Sunday, June 2, 2013

Let's keep invasive plants out of our parks

Gloria and Rose got a little muddy on this 2008 ride.

We ride because we enjoy being outside and exploring the great parks in Anchorage and south-central Alaska.  We pride ourselves on being good stewards of our parks -- we volunteer to build and maintain trails, we pack out our garbage, and we avoid creating ruts on trails by not riding them when they're especially muddy.

 We also need to be careful not to transport invasive plants into our park lands.  Invasive plants are non-native, they grow rapidly, and spread quickly. They can out-compete native vegetation, which can alter an entire plant communities. These changes can affect availability of native plants for birds and wildlife in our parks.

It's really easy to reduce the introduction and spread of invasive plants in our Anchorage parks: After muddy rides, hose off your bike and shoes at your house before going on another ride. 

 There are some good guides online to identifying invasive plants in Alaska: