The Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club

The Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club has been a big supporter of National Trails Day for years and 2011 is no exception.  We are in the process of planning multiple events to suit all age groups that wish to be involved, as well as corporate and school groups.  The flyer is seen below, groups can pre-register by sending an email to: kmtcmembership@kennesawmountaintrailclub.org.   As last year, we will have multiple projects and events to allow people of all ages to participate. If you are looking for National Trails Day events in locations other than the Atlanta area, you can go to the American Hiking Society website and they will have a list of other NTD events.

One of our jobs is to assist the National Park Service in combating nonnative invasive plants in the park that threaten the native plants and in come cases cause problems on our trail systems.

The two that cause the most trouble are Chinese/European Privet and Garlic Mustard.   At least once a year you will see the club ask for volunteers to assist in pulling up Garlic Mustard. Garlic mustard is a biennial plant that is an aggressive invader of wooded areas throughout the eastern and middle United States. The first-year plants have green, heart-shaped, 1-6 in.  long leaves like you see in this picture. Second-year plants produce a 1-4 ft.  tall flowering stalk with small, white flowers in the early spring. Plants can be recognized by a garlic odor that is present when any part of the plant is crushed and the strongly toothed, triangular leaves. A high shade tolerance allows this plant to invade   mature woodlands, where it can form dense stands and totally crowd out native plants.

These stands not only shade out native plants but also produce   compounds that inhibit seed germination of other species. Garlic mustard is native to Europe and was first introduced into New England during the 1800s for medicinal  purposes.

The plant leaves change shape from year to year for the first few years and  getting rid of the plant takes years of constant destroying the plant.  Normally we have 1-2 workdays a year when we have crews that target the invested areas, ripping the plants out of the ground and then the park service will spray anything that is left.

The other invasive that we combat is Privet that can crowd in on our hiking trails, narrowing the trails for both hikers and and those on horse back.

Semievergreen to evergreen, thicket-forming shrubs to 30 feet (9 m) in height that are multiple stemmed and leaning-to-arching with long leafy branches. Both types are  indistinguishable except at flowering. Chinese privet is the most widely occurring in our area.

This is a very aggressive plant, often forming dense thickets, particularly in bottom-land forests and along fence rows and forest roads, thus gaining access to forests, fields, and right-of-ways.  They are very shade tolerant but seem to grow well at the edge of fields. Mostly colonized by root sprouts but also spread widely by abundant bird- and other animal-dispersed seeds.

Our normal course of action is to cut them back from the trails or cut them down and pull the root system out of the ground.

The National Park has long had a problem with invasive plant species in the park.   A mini forest of bamboo has established itself on the south end of the park and we have taken on the task of removing it.

We will have multiple volunteer opportunities over the next few months to assist us in this project.  If you would like to help contact Scott Mackay, KMTC Trails Director via our website to volunteer.

Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club

The Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club has reached new mile stones this year. 2011 has seen solid growth in the number of volunters that show up for each workday.  We have a more solid relationship with the National Park Service and have trained more crew leaders for this year.

We have just completed training Ditch Witch operators which has given us greater flexibility in scheduling our projects.

We have started a Trail Ambassadors program which has been an outstanding success.

The Trail Ambassador program is intended to provide a volunteer-based interpretive and trail patrol function, in addition to the physical work of maintaining trails.

Trail Ambassador volunteers contact the park’s protection ranger staff to notify them of emergencies and regulatory or resource violations on the trail system. Volunteers are trained by the National Park Service Staff to handle trail violators with appropriate dialog to avoid unpleasant confrontations.

The Trail Ambassadors strive to educate park users to respect and enjoy the historical aspects of the park and to obey trail regulations. Some of our major challenges are dogs off leash, cars failing to stop at cross walks, and equestrians and hikers going off the designated trail.