Phragmites day

Today, November 2, we had a Fall event at The Brickworks. We met with stewards from the other sites to tackle phragmites around the back ponds of The Brickworks.  Phragmites, the common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. It is highly invasive and causes damage to wetlands.  The team that normally works there didn't have the time to do this task before the end of the season.

It was a rainy day but about 18 people showed up which is great. We had to wear these flashy volunteer vests as The Evergreen Brickworks get so busy on a Saturday morning with the farmers' market and other events that people might wonder what we're doing out there with clippers and other tools.  I guess we had to look official.  We don't want to scare anyone.

 We got to the site and saw the amount of phragmites that needed to be removed. 

Before picture

We picked up dozens of bundles like these. 

After pictures.  We can actually see the pond now after removing the phragmites.

A few of the volunteers towards the end of the morning. Tired but happy to get the job done.

This is the first time we had an event so late in the season. Usually, the stewardship program ends at the beginning of September. But it sure was worth it and people were commenting that it would be nice to continue this in future years. But now, the season has wrapped up for good and we'll continue this work next Spring.