Another noxious weed pulling effort on Candy Mountain is planned for this coming Sunday. Yellow Star Thistle is nearly in full bloom and starting to set seed. The volunteer crews are trying to prevent any seed formation and dispersal this year. Unfortunately, the hot temperatures are maturing the Star Thistle faster than the weeding crews can remove it all. We could use additional crew members for a while longer! A group of 12 LDS Missionaries helped us gain ground on Thursday. A few more larger crews and we will have accomplished a major setback on the spread of the Yellow Star Thistle for the coming years.

Attention: John Covey of the Fun, Fit and Over Fifty Club is encouraging members to join us for the coming weeding sessions on Wednesday August 15th and Sunday August 19th. Of course FFOF members are welcome this Sunday, too. Several members have been constant “weed warriors” already and we would welcome a new contingent to join the effort.

When: Sunday August 12th, 2018

Meet at: Candy Mountain Trail-head parking lot, off Dallas Rd. on PR 669 Rd. Address is 71004 E. 669 PR N.E.

Time: 7:00 – 10:00 am, but feel free to join us for any other time-frame that fits your schedule. David Beach will meet volunteers arriving at 7 am in the parking lot.

Duties: Hand pulling Yellow Star Thistle plants ranging in size from small single plants to larger branched plants, both already blooming and developing seed — along with the dreaded spikes. We will bag and remove all plants nearing bloom stage, which is most of the plants at this stage.

Tools & Clothing: Bring good strong gloves! Long sleeved shirts and long pants are recommended. The thorny spikes just beneath the blooms are making their appearance on some of the plants, so puncture and scratch protection is helpful. Generally, just pulling the plants has proven to be the most practical method of removal.

Pulling location: Approx. 1/2 – 3/4 mile up the trail on the north slope, facing West Richland. If you don’t meet up with the group in the parking lot, hike on up and look for us down-slope from the trail. If you get to the first big switchback-turn on the trail, looking down on the West Richland water storage tank, you should see us down the hill. Terrain is sloped and uneven — sturdy boots recommended.

Please forward this notice to anyone else you think might be interested. For those who might not be experts at knowing the difference between noxious weeds and native plants, we will give guidance.

Reply to [email protected] so we have an idea who to be looking for, or just show up with your gloves, sun protection, drinking water, snacks and find us. Since we are working some distance from the trail-head and are constantly moving along, having a small back-pack or fanny-pack is useful to carry your “stuff”. If you have some plastic grocery bags, bring them along for the blooming plants and we will have larger garbage bags to collect in. See you on the mountain in the cool morning air!