Calling all Deadhead-ers! Help us manage invasive Butterfly Bush on the Dungeness River this summer. Seed banks of this invasive shrub can be managed by the removal of flowers prior to seeding, mitigating the spread of the plant prior to removal.  

Tools and gloves will be provided. Please wear long pants and bring water and a lunch. Footing at the site is uneven. We will be working on rocky gravel bars. Activity ranges from mild to moderate and can be adapted to ability level. 

About the project: 

With the Dungeness Riparian Recovery Project, NOSC is working with willing landowners on the Dungeness River and its tributaries to remove invasive plants like butterfly bush and knotweed in the riparian corridor before planting or seeding the areas with native plants that support pollinators and salmon. Although pretty, these plants quickly take over gravel bars and stream banks, excluding the growth of native plants. In order to prevent reseeding from plants upstream, butterfly bush removal is tackled from upstream to downstream to eliminate seeds from being transported by the water flow. So far, NOSC has removed butterfly bush from nearly 3 miles of the Dungeness and associated side channels. Downstream seeds banks can be mitigated through deadheading plants that are too large to pull – cutting off the flowers before they go the seed. Each flower cluster can produce up to 40,000 seeds!