"Friends" volunteers Sharon Baur, Gerry Clawson, Betty Siegel and Michelle-August Abukasis pulled invasive weeds at the Prospect Creek crossing on the Dalton Highway. August 25, 2007.

"Friends of Alaska Refuges" member Caleb Slemmons used a string trimmer to remove dense patches of smaller white sweetclover plants. August 24, 2007.

For the second time this summer, “Friends of Alaska Refuges” volunteers assisted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) colleagues in removing invasive weeds that have colonized the Dalton Highway corridor near Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge.  At its nearest point, the refuge lies just eight miles west of the Dalton Highway.  There are at least six tributaries that cross the highway and later enter the refuge. The Fish and Wildlife Service and Friends are concerned that these waterways could become routes for dispersal of invasive weeds into the refuge.   

An eight-person crew (five Friends and three BLM staff) collected 75 large bags (weighing nearly one ton) of invasive, non-native plants, primarily white sweetclover (Melilotus alba), during the latest three-day effort (August 24-26).  Sobering lessons about the aggressiveness of these plants were learned by returning to areas visited in July when two-and-a-half tons of white sweetclover were removed.  In just one month’s time some of the larger plants previously mowed or trimmed had vigorously resprouted and were even flowering, with a high potential for seed production.  Other plants that had been earlier pulled or mowed just above the root crown were also resprouting and flowering and had become quite difficult to pull.  Two Friends found the presence of white sweetclover at the Kanuti River bridge within inches of the river to be particularly telling since gravel bars of other rivers have seen white sweetclover crowd out native vegetation.  One of these Friends said of the effort, “It was daunting at times, but I personally feel a great deal of satisfaction in what was accomplished and what we learned.”

Given the uphill battle to manually and/or mechanically treat this infestation as it marches north, Friends members and Kanuti staff now believe a change in tactics is needed to control white sweetclover along the Dalton Highway.  Two years of manual weed pulling has shown only a large-scale integrated approach including the potential use of herbicides and other control methods will stem the spread of this noxious weed. The refuge will continue to work with partners along the highway corridor to prevent white sweetclover from entering the refuge.