Short-Tailed Weasels and Kingfishers Remove Invasive Plants at Woodstock Farms

The Short-Tailed Weasels formulate an attack plan while Conor shows them what initiative looks like

The original inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest utilized the sea to gather (and sometimes farm) food as well as for transportation.  At some point in time, the native people who lived near these beaches were forced out of the space that we now call Woodstock Farm. They were no longer able to live here like they had since time immemorial. Then, in 1905, Cyrus Gates established Woodstock Farm by constructing some buildings and clearing the land to plant food and raise animals. Cyrus Gates was a local businessman with a particular interest in conserving public places. He lead the creation of Larrabee State Park, Arroyo Park and Fairhaven Park. In 2004, the City of Bellingham acquired the property and now manages it in order to preserve its historical importance while at the same time conserving and restoring the patches of wild space on the site.

Today, the Short-Tailed Weasels and the Kingfishers would add their own legacy to this piece of  land by participating in some invasive species removal. Woodstock Farm features heavily wooded areas as well as some Garry Oak meadows. We spent the day removing Himalayan blackberry, holly and herb Robert (aka stinky Bob!).

An EMA helping on of our younger explorers remove invasive weeds

On the hunt for sharp, invasive holly plants

A cool beech tree was a perfect spot for our backpacks

Going for the holly root...

...and its out!

Another stubborn holly root 

Taking breaks is important (and fun when you get to climb around on glacial erratics)

We can't NOT take pictures of bugs

We also got to have a couple of EMA's (click here for a description of our EMA program) along with us today. These veteran explorers from some of our older groups did a great job of modeling work ethic and helping the mentors keep everyone safe when using tools.

Our wonderful EMAs for the day!

In EC, we utilize lots of wild spaces and parks in Bellingham to learn, play and sustain our emotional and physical health. With this understanding, we appreciated the opportunity to give back to the woods that provide us with so much.

To see the rest of the photos from our day together, click here!