As I walk along the trail that traces Logan Bluff, I could forget that I’m right in the middle of town. The atmosphere here feels undisturbed, but there’s more to it than meets the eye.
This cherished strip of land running through the heart of Logan is home to many noxious weeds
The Utah Conservation Corp (UCC) has a plan to address this issue. Ben Borgmann-Winter is the northern regional coordinator at the Corps. He recently won a $60,000 grant to selectively target some of the most harmful invasive species.
"Depending on different plants life cycles, you treat them at different times and in different ways," says Borgmann-Winter. "Russian Olive is a tree that sprouts, and we cut them down with chainsaws, and we treat the stumps so that they don't grow back. Dyers, woad, which is probably a familiar one for a lot of folks, covers the hillsides here in Cache Valley. We're going to hand pull a lot of that next spring."
Since the project will involve cutting down trees and spraying herbicides, I ask Borgmann-Winter how they would prevent soil erosion and chemical contamination
"That landslide question came up pretty early on when we were talking with the university," says Borgmann-Winter. "And we made pretty sure that that was not going to be a concern. We're not pulling anything up out of the soil that's larger than like a very small plant, so the soils are going to remain intact."
Jake Deslauriers, UCC assistant director adds that the use of herbicides will be sparing and applied by certified operators.
"One thing that our crews are exceptionally great at is being very careful with the application of herbicide," says Deslauriers. "Especially when it comes to applying it so it doesn't run off, as well as applying it in windows where there is no precipitation forecasted."
Deslauriers and Borgmann-Winter tell me that the project would involve a dedicated team of UCC workers and demand vigilance and active management for years.
To get a sense of what the Conservation Corps is up against, I recruited a weed expert to take me on a guided tour.
Francielli Oliveira is a PhD student at Utah State University studying weed management.
As we walked along the Bluff together, she pointed out many different invasive species and revealed just how big of a challenge this project will be.
Feral rye, Russian olive, morning glory, phragmites, prickly lettuce, and many others. Oliveira's stream of observations was constant and helped me realize just how big a problem the UCC are up against.
"One summer is not enough to control all these weeds," said Oliveira. "A project like this takes several years of well-planned management."
Borgmann-Winter agrees that to stay on top of a project like this, the UCC has to commit to years of monitoring and upkeep. He adds that, somewhat counterintuitively, maintaining a natural ecosystem takes a lot of work.
"Most outdoor spaces that you encounter are not untouched," says Borgmann-Winter. "And they require some degree of active management to keep them in what would appear to be a natural state, and that's because us not touching them is not a neutral position."