By Emily Rosa:
November 17 was a beautiful fall day in Sonoma County. The sky was clear and it was a nice cool temperature. This was an answered prayer for many students in this year’s Restoration Ecology class, after the rainy day we spent at the Laguna just a few weeks earlier. Today, we went out once again with Paul and Brent from the Laguna Foundation. Our main goal for the day was to plant sedge in an area right along the creek, to help stop other weeds such as Himalayan blackberry from invading the area. The neat thing about this project is that they were growing the sedge on their property, and then we harvested some and transplanted it into an a nearby area along the creek.
Our day started off with a quick tour of the buildings. The Foundation had renovated a decades-old house that was on the property, and converted it into office space. Around the building, they had plantings that were meant demonstrate features of the landscape, which I thought was really neat. Brent and Paul mentioned how it could inspire people with ways to make their own yards more suitable for California’s Mediterranean climate. There were also areas that were meant for children to play and interact with the environment, including a willow tunnel that kids could go through and logs they could jump across. The area was very kid friendly.
Next, we visited a small wetland area where they release turtles from the wildlife rescue center, because they may have a better chance of survival in what Brent jokingly called “fake nature.” I thought the comment was funny in the moment, but found that it stuck with me throughout the day . . . are our restoration efforts really producing “fake nature?”
I also really enjoyed hearing about the history of the Laguna De Santa Rosa and the surrounding areas from Paul and Brent. They explained how the Laguna is a water catchment, it was pretty eye opening to realize how much the Laguna floods. Brent showed us a large pole that they attached a camera to so they can take monitor the flood waters. Today, the camera was way over his head, but after a big rain they have to kayak out to come and get it.
Our tour ended by showing us their nursery and barn. They are growing many native plants for their own restoration projects, as well as some to sell to other organizations as a way to make a little money. They are also partnering with the California Native Plant Society and trying to get native plants to other places of restoration, including some areas affected by the wildfires that occurred this last October. The barn is really neat and has a long history, having been built before the Civil War. We also learned a little about how Sonoma County used to be known for selling hops and things that were non-perishable. Learning little fun facts like these is one of the reasons I really enjoy going on fields trips with this class.
Eventually we made our way down to the creek and started the restoration work. They were growing the sedge in large patches. It was our job to take chunks of the sedge out of a large patch, while leaving enough in place so the plants would be able to fill in the holes left behind. We had to dig around the piece of sedge we wanted, and try our best to not destroy the roots. If you did it right you would get what Brent called a “bomber:” the sedge and then at the bottom a ball of roots and dirt. Brent made it look pretty easy, but when we actually tried it for ourselves we discovered it was a bit more difficult then he made it look. Still, not too bad. One thing many of us found out was that sedges definitely have edges – we ended up with cuts on our arms from being scraped by the sedge. It is for sure ingrained in my mind now that sedges have edges.
After we finished harvesting a couple of dozen buckets full of sedge, we brought it back to the area by the creek to be planted. We broke up into different jobs for this part. Some people were in charge of giving the sedge a “haircut “ which entails trimming off the top part of the plant, because we want them to focus their growth on their roots rather than their height. Some of us were in charge of digging holes, and others were actually planting the sedges. This part of the day was fun – we were all joking around and laughing while we worked. After planting the entire stretch with sedge, it was rewarding to look around and see the difference due to our work, and to know that it will help the landscape in the long run.
This restoration day was a really good balance of learning information about the landscape and actual hands on restoration. Big thanks to Laguna Foundation for hosting us!
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