The need
A temporary closure is in place at Davidson River Campground from November 2025 through May 2026 for bathhouse renovations. While the bathhouse renovation work is being overseen by the Forest Service and Naventure, our Ecological Restoration Crew (previously referred to as our Invasive Plant Management Crew) was contracted to perform non-native invasive plant treatment and removal work throughout the campground.
The process
As part of this project, the crew is performing cut-stump treatments on the mature stands of autumn olive and privet that dominate the understory and the infestations of oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, and other non-native invasive species that choke out competing native understory species.
The crew will also be sowing a native herbaceous seed mix in the areas that have been disturbed to replace early successional habitat.
In these initial stages of the project, the crew focused on addressing each campground loop and individual campsite area methodically. After working through each campground loop, the crew transitioned to treatments in more dispersed areas of the campground’s footprint, including significant infestations along the Exercise trail.
Since the crew’s initial treatments at Davidson River Campground in November 2025, this project has been a primary focus of theirs. Initial treatment work at a site of this scale with significant non-native invasive plant infestations is time-intensive.
Volunteers work alongside our crew
To more efficiently tackle these infestations and to provide hands-on volunteer opportunities for the community, our crew enlisted the help of volunteers to tackle the extensive non-native invasive plant infestations throughout the campground.
We hosted six different invasive plant removal workdays at the campground from December 2025 – March 2026, with 52 volunteers collectively contributing 200+ hours to this project.
Next steps
Extensive initial assessment and treatment work will continue through Spring 2026 and follow-up assessments and treatments will continue in 2026 and beyond as we continue our efforts to control the aggressive spread of invasive plants in the area.
