After a brief break from our first year of observation at Starr King Test Plot, we are back on site to begin Phase 2 as the wet season comes upon us. We have developed a restoration plan that will move us from observation to operation with limited resources. Our high level plan is to start a regular weeding + maintenance schedule internally as a company before engaging the community in volunteering.

Our maintenance approach is based on the Bradley Method, where we will chose two work zones (the plots) based on where native plants are currently observed. We will concentrate our efforts in these two zones and organize our work in concentric bands of intensity. In the center of each zone, we will continue with hand weeding around natives. In an outer band we will do a non-targeted a cutback of all plant material a few times over the course of the wet season. The logic is that through cutbacks we prevent annuals from going to seed- after 3 years the seed bank of annual weeds is exhausted.

During Phase 1 (Observation), we collected native seeds to contract grow. These plugs will be planted now and into this winter, with the goal to only plant what originally came from the site. 




The goals and methods of Phase 2 are as such:

1. We only (re)introduce/use materials and plants from the site, or from the adjacent open space on serpentine outcrops.
2. We test variable weeding strategies using the Bradley Method:
3. We pay attention to time and use it as a tool - by continuing to observe + weed regularly, we can start to understand how much time is required of us, and how the site is evolving based on our new inputs and labor. We focus on maintaining our slow and measured approach
4. We involve the greater community in volunteer days + observation sessions (once we get grounded in the space ourselves)