Kanuti NWR Refuge: Dalton Highway White Sweet Clover Control

Project NameDalton Highway White Sweet Clover Control
Project Number337
LocationDalton Highway north of Kanuti River
DatesJune 19-23 and July 17-21, 2017
Duration1 week each, June FILLED
Number of Volunteers Needed2 for each week
DescriptionKanuti 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 is to utilize these methods to eliminate all seed production adjacent to and between river crossings between the Kanuti River to 20 miles north of 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. Volunteers drive up in refuge vehicles on Mondays and stay in cabins at the complex 6 miles north of Coldfoot. They work from 8 am until 4:30 pm Tuesday-Thursday and drive back to Fairbanks on Friday. Food and travel expenses will be covered by the refuge or Friends. The cabins are dry but showers are now available.
Skills NeededAbility to do outdoor manual labor all day pulling up plants or weed-whacking along the roadside in dusty, dirty conditions which may also be buggy, cold, hot (30 to 80 degrees), rainy, snowy, or smoky with huge trucks roaring past you.
Materials NeededBring your own sleeping bag (or sheets if you prefer) for the bunk beds, towel, layers of clothing, personal items, sunscreen, and camera. Refuge provides reflective vests, gardening tools and knee pads, gloves, bug jackets, head nets and bug spray. You may want to wear sturdy shoes and work clothes that can get filthy.
Other Outreach OpportunitiesTalking to others traveling the road system (truck drivers and tourists)about Friends and the refuges and the work being done to combat invasive plants. Give a program at the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center about the refuges and invasives.
ContactRoy Churchwell roy_churchwell@fws.gov or Betty Siegel siegelbetty@gmail.com