Weeding is good for the soil – and the soul.
KEENer Ginny Figlar recently used her paid KEEN service leave to help restore wetland in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument after years of cattle farming decimated it. Read on to see how weeding invasive teasel among a symphony of bumble bees and the beauty of the mountains outside Ashland, Oregon, made it a nature reset in every way.
Ginny: I’ve been using my KEEN volunteer hours to help them restore 76 acres of wetland since 2018, after I spent a weekend camping at Willow-Witt Ranch and learned about the Crest’s land restoration efforts. The Crest at Willow-Witt is an educational nonprofit that’s on a mission to connect people and nature. I knew right away I wanted to help them give back to this wild space.
Ginny wore her KEEN Pyrenees x Leave No Trace boots while volunteering in the wetland pulling teasel.
I pulled A LOT of teasel. This aggressive, invasive weed chokes out the wetland and native species. Each morning, I would gather my favorite digging tool and old feed bags to fill, and focus on a different area of the wetland to tackle. The good news: Because of years of teasel-pulling work by volunteers like me, there weren’t many fully grown plants with seed heads to pull. The bad news: The wetland was carpeted with baby teasel plants, which were numerous and harder to spot. But snagging them before they were able to do the most damage felt good. In two days, I filled six large feed bags with mostly baby teasel plants.
I have two: It was so quiet in the meadow that often the only sound I heard was the buzzing of bumble bees! And then my other favorite memory was watching the sunrise on my birthday. I feel such a connection to this land after all these years working to restore it. I love that I have helped make a positive impact in this small, amazingly beautiful corner of the world. A very special birthday morning for sure.
In previous years, I have helped plant willow trees and red-twig dogwood shrubs to help restore the wetland to its natural state. The vegetation helps disperse water across the area after years of cattle grazing packed down the soil, creating a narrow channel of water.
What I learned was: it’s working! It was neat to see how the wetland had more vegetation this year. My 13-year-old son, who helped me plant the willow and dogwood a few years ago, remarked how green the wetland looked. We even spotted a pair of sandhill cranes out there one night!
It’s extra rewarding to commit your time and energy to a place year after year. You can actually see the impact you’re making over time and how you are helping leave the planet better than you found it. I highly recommend it!
