Members of South Wake Conservationists, along with the Hemlock Bluffs Strike team, tackled some well entrenched bamboo stalks, along with trifoliate orange and privet shoots, at this Natural Preserve run by the city of Cary and the state of North Carolina. This large “clump” of bamboo has been growing at the site for at least 70 years. They were unwittingly planted by the family that gave the property to the city, to help prevent erosion. Our team had to go off trail to find the bamboo, so it’s off limits to the public. We had to walk in a tight column to prevent damage to a large stand of ephemerals (mostly trout lilies) along the way. Some of the plants had delicate yellow flowers blooming, which provided us with a sample of what we will observe in our upcoming ephemeral hike!
One of the park’s leaders, Angela Hawkins, taught us how to safely remove the tall stalks of bamboo. This involved two cuts, one for the top of the tree which won’t reroot and another at the base that will reroot. A small pruning saw was more than enough to cut the stem. The final step was to use a blotter to treat the base from regrowing. Within no time a large pile of stalks were created. Fortunately, we didn’t have the pleasure of dragging them up the hill to get them out, park staff will have that pleasure.
Given the volume of bamboo left behind we will be more than happy to return to the site as long as needed.
South Wake Conservationists 