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Pull, pile, stomp a notorious weed
The North Coast Land
Conservancy and the Neca-
nicum Watershed Council
have launched a three-year
project to rid the Necanicum
watershed of the invasive
policeman’s helmet (Impa-
tiens glandulifera).
The land conservancy
is recruiting volunteers to
join their “Weed Warrior
Wednesdays” crew working
at Circle Creek throughout
June and July. People can
volunteer once, or every
week.
A Saturday stewardship
day is planned for Saturday,
July 8.
An $86,000 grant from
Oregon Watershed Enhance-
PHOTO BY NIECIERPEK GRUCZLOLWATY
Policeman’s helmet in bloom
ment Board is helping to
fund the three-year effort.
Five years ago, there was
no policeman’s helmet along
the Necanicum River or its
tributary creeks, as far as
anyone knows, the land con-
servancy said in a release.
“Now this pretty but
highly invasive weed can be
seen throughout the Necani-
cum watershed, choking out
native plants and reducing
plant and animal diversity
while increasing the risk of
stream bank erosion,” the
conservancy wrote. “The
plant’s seed pods can eject
seeds up to 20 feet. Those
seeds float, spreading the
plant downstream year to
year.”
Named for the shape of
the blossom, policemen’s
helmet — which grows 3 to
6 feet tall — resembles an
old-fashioned British police-
man’s headwear, according
to press materials.
“It is native to the Hima-
layas and was introduced
in North America as an
ornamental garden plant but
has since spread widely,”
according to the conservan-
cy. “It was first seen along
the Necanicum River and its
tributaries in 2013.”
Anyone residing in Clat-
sop or Tillamook counties is
asked to keep an eye out for
the plant on their property.
If you see it, pull it (the
plant uproots easily), make a
pile of the plants, and stomp
on them to crush the stems.
To volunteer, or report
sightings of the plant, visit
NCLCtrust.org/pull-pile-
stomp for more details and
to report sightings of the
plant.
‘Once in a Blue Moon’
exhibit opens at
ArtPort Gallery
SUBMITTED PHOTO
“Blue Moon Garden,” by Penny Treat
20
LANDSCAPE $
BARK
(U-HAUL)
per yard
WARRENTON FIBER
861-3305
Mon-Fri, 8 am -5 pm
389 NW 13 th St.
Warrenton
ILWACO, WASH. — A recep-
tion for Penny Treat and
Renee O’Connor, the July
featured artists at ArtPort
Gallery, will be held 3 to 7
p.m. Friday, July 7, at the
gallery (177 Howerton St.
S.E.).
The artists, both longtime
residents of the Peninsula,
will share stories of living
and working on Willapa
Bay. The event will include
bites and music.
Their exhibit, “Once in a
Blue Moon,” features their
most recent work: Treat’s
watercolors and woodblock
prints, for which she is well
known, and O’Connor’s
large ceramic wall pieces,
organic vases and platters,
and her newest adventures in
mosaic jewelry.
Together they celebrate
the Willapa Bay’s gifts of
wildlife, bounty, storms,
tranquility and its infamous
“Blue Moon.”
Treat trained at the
Cornish Institute in Seattle
and received her Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree. She
enjoyed a career in interior
design, receiving a national
award for her design of a
biosphere. She now draws
inspiration from her bay
property and its mature
flowering gardens, according
to the gallery.
O’Connor, a graduate of
San Francisco State Univer-
sity with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree, has had a varied
career but most recently con-
centrated in designing and
fabricating commissioned
public art works and espe-
cially focused on illustrating
numerous interpretive panels
for parks. Many of her tiles
— featuring fish and birds of
Southwest Washington salt
marshes — can be seen in
buildings and public installa-
tions on the Long Beach
Peninsula.