This past week we met down by the greenhouse, but started work in a spot that I hadn't noticed the previous week. Located directly down the road from the greenhouse was an overgrown, somewhat rotted away deck. According to the staff members we spoke to, there had been complaints about someone almost falling through the boards, so our goal was to clean it off and clean up the brush surrounding it so that visitors could see where they were stepping, and also hopefully see some bison. When we first walked back, I got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of greenery that was creeping up towards the deck, not to mention all of the tree limbs swinging low over it.
And oh, the greenbriar! I have never seen so much of that pesky plant in my life. It did not want to leave its new home. It was twisted around virtually every tree limb, plant stem, and even some of the dead twigs on the ground. It made its protests known as we hauled it off, providing small reminders in the form of pricks and scrapes. After we took the last load to the trailer though, I felt a sense of victory over those thorny vines, because the deck was cleared of it, and it had been peeled off of many of the surrounding plants.
The fence was another challenge we faced. Thankfully there were no bison actively wandering around while we cleared their boundary (on the other side than they would have been of course). However, several sapling had grown such that they weaved in and out of the fence, meaning that some pretty clever saw-work was needed to disentangle them from the fence. Vines had piled up onto the top of the fence, playing a similar, weaving game that required a lot of time to remove.
We were only on site for about 2 1/2 hours, but I was shocked at the amount of progress we were able to make. All of us took a step back at the end and looked at what we had accomplished. I heard multiple people voice their similar disbelief at how much better it looked. It felt great to be able to visually see a difference, and to know that we had done that in the course of only a few hours. I hope that our other projects are similar to this, because I think it helps to encourage future work when you can see the difference you are making.
And oh, the greenbriar! I have never seen so much of that pesky plant in my life. It did not want to leave its new home. It was twisted around virtually every tree limb, plant stem, and even some of the dead twigs on the ground. It made its protests known as we hauled it off, providing small reminders in the form of pricks and scrapes. After we took the last load to the trailer though, I felt a sense of victory over those thorny vines, because the deck was cleared of it, and it had been peeled off of many of the surrounding plants.
The fence was another challenge we faced. Thankfully there were no bison actively wandering around while we cleared their boundary (on the other side than they would have been of course). However, several sapling had grown such that they weaved in and out of the fence, meaning that some pretty clever saw-work was needed to disentangle them from the fence. Vines had piled up onto the top of the fence, playing a similar, weaving game that required a lot of time to remove.
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| Photo courtesy of Dr. Dan Williams |
We were only on site for about 2 1/2 hours, but I was shocked at the amount of progress we were able to make. All of us took a step back at the end and looked at what we had accomplished. I heard multiple people voice their similar disbelief at how much better it looked. It felt great to be able to visually see a difference, and to know that we had done that in the course of only a few hours. I hope that our other projects are similar to this, because I think it helps to encourage future work when you can see the difference you are making.
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