{"id":24142,"date":"2016-07-16T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T21:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomasjpitts.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=24142"},"modified":"2016-07-16T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2016-07-16T21:13:10","slug":"199-what-can-you-do-to-help-your-local-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjpitts.co.uk\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/16\/199-what-can-you-do-to-help-your-local-park\/","title":{"rendered":"199: What can you do to help your local park?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I was part of a team of geocachers who got together to help tidy up Shibden Park in Halifax to complete\u00a0GC6EYK9: Balsam Bashing.<\/p>\n

The event was called a CITO – a Cache In, Trash Out – event where geocachers give something back to the environment.<\/p>\n

The park has had a problem with Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera<\/em>). The plant is a relative of the Busy Lizzie, but reaches well over head height, and is a major weed problem, growing rapidly and\u00a0spreading quickly, smothering other vegetation as it goes.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, though, it has quite swallow roots and so is relatively easy to remove. Our main job was to create a path up to a bridge via a relatively steep hill. That was the tricky part – maintaining balance.<\/p>\n

Here’s the area before, during and after our efforts.<\/p>\n