A group of ambitious weeders are seeking the community’s help in eradicating an invasive species of plant on Whidbey Island.

The St. Hubert Catholic Church Green Team, in partnership with the Knights of Colombus, Goosefoot Community Fund, Whidbey Climate Action and WhidbeyHealth, is sponsoring two upcoming work parties for the removal of Scotch broom. To join the fun, come to the Bayview Corner area 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Friday, April 25 or Saturday, April 26.

To register, visit sthubertchurch.org/broombust-signup.

Every spring, highway drivers are sure to notice the pretty – and pernicious – yellow petals of Scotch broom as the plant blooms. According to the state Noxious Weed Control Board, Scotch broom “displaces native and beneficial plants, causing loss of grassland and open forest. It aggressively spreads to form monocultures, replacing desirable forage grasses and young trees.” The seeds also happen to be toxic to livestock and horses.

Seth Luginbill, Noxious Weed Program Coordinator for Island County Public Health, said the earliest record of Scotch broom that he could find on Whidbey shows up in the 1950s in the Penn Cove area, though herbarium records show collections in King County and other surrounding counties around the late 1920s and 1930s.

“This would seem to match closely as far as assisted migration patterns with the initial introduction of Scotch broom to California sometime between the 1850s-1900s,” he said.

Gary Olson, a member of the church’s Green Team organizing the work parties this week, said weeders will tackle the plant with loppers and weed wrenches. As he explained, you can’t mow, as the stems and shoots will come back. The best thing to do is to cut the stems off low during this time of year, before the seed pods fully mature and germinate. This will cause the roots to die.

“It’s partly a symbolic effort; it’s doing a little good in your own corner,” Olson said.

Disposing of the plant is another challenge – put it in the landfill, and it will create methane gas as it decomposes. Instead, Olson said, the group is looking at shredding the material. This will likely be the first of many work parties.

Luginbill said it’s great that there are invested community members who are eager to help reduce the population and impacts of Scotch broom, which is a long-term effort that requires consistent control over the years.

“With a seed lifespan that can surpass 60 years and plants that can live up to 25 years old this can be a challenging, but not impossible, task,” he said, adding that the act of removal and associated disturbance will often encourage the dormant seeds to germinate sooner than if left to its natural timeline. This exhausts the seed bank in a much shorter timeframe.

Or as Olson put it, “One square inch at a time as we conquer this noxious weed.”