Page 44 - Priorities #70

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Greetings,
The Priory is fortunate to enjoy one of the world’s most favorable environments for plant growth; as a gardener you can grow just about anything in Portola Valley. The winters are mild, and winter root vegetables and leafy greens endure the chill. During the summer, with enough irrigation water to supplant our deficit in summer rain, tomato plants grow taller than the people who planted them, and zucchini vines make audible sounds as growing leafs bristle past one another. Spring and fall are so temperate that you can always hear someone on campus saying, “Just another day in paradise.” During those magical shoulder seasons, plants inside the Franklin Garden and beyond its fences–feel the same way.
So it should be no surprise then, that the combination of a favorable climate and a root-level “All are Welcome” vibe have combined to invite some unwelcome visitors to the Priory campus. I’m talking about plant visitors, of course: weeds, thistles, allopatric grasses new to the Bay Area, and other invasive and opportunistic plant species. These pest plants thrive in Portola Valley’s climate. Many of them have seeds that endure the driest times of summer, and are adapted to out-compete native plants for limited soil water. Indeed, people familiar with recent sustainability efforts at the Priory should be familiar with yellow star thistle because it presents such a perennial nuisance and has been the target of so much on-campus student eradication effort over the last few years.
The number, variety, and extent of invasive plant species making a home on the Priory campus continues to grow. This pattern reflects a larger trend that we can observe at various ecological levels and scales, from the greater Bay Area to the global ecosphere: in the context of global change and increasing interconnections, biological communities are threatened by invasive species from exotic locations.
And the truth is, the array of uninvited visitors to the Priory does not just include plants. The long 2016-2017 rainy season provided enough moisture and related plant growth that gave rise to huge populations of other pests. In 2017-2018 we have had to contend with unprecedented numbers of mice, rats, gophers, and squirrels that made their presences known–on the Priory campus–and in greater Portola Valley.
In my AP Environmental Science class, we continually talk about the concepts of interconnectivity, interdependence, balance and positive feedback (the idea that changes to a system could lead to further changes in the same direction.) As we observe the connections between weather, climate, and global change, we can see examples of the systems attributes I mentioned above. We also explore the concept of “function stacking”–the idea that a single solution could solve multiple problems.
This year, as my class discussed the causes and effects of global change and ecosystem simplification, we also discussed solutions. As we discussed some of the ways that global change is evident on the Priory landscape–I had an idea. A student’s question led me to consider how we might use a function stacking approach to solve several problems that we encounter on the Priory hillside.
So I called a goatherd.
“On campus, I have a reputation as a single- minded thistle terminator. This reputation precedes me despite the many hats I wear. Indeed, weed-whacker on my shoulder, hands lacerated by prickly thorns, sweating through my clothing, I am embarrassed to realize that I can’t hide on the exposed Priory hillside. I see that my reputation is well-earned.”
SUSTAINABILITY