Weed Warriors: A year of accomplishments

"Control Noxious Weeds" reads the prominent sign on Forest Service Road 14 in Camp Sherman.

A group of Camp Shermanites who call themselves the Weed Warriors take that sentiment very seriously. And they have fun doing it.

Members Pete and Magda Schay, Linda and Rick Thomas, Carol and Scott Blau, Bruce and Susan Shaull, Elke Dortmund and Rosemary Leonnig gathered Sunday, October 4, to celebrate a year of clean-up work.

Barb Haynes is also a weed warrior, but wasn't able to make the gathering.

"I like being outdoors and the camaraderie. It's fun," Linda Thomas said. "There's satisfaction to find a patch of knapweed and be able to pull it all up."

They meet every Wednesday in the summer months from May to August, and put in a total of 155 hours this year.

"We try to get knapweed before it seeds," Thomas said. "It takes seven to 10 years of working on the same area to eradicate it. We've been doing it about eight years."

Scott Blau has been pulling weeds with the group for three years.

"Our goal is to prevent the noxious weeds from taking over and spreading. It's worth doing and it's fun," Blau said.

Pulling weeds gets in your blood and once you start weeding, you notice weeds everywhere.

"We were walking down the sidewalk, and Magda suddenly stopped and said, "Look, there's some spotted knapweed," Schay said.

Knapweed and other noxious weeds spread quickly and rob soil nutrients from native, beneficial plants.

The Weed Warriors also pick up trash when they're out weeding.

Volunteer Beth Van Campen started the Weed Warriors in Camp Sherman and led them for three years before passing leadership to Pete Schay.

Schay is also a board member of Friends of the Metolius and has been instrumental in bringing the FOM on board in several weed clean-up projects. Last year Schay wrote a grant proposal for yellow flag iris control.

"We got the grant for control of yellow flag iris on private land in Lake Creek. I just finished the project two weeks ago," Schay said. "I feel very good about it.

"All the work we do, we collaborate with the Oregon Department of Agriculture and meet and talk with locals and agencies."

Liz Gibney, Noxious Weed Coordinator for the Sisters Forest Service, has worked extensively with the Camp Sherman Weed Warriors.

"We recently surveyed the triangle by 12 Road and 1420 by the saddle club for noxious weeds," she said. "It's mostly spotted knapweed and toadflax and covers about 100 acres. They fanned out and cleaned up the whole section."

The Weed Warriors identify problem areas for the Forest Service and submit reports on the areas they clean.

"They are another pair of eyes out in the forest. They can get a lot of the private property the Forest Service can't get to. The Weed Warriors have drastically relieved the burden of weed management in the area," Gibney added.

Next year they will be working with the Forest Service along the Metolius trying to clean up ribbon grass.

"Next year," Schay said, "we want to continue with the volunteer program and we would like to engage some Blue Lake people more and build more partnerships."