Erickson's Site Update: The First Flurries

November 2021 Bluff Lake Nature Center Site Update by Land Manager Erickson Smith

Buckthorn control with Weed Warriors

November 1 brought this year’s first snow to Bluff Lake Nature Center! Although it was only a flurry, it’s a good reminder that the leaves won’t be on our trees for much longer: come visit while the cottonwoods are still golden!

Cattails- before Weed Warriors

This fall, BLNC’s volunteer Weed Warriors have been hard at work managing both native and non-native, invasive vegetation to improve habitat for wildlife and create opportunities for native plant species to thrive. Invasive species threaten the integrity of native plant communities by outcompeting local plants for space, light, water, and nutrients. Two of the most recent projects have involved controlling invasive buckthorn near the lakeshore and cutting back the cattails on the western side of the lake. We removed a large section of buckthorn trees from an area previously occupied by willows, and the difference was immediately noticeable: so much more light is able to penetrate into the area, and the space previously occupied by the buckthorn will now hopefully be colonized by the native species surrounding it.

Cattails- after Weed Warriors

Although cattails are native to Colorado, they are so successful at what they do that they can often take over entire aquatic communities. With the entire eastern shore of the lake dominated by cattails, we removed the cattails on the western side of the lake to open the shoreline to be colonized by other aquatic plants and create more diverse habitat on the lake for the many animal species that use it! We’ve had the privilege of working with the Mile High Youth Corps. on these two projects, and we appreciate all the valuable work the greater Bluff Lake community is putting in to keep our refuge beautiful!