Machetes and Millipedes, Oh My! Clear Cutting the Jungle Brush at Lyon

One of the first steps of getting the research site established at the Lyon Arboretum? Clearing out the jungle brush! The research team, along with some great staff from the arboretum spent several days clearing out ginger root, cinnamon tree, invasive vines and many other non-native species. We took care as to not disturb the native Hawaiian species as they are important both biologically and culturally significant to the island. Many thanks to Liloa and Pia from the arboretum their botany skills in helping us identify and protect these native plants!

Figure 1: The site for the deep soil warming project before any clear cutting had taken place. Looks like we are going to be here a while !

Figure 2: Assessing the density of the jungle brush as well as looking for native plants to avoid cutting down.

Figure 3: Our method involved using a machete to cut down plants at their base and using a sharp shooter shovel to eliminate large root clusters.

Figure 4: Almost there! The site is almost cleared thanks to the help of the Lyon Arboretum team. All that is left is moving the brush piles off site.

Figure 5: Done! Days of clearing and avoiding the millipedes in the soil are now finished, time to start adding our experiment to the site!