For 16 years, Marilyn Hanson has been beating the bushes for volunteers, literally.
Her efforts have paid off: Last year in Tucson Mountain Park alone, hundreds of volunteers logged 2,700 hours removing buffelgrass, an invasive weed that threatens native desert flora and fauna.
โIn the last 16 years that we have been working in Tucson Mountain Park, the value of our volunteer hours is more than $700,000, and I think people should know that. We have been removing buffelgrass from the viewscapes of the people who hike and walk in the park; people donโt see it because we have dug it out,โ said Hanson, volunteer coordinator for the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers and a member of the board of directors for the Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center.
The Weedwackers are one of multiple grass-roots groups dedicated to removing invasive grasses that work in conjunction with the center, a nonprofit that emphasizes an integrated management approach to controlling buffelgrass in Southern Arizona.
The center is sponsoring Beat Back Buffelgrass Day on Saturday in an effort to remove the drought-resistant weed from washes, roadsides, parks and schools at more than 20 sites in the Tucson area.
โBuffelgrass is invading our public lands. It is an aggressive plant that is taking over parts of the Sonoran Desert where diverse native vegetation grows in places like Ironwood Forest National Monument, Saguaro National Park and open spaces throughout the county. Part of what we love about Southern Arizona is our desert, and if we let buffelgrass take over, we wonโt have the same desert,โ said Lindy Brigham, coordination center executive director.
Brigham said that in addition to choking out wildflowers, cactus and other native flora, buffelgrass is an extreme fire hazard.
โIt burns very hot, and native vegetation canโt withstand that kind of heat, so if fire breaks out in those areas, it will destroy all the native vegetation immediately,โ she said.
A key element in the buffelgrass battle is education, according to Brigham.
โPeople need to understand that we are not going to pull all the buffelgrass out in one day,โ she said.
Areas must be cleared two or three times and often on an ongoing basis; if all of the roots are not removed (with a digging bar or shovel), buffelgrass grows back.
โIt is very insidious. It drops seeds that are viable for three to four years, so if you clear an area and then donโt check it frequently, within a couple of years it is like you were never there,โ said Joe Ciaramitaro, who became involved about five years ago after reading about a pulling event in at Finger Rock Wash in the Foothills. Now he works weekly on slopes off of the Pima Canyon Trail and areas near his home on the northwest side.
Ciaramitaro is shocked to find that many locals are still unaware of the danger of buffelgrass and believes that increased leadership from the city and county is needed to improve awareness.
โPeople need to understand how dangerous it is and why it needs to be controlled. I am afraid that one of these days it will cause a huge fire ... and if people just worked to clear it in their own neighborhoods, that would really help,โ he said.
Hanson hopes that improved outreach will also bring an infusion of new volunteers, since the majority of regular volunteers range in age from 55 to 75.
โWe are trying to get the younger generations to realize that you have to put out some energy to save the natural flora and fauna or it will disappear. In some parts of the country it already has,โ she said.
A retired biology teacher of 33 years who tracks areas cleared in Tucson Mountain Park on Google Maps as part of the coordination centerโs larger mapping effort, Hanson understands how changes to plant life impact the entire ecosystem as well as economic, cultural, social and political landscapes.
โInvasive species crowd out the native flora, which impacts the native birds and butterflies and animals. When you wipe out the native flora, you are wiping out the food chain and that has far-reaching impact,โ she said.
Overall, Hanson said that fellow volunteers make the effort to save the desert rewarding.
