Capital Regional District Parks is calling all volunteers to give Mill Hill a clean sweep.

As part of the annual event, CRD Parks is looking for volunteers come out and cut down invasive Scotch broom plants at the regional park.

The initiative has been an ongoing endeavor at Mill Hill for the past eight years. In that time about 46 tonnes of broom and other invasive species have been removed from Mill Hill.

This year volunteers will be concentrating on the southeast corner of the park. The area was previously cleared in 2003 and 2006.

Due to sensitive ecosystems, special care has to be taken to ensure rare and native plants are unharmed in the broom’s removal, such as white-top aster.

Previously volunteers would pull out the broom plants including the roots, this year the volunteers are instructed to cut the plant as low to the soil as possible, keeping its roots in the ground.

“(Pulling the broom) disturbs the soil and stimulates the seed bank,” said Colleen Long, CRD Parks volunteer co-ordinator.

The broom scheduled to be removed this year has already dropped its seeds in the soil, but volunteers will work on solely removing the plants.

If the broom plants were to be removed prior to dropping their seeds, other native species could be harmed in the event, said Lise Townsend, CRD Parks environmental conservation specialist.

“This will never stop and it’s going to be a continual effort,” Townsend said. “In the (previous) seven years we’ve removed a heck of a lot of broom. Even before new broom sprouts the (cleared areas) open up a lot more space for native plants to grow.”

By clearing the broom volunteers, help make room for 13 native plant species as well as the common nighthawk, sharp-tailed snake and two butterfly species who call Mill Hill home.

Each year since the broom removal began more and more wildflowers have been appearing, Long said. “People can come back out in the spring and see the fruits of their labour (in the flowers).”

A volunteer’s role in broom removal is to concentrate on areas that have been cleared in previous years by CRD Parks staff. Additional staff is hired every year for a few weeks to help clear the broom, which is lifted off the hill in massive bundles by helicopter.

“The volunteers help us keep up and allow staff to focus on priority areas,” Long said. “As we do more inventory of the hill we know where the rare plants and endangered plants are.”

While trying to control the broom on Mill Hill is big task that may be never ending, Long said she has seen improvements over the years.

“We find many more rare plants occurring,” Long said adding that when areas have been focused on, four or five times much less broom will re-sprout.

In 2002, the first broom removal at Mill Hill, the broom stalks were about five centimetres in diametre and now the plants stalks are about half a centimetre.

The broom removal project is a part of CRD Parks’ Garry oak ecosystem restoration project. The project is funded by Government of Canada Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk and CRD Regional Parks.

CRD Parks is hosting two volunteer days at Mill Hill for broom removal, Sept. 26 and Oct. 3.

CRD Parks is hoping for about 60 volunteers for each day.

All volunteers are required to pre-register and will be notified of times at that time. For more information or to register call 250-478-3344.

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