To the editor:

Spring is here and broom is blooming!

You may welcome the bright yellow blossoms of Scotch broom, but soon they will be replaced by seed pods. A mature plant can produce over 30,000 seeds in a year, and they remain viable up to 70 years!

Of all the plants listed in Washington as noxious weeds, Scotch broom is the most rambunctious!

Thanks to the efforts of several groups (Weed Warriors, Sustainable Bainbridge, Noxious Weed Advisors, the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, the Student Conservation Corps, and the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District), in many areas we are seeing fewer blooms this year. A coalition of sponsors and generous donors support the Let’s Pull Together campaign: adults and school-aged kids are out to set an example for all to follow in our fields and roadways.

With persistent effort, Scotch broom can be eliminated in broad areas, and where it persists we can control its spread. Now through June is the best time, while the soil is moist and seeds have not formed, for pulling small plants and cutting the larger ones below their lowest branch. Let’s Pull Together focuses on publicly owned land, and we call on landowners to control the Scotch broom on their own property.

If you need assistance or advice please contact our coordinator for Let’s Pull Together, Clarice Cutler at 802-922-0643 or email her at stopscotchbroom@gmail.com.

LEN BEIL

Weed Warrior and Kitsap County Noxious Weed Advisor