PEAK TO PEAK - The vault toilets at the Moffat Tunnel trailhead are being neglected and trail crews aren’t fixing washed out trails—both due to sharp reductions in National Forest Service personnel. But there is one group that keeps showing up to do what they can to help keep the James Peak Wilderness pristine.

Forty-two volunteers from Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) turned out again on July 25, 2025, to continue a 21-year effort to keep Oxeye Daisy plants from taking over the wilderness and crowding out native wildflowers.

They were aided on the day by Gilpin County CSU Extension Agent Jennifer Cook and some Forest Service rangers.

Oxeye Daisy is classified by the Colorado Weed Management Association as a List B noxious weed whose continued spread should be stopped.

It is an aggressive invasive species that can spread by root or seed and takes over meadows, forests and riparian areas, displacing native plants and reducing food sources for wild animals.

The proven method for dealing with Oxeye Daisies is to dig them up with a dandelion digger, separate the head from the stem, and safely dispose of the heads to keep the seeds from spreading.

Each head can contain up to 200 seeds. The uprooted stems are left on the ground to decompose.

Cook said that the volunteers collected two large black trash bags of flower heads, which represented possibly thousands of Oxeye Daisy heads and hundreds of thousands of seeds.

VOC Project Team Leader Jim Jacobson returned for another year to lead the exercise and provide breakfast pastries, water, lunch, and first aid to the volunteers.

Small groups took on meadows and sides of the trail, contributing over 100 volunteer hours.

The results over this twenty-year span have been significant. The first meadow after the trailhead sign was a sea of white twenty years ago. This year, the meadow was cleared of Oxeye Daisies in minutes and there was a robust collection of native wildflowers growing in the area.

Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (voc.org/; 303-715-1010) hosts a variety of projects for people who want to volunteer to serve and protect the Colorado outdoors. The activities are rewarding and the participants are all like-minded.

There is a sign-up calendar for future projects on their website. Activities range from trail building and wildfire mitigation to habitat restoration and urban greening.

For more information on controlling noxious plants in Gilpin County, contact Jennifer Cook (303-582-9106;  Jennifer.Cook@colostate.edu) or visit their website, gilpin.extension.colostate.edu/programs/natu/noxious-weeds. Scroll down for the Oxeye Daisy link.

Oxeye Daisy is still commonly sold in wildflower seed mixes so avoid any mixes that include leucanthemum vulgare.

Correction

In the July 31, 2025, issue of The Mountain-Ear the article “21st annual Oxeye Daisy pull at Moffat Trailhead” had an incorrect statement about noxious weeds. It should show that the Oxeye Daisy is classified by the Colorado Department of Agriculture as a List B noxious weed whose continued spread should be stopped. We apologize for the error.