| Description | VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED FOR JULY but JUNE IS FILLED)
Kanuti Refuge lies just eight miles west of the Dalton industrial highway. At least six Koyukuk River tributaries cross the highway and later enter the Refuge. Staff, Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges (Friends) and others are concerned these waterways will become routes for dispersal of invasive white sweetclover (Melilotus alba) into the Refuge. This non-native plant readily invades open and disturbed areas and has established extensive areas along early successional, gravel river bars elsewhere in Alaska. White sweetclover has rapidly colonized the Dalton Highway corridor, moving more than 120 miles northward between 2000 and 2013. In addition, invasive bird vetch (Viccia cracca) is growing within the Dalton Highway Corridor and downriver. These populations are all expanding.
Since 2006, The Friends and other volunteers have cooperated with Kanuti Refuge, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and others to control white sweetclover and other invasive plants at sites where they could easily disperse into the Refuge. Control efforts have focused on manual pulling, but have also included mechanical and cultural control. The goal this year is to utilize these methods to eliminate all seed production adjacent to and between river crossings between ¼ mile south of Kanuti River and Coldfoot , requiring infested areas to be visited twice during the growing season by Friends, volunteers and staff. Staff will also conduct early detection/rapid response surveys along rivers downstream of the Dalton Highway and within the Refuge so any newly established colonies of invasive plants can be controlled and eliminated quickly.
Complete description will be provided in late April. See previous year's projects for more information at this time. |