Annual Portola Valley Town Broom Pull is Sunday, March 26

Please join the Portola Valley Conservation Committee, community volunteers and Scout troops and spend a couple of hours pulling this invasive weed from public lands and rights-of-way.

Meet at 9:00 am at the Historic Schoolhouse — we will be done by noon.

Bring friends and neighbors – it’s a fun way to contribute a little muscle power and tackle this problem as a team

Please bring water and gloves and wear long sleeves and close-toed shoes

Did you know that Broom is:

• Highly invasive and extremely flammable
• One mature plant can produce 10,000 seeds per season and can live up to 20 years
• The seeds can germinate even after 60+ years
• Seed pods can burst with enough force to fling seeds many feet away
• Outcompetes and chokes out native vegetation
• Poisonous to large domestic animals and makes pastures impenetrable
• Re-sprouts from the roots (pull it out by the roots, when the soil is wet and with a weed wrench)
• Impossible to easily remove once the soil is dry. DO NOT mow, it will re-sprout and be even harder to remove by the roots

French Broom is one of our nastiest invasive local shrubs. It spreads quickly, choking out both natives and other desirable plants and it is very flammable. It is especially a problem in our Open Space Preserves.