Volunteer and Learn!

Written by Sarah Bearden

So you are looking for an activity. Something to do on a Saturday morning that will be somewhat physically active (just the right amount of physical activity), be engaging, help the local environment, teach you something about the environment, only take three hours of the day and will also be a chance to meet some great like-minded people. What should you do? Consider doing what my husband David, my daughter Holly and I did one beautiful Saturday morning in July: we volunteered for a morning's work at removing invasive species of plants with the Marin Audubon Society.

We arrived at Bahia at 10:00 and met with Jude who would tell us what we would be doing during our morning project. She explained why it was necessary to remove invasive species of plants as they did not fit into the ecosystem and were considered to be invasive because they were a threat to native plants and also interfered with the natural cycles of the local ecosystem as a whole. She explained that not all non-native plants were invasive but that those which are can threaten the diversity of the plant, bird and animal life of the area.

I learned a lot about the history of the Marin Audubon Society: It began over 50 years ago in Richardson Bay to counter a threat of development to the wild area there. The Audubon Society in Marin is focused on saving the beautiful wetland habitats of Marin.

And beautiful this one certainly is! It was so calm and peaceful as we looked across the wetlands to the sloping rise of route 37 in the distance providing part of the beautiful route from Marin into the Napa Valley. Our job for the morning was to pull out fennel, wild radish and stink wort. Jude showed us samples of these plants and we could certainly see that the fennel, though we love to eat it, had truly taken over the area with some plants reaching 7 or 8 feet in height! Part of the trick in removing the invasive species is to get them out before they drop their seeds and sow new plants.

It was fun work, knowing that we were helping to protect our local environment, and it was such a healthy activity for us as well. We were provided with water to drink and healthy snacks as we worked and there was no pressure to accomplish a certain amount of work in the area - just what we were able to do was so appreciated. I can't help but feel, though, that we actually got more out of our work there than the Audubon Society got from us since it gave us the chance to be in such a beautiful outdoor setting. It would be a great activity for anyone who has spent a stressful week at work! I had been initially apprehensive as I have a damaged knee, but this actually gave me the chance to do physical outdoor work at a level and pace that was appropriate for me. I would highly recommend this as a volunteer activity!