SALMON CREEK — Families relaxing on the beach or splashing on the shores of Klineline Pond may be having too much fun to notice the battle being fought in the bushes nearby.
On Thursday morning, a handful of people, clad in rubber gloves and safety glasses, carried tanks and injector guns full of herbicide into the front lines of the war on Japanese knotweed.
The small group of about seven volunteers and workers with the Clark Public Utilities Eradication Nation program combed the thick vegetation along Salmon Creek to find and treat as many individual plants as they could before Thursday’s scorching temperatures set in.
Japanese knotweed, or donkey rhubarb as it’s also called, grows a stem similar to bamboo and can reach up to 12 feet in height. It only takes a half-inch fragment of the plant to grow a new one, which in turn can lead to an entire colony of them.
The knotweed spreads easily and aggressively, especially during construction projects or flood events. Once it gains a foothold, the plant can easily choke out its competitors and is capable of breaking through concrete sidewalks and home foundations.
After interviewing local landowners, the utility believes the plant likely was introduced to Clark County as a garden ornamental in the 1950s. But it has since proved itself to be a domineering and aggressive invader.
The only real way to get rid of the plant is to spray or inject it with herbicides over a year or more.
“We do not recommend manual removal because it spreads so easily,” said Erica Erland, spokeswoman for Clark Public Utilities.
Though small, the group of volunteers with Eradication Nation, an initiative of Clark Public Utilities StreamTeam, has played an important role in removing invasive plants and restoring the environment in the Salmon Creek watershed. Utility employees monitor the area during the first half of the summer, then volunteers and a few employees treat the area during the second half.
The utility has been working for decades to improve the Salmon Creek watershed, and volunteers have played an important role in that work. Now they’re looking for more volunteers to help out.
“Volunteers are critical to our efforts to treat existing infestations of knotweed and continue to identify and remove new plants as they spread,” said Ashley King, StreamTeam coordinator for Clark Public Utilities. “We have secured funding to coordinate the work and provide training and supplies, but we need help to get the work done. It’s a huge part of what’s required to bring salmon back to Salmon Creek.”
Because much of the work is done on Thursdays and Saturdays, King said the utility is particularly interested in recruiting active retirees.
Volunteer George Pollock fits that description.
“I was retired and my wife said, ‘You’re not going to sit home all the time now,'” he said.
He started volunteering for plant watershed programs about 13 years ago. For several years he’s helped with the Eradication Nation program and also does some invasive plant removal work around Ridgefield.
“It’s good community service,” he said. “It’s on public land where there’s no money to fund the work, yet it’s very important.”
Dameon Pesanti: 360-735-4541; dameon.pesanti@columbian.com; twitter.com/dameonoemad
