May 2009: Himalayan Balsam Control – The Monnow Needs You!

This invasive non native weed is taking over our river, shading out native plants and leaving the river banks bare and easily eroded in the winter floods.

Last year the MFA established the upstream boundaries of this plant on each of the tributaries to enable control to start from the top down. The first tributary for action was the Honddu and a mix of spraying and hand pulling, depending on density and area of stands, has proved very encouraging with very little germinating this spring. So, armed with this knowledge, we feel that it is time to ask you for your help.

This is what we would like you to do:

Every time you go to the river, to fish or walk by it, pull 50 a day. These are what the plants look like at the moment (early May). Pull them up by their roots – it is very easy, even when they are large so easy that you will want to pull more than 50!

On the weekend of 4th and 5th July we are going to have the “Weed Weekend” when you can volunteer for 1 or 2 days or 1 or 2 hours of hand pulling to help us to tackle the problem either on your own stretch of river or as part of a group on a tributary. We will coordinate this - all you need to do is to register with us at robert.denny@virgin.net . The bonus is that we can use your time involvement as match funding for our other projects so you will be doubling the help you give.

If you want more details on control methods then feel free to contact me on the above email address.

Rob Denny