NMVFO volunteers return to the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in Albuquerque.
Our mission is to clean weeds in and around a pond at the visitor center.
Spring winds blow tumbleweed and kochia into the pond, and need to be fished out. Bindweed, nettles, and other invasives around the perimeter must be dug out. Cattails require thinning.
Muck boots and waders allow some volunteers to go into the pond to remove weeds.
Tumbleweed and kochia are gathered into carts, compressed down with a tamper, and hauled to an area to be spread into rows, later to be mulched by a mower.
