Volunteers invited to restore native grass meadow near Laytonville

MENDOCINO CO., 5/27/25 — How do you bring a meadow back to life that’s been choked out by invasive nonnatives? One of the first steps is removing invasive species such as star thistle and bull thistle. Those two much-cursed thistles are the focus of a Saturday workshop and work party at Cahto Creek Ranch, led by Eel River Recovery Project’s Steve Brown, who has experience in restoring native grasses to meadows and grasslands.

The Red Bluff-based company Hybrid Indigenous Stewardship, or HIS, will be on hand to help guide volunteers on how to identify the thistles and get them out by the root (easier said than done). HIS has worked at the ranch in the past, helping to remove invasives.