Reach 11 Recreation Area

INVASION OF THE POPPY SNATCHERS

Globe chamomile in Reach 11 Recreation Area

It came from South Africa.

Invasive globe chamomile is crowding out native plants

The pretty little weed arrived innocuous enough with delicate, yellow globular flowers and feathery carrot-like leaves and was imported as an ornamental plant and decorative filler for floral arrangements. But with the first rainy season after Globe chamomile or “stinknet” landed in Arizona around the year 2000, the insidious herb proved it had a vicious bite and tenacity that would set it on its way to dominate Phoenix-area deserts.

Mesquite trees on the W210 trail

Granted, I write this after binge watching The Last of Us, the HBO series about a global cordyceps fungus pandemic that turns humans into “infected” zombies bent on sprewing spores while taking down all semblance of civilization.

Reach 11 traces the CAP canal

The story arcs paint a grim future for human survival as there’s no way to stop or slow the accelerating mushroom apocalypse.  On a less fatal scale, Globe chamomile and the fiction-enhanced strain of cordyceps have similar game plans. Except the victims of stinknet are native plants.

Surely there are other invasive species in Arizona. Salt cedar or tamarisk (from Eastern Europe and Asia), filaree or stork’s bill (from Eurasia and North Africa), and buffelgrass (from Indonesia, Africa, and the Middle east) are common along trails, roadsides and in parks. But none of these have the reproductive chops of Globe chamomile.  Resistant to some herbicides, this organic spam is tough to eradicate. Digging out by hand and/or professional chemical control can stem infestations. But there’s no magic bullet.

Fiddleneck along the Cactus Wren trail

While the Reach 11 Recreation Area in north Phoenix cannot be singled out as an “infected” demonstration parcel—stinknet is everywhere—it is a good place to observe how the noxious interloper that smells like an elixir of moldy tea and industrial cleaning fluid is choking out native wildflowers.  Located in a swath of desert bordered by State Route 51, Loop 101 and the Salt River Project CAP canal, the 1,500-acre, half-mile-wide linear park runs east-west, tracing the canal for about 7 miles between Scottsdale Road and Cave Creek Road.

Filaree "stork's bill" is another invasive plant species

In addition to a sports complex, Horse Lovers Park, and Bullfrog Pond, the area has 24 multi-use trails that add up to 18 miles including a barrier-free nature trail.

Mexican gold poppies

Reach 11 trails are wide and mostly level.  The two main routes, 210 and 211, connect with the other park trails for making easy loop hikes. 

Reach 11 trails are wide and level.

Mostly open to the sun, the trails pass among mesquite patches, desert hackberry shrubs and sections where runoff from the canal dike fosters lush greenery that attracts wildlife. 

Purple scorpionweed grows among invasive stinknet

In spring, the open fields rage with wildflower color. Mexican gold poppies, scorpionweed, fiddleneck, plantains, globemallow, bladderpod, brittlebush and popcorn flowers battle to maintain ground in the stinknet stronghold. The tiny gold balls appear to be winning.

A wash crosses the W211 trail

Tenacious globemallow survives the stinknet invasion

Still, the park offers a great way to get in a leg stretch or long day hike without leaving Phoenix city limits.

Desert plantain holds its territory

Easy access and big views of surrounding mountains and the infrastructure that carries power and water to the Metro Phoenix area make this swath of desert trails a convenient stop off for exercise and relaxation.

Stinknet encroaches upon bladderpod

As with all infestations—termites, rats, weeds, lice—getting rid of Globe chamomile now that a wet spring has helped it up its game, can be interminable or futile. Save for some miracle solution (I’m betting on a fungus), we may be  seeing yellow for some time.

Delicate popcorn flower struggles among the stinknet

LENGTH: 18 miles of trails

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 1,470 – 1,551 feet

GETTING THERE:

There are several access points. This trip uses the Tatum Blvd. west entrance.

From Loop 101, take the Tatum Blvd. exit and go 1 mile south to the Reach 11/Horse Lovers Park entrance on the right.  There are no fees or facilities at this trailhead.

INFO & MAPS:

City of Phoenix

https://www.phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/reach-11