Field trip to Nature Conservancy Preserve

On Saturday our plant ecology class took a field trip to The Nature Conservancy's Rough and Ready Creek Preserve, near O'Brien, OR. We learned about TNC's effort to remove two recently introduced invasive weeds, Alyssum corsicum and Alyssum murale. These species, which are hyper-accumulators of Nickel, were introduced to the area in the late 1990's by a mining company who planned to harvest the plants, burn the biomass, and extract the Nickel. The plants escaped into the wild and the TNC, Forest Service, BLM, Oregon Department of Agriculture, and an army of volunteers have been trying to eradicate the species ever since.  Thanks for the great field trip, students!