June 2011

Russian Knapweed: Three Times a Charm?
Invasive weeds are extremely difficult problems in open spaces.  Getting rid of these interlopers, as soon as possible, is essential to preventing their spread. Since 2009, we have been reporting on efforts of County Parks (with some help from MMPC) to eradicate an area of Russian Knapweed on More Mesa. Russian Knapweed, is a noxious weed; one that is toxic to horses, spreads easily and rapidly, and is generally difficult to eradicate.

At the time of the first phase of the eradication process, in Fall 2009, there was about ¼ acre of this weed on County owned sections of the northwest part of More Mesa.  The first treatment seemed to have reduced the area and density of Knapweed, so a second treatment phase was undertaken in Late Spring 2010. Last month, a recheck of the area showed that there was not very much knapweed compared to previous years.  On the basis of this data, the third (and hopefully final) phase was carried out.

The More Mesa Preservation Coalition is proud to be a part of this important work on County owned environmentally sensitive land, as well as preventing the spread of Russian Knapweed over all of More Mesa.