Locals attacked a dangerous and well-armed foreign invader in Caspar April 29 not with fear and hatred, but with some Mendocino Coast traditions: recycling and a big jug of wine.
Americorps Watershed Stewards Project volunteers hacked away gorse that had spread into new areas on the Jughandle Creek Nature Center then returned to the old farmhouse to make gorse paper and some gorse flower wine.
The educational effort brought together several agencies involved in the fight against gorse to send the message that a steady, sustainable, natural effort is needed even to contain gorse, much less remove it.
“Continuity is so important,” said Americorps volunteer Carlos Navarro as he teamed up with Monica Scholey, another volunteer from Coos Bay, Ore., to pull a single root from the ground. About 30 people turned out for the effort.
“What we are emphasizing is integrated pest management,” said Scholey.
In late April, gorse”s yellow flowers bask Caspar”s headlands in beauty — from a distance. Anyone who has approached gorse knows the pain their thorns quickly cause. The best time to slow the invader is by killing a plant while it is flowering and before it goes to seed, prompting two separate efforts this past weekend.
State Parks crews worked under a contract with Great Tree Tenders of Redwood Valley, owned by Alfonso Gallegos. Using chainsaws and small, bulldozer-like diggers, they uprooted and piled huge mounds of gorse in the parks.
Across Highway 1 on Sunday, the volunteer crews at Jughandle Creek Nature Center worked with hand tools to uproot the gorse that is spreading all along creeks in Caspar.
“I don”t think people realize how much of a fire hazard gorse is,” said Lynn Webb, of CAL FIRE (formerly CDF). “This is because of an oil in the plant.”
The battle against gorse is actually an international war, with researchers working on possible solutions for Western North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand to European natives gorse and broom.
Very little has worked so far in the effort. Toxic sprays work in the short term, but make gorse stronger in the long run. Bulldozers and chainsaws can make a difference. But gorse fixes nitrogen in the soil, which makes it easier for gorse and other legumes to grow.
A gorse seed can lie dormant 30 years and then sprout a new plant.
That”s why many of those gathered at Jughandle Creek Nature Center feel that the effort must be sustainable, natural and involve as much of the community as possible.
Arlene Fuller, who began making gorse wine in the 1970s with her husband, demonstrated the making of gorse paper and a successfully made gallon jug of golden gorse flower wine.
Fuller was at the event as part of the 4-H Watershed Stormwater Runoff project.
Gorse paper is made by soaking then blendering gorse plant flowers, creating a paste which is extracted with a screened dipper in much the same way as a gold miner sifts gravel from a stream. The paper is then dried and used for art, or even writing paper.
The wine is made with oranges, lemons, tannin, yeast and sugar. Fuller said gorse wine is best made dry not fruity.
Other than creative winemakers, very few creatures like to eat gorse. The effort to combat the thorny monstrosity links groups with few other common interests: the California Cattlemen”s Association, California Native Plant Society, Ducks Unlimited and the Regional Council of Rural Counties, to name a few.
The center of the battle against gorse is in France, where three insects that actually do devour gorse and broom are the subject of experiments and study.
Scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Albany, Calif., have developed a working relationship with Australian researchers already conducting broom biocontrols research in France, as well as with state biocontrol experts in the California Department of Food & Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
The big problem has been funding shortfalls, Webb said.
Introducing foreign enemies, called biocontrols to control foreign pests, can create as many problems as it solves. Without intensive testing, such pests can spread to other areas and attack native species.
Gorse is found all along the coast but is most serious in Caspar and around Jughandle State Park. The former farm which hosted Saturday”s event is in need of volunteers for a variety of efforts.
Betty Barber and Grail Dawson are seeking to help Helene Chalfin, the education director at Jughandle Creek Nature Center at Caspar, find volunteers.
“Following are some of the areas where she needs help: hosting the farm/hostel greeting guests and answering the phone for reservations, in the food and medicinal gardens, carpentry for maintenance, in the greenhouse where the native plants are propagated, Website updating and maintenance, school trip excursions fund-raising, and recruiting and training volunteers,” Barber said.
Jughandle provides low cost lodging and a meeting space for a wide variety of educational, recreational and environmental organizations, community and family groups, and hundreds of kids attend Nature Day Camp in the summer. Call Betty or Grail at 937-0656, or Helene Chalfin at 964-4630 to help.
