The Triangle

In February 2022 Free the Fern volunteers began to take on the challenge of clearing invasives (English ivy & Himalayan blackberry) from the Triangle. The Triangle was a large thicket of invasives where the Red Alder Trail forks, between Matheson Height’s Co-op and Cartier Place townhouses.

The northern area of the triangle was overwhelmed by Himalayan blackberry, and interwoven with English ivy. Luckily, there was also several mature Douglas fir trees and ocean spray shrubs at this northern end.

After clearing most of the invasives from the surface of the Northern end of the triangle, we still have to dig out all the invasive roots. Free the Fern volunteers have done a limited amount of planting in this cleared area this spring:

19 Dwarf Oregon grape

6 salal

4 Indian plum

1 snowberry

6 sword fern

5 Pacific bleeding heart

5 goatsbeard

3 redwood sorrel

We plan to continue planting forest shade plants in this northern area of the triangle in the fall of 2022.

As for the southern portion of the triangle, which is just north of the forest playground on the Red Alder Trail, it still has a significant portion of invasive Himalayan blackberry and ivy. Unfortunately, this area has a limited amount of tree coverage, due to the invasive spread. We hope to clear this southern area of invasives, including their roots, by the fall of next year, 2023. Free the Fern members have been discussing the possibility of planting edible berries and native fruit trees in this sunny southern portion of the triangle.

Thank you to all our Free the Fern volunteers who have been helping with clearing and planting in the triangle. Thank you to: Grace, Martin, Ann, Doug, Joe, Jeanine, Catherine, Robin, Erin, Liam, John, and Kiki for your help in this area.