Yachats resident Kathy Grinnell stops along the 804 Trail on Saturday to chat with Barb and Mark Sakamoto, who along with John Theilacker, right, were part of the Yachats Trails Committee’s annual ivy pull. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)What happens when you ask for volunteers to spend three hours on a beautiful summer Saturday to wade into the brush along the 804 Trail to pull ivy? Twenty people show up.
Yachats Mayor Craig Berdie, right, beach ranger Howard Crockett and trails volunteer Mary Reeves attack invasive ivy from along the 804 Trail during Saturday’s annual “ivy pull.” (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)That’s what happened Saturday when the Yachats Trails Team and its affiliated Yachats Invasive Plants Squad held its annual “ivy pull” on a stretch of the popular state trail north of the Overleaf Lodge. It’s the 10th year the trails groups, which also coordinate Yachats trail maintenance for two hours the first and third Saturdays of each month, has held the special ivy pull.
On Saturday, the volunteers were aided by Oregon State Parks beach rangers Doug Sestrich and Howard Crockett, who used their small beach vehicle to haul mounds of ivy away.
The 804 Trail from Smelt Sands Beach State Park to a sandy ocean beach one mile to the north, trail is accessible to the handicapped and popular with locals and visitors. There was a steady stream of walkers Saturday.
“Of all the people walking by, most stop and ask what we’re doing and why,” said trails team organizer Loren Dickinson. “They’re appreciative.”
Oregon State Parks beach ranger Howard Crockett dumps a load of ivy pulled from along the 804 Trail in Yachats. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)
