eventually fusing and healing the cut.  You have to cut a two foot gap in an ivy vine to keep it from reattaching itself.  If you rip off some ivy and throw it on the ground, it will put out roots and turn into a new plant.

Ivy is one of the Gang of Four, along with holly, laurel, and Himalayan  blackberry.  These four plants are constantly spreading in the park.  They are aided by European starlings, another invasive species.  These four are evergreen and bird dispersed.  Himalayan blackberry is not exactly evergreen, officially, but it does often hold its leaves over the winter, ratty but still green.  Starlings eat the fruit of these four invaders and spread the seeds far and wide.  If ELP were completely free of ivy, volunteers would still need to patrol the park for seedlings imported by starlings.

A visitor to ELP doesn't need to leave the trail to find a strand of ivy.  It is right beside the trail in many places, so you can grab your strand of ivy to take home as payment for use of the park.  If 30,000 strands of ivy are hauled away this year, Eagle Landing Park will be significantly healthier.  I've hauled away nine strands so far.

The dogs and I walked four miles today, for 27 total miles on the year.  Stone #9 is pictured below.

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