How to Limit Your Families Exposure To Poison-Oak - Toxicodendron diversilobum
Poison-oak is a Big Problem
Poison-oak is abundant throughout the Pacific Coast and is likely found in oak, Douglas fir, redwood forests, and commonly growing with blackberries. It is a beautiful plant that unfortunately can give 80% of the population a very good reason to become experts on identifying this plant. In the early days of me running camps on occasion I would have staff need to take time off for poison-oak, have had campers not return a 2nd or 3rd week because of the rash, and have had the parents of the kids develop the rash from contact from their kids clothing. California Conservation Corps and California Dept. of Forestry estimate that 10% of the total lost time is due to poison-oak. The monetary cost to the state of California is approximately one percent of the state's workers' compensation budget.
From Wildland Firefighting Magazine
“Poison-oak grows as a dense leafy shrub in the open or in filtered sun. In shaded areas it becomes a tall-climbing vine. Leaflets are blunt-tipped in groups of three, from ½ inch to 4 inches long, with scalloped, toothed, or lobed edges. The center leaf of the cluster resembles an oak leaf. Western poison-oak grows along the Pacific Coast from New Mexico to Canada. Eastern poison-oak ranges from New Jersey to Florida and from central Texas to Kansas. Smoke from burning plants carries irritating oleoresin and can cause serious reactions”
How to Identify Poison-Oak
As I am writing this articles it is a winter weekend, but we are having a few days of warm sun after some weeks of cold and rain. Yesterday I was driving by one of my favorite spots to harvest willow for student to make baskets; with a big basket in hand a women in her mid twenties, wearing a sleeveless summer dress looked like she should have been shopping at Nordstom. With her bare arms and legs she was reaching in to the leafless bush, clipping, and gathering only the longest thinnest twigs. I pulled over.
Brian "Good morning."
Young Lady "Good morning, it’s a beautiful day."
Brian "It is. I was just curious what you were doing."
Young Lady "I am a first year 6th grade teacher; want to try making baskets with the kids. I was told it was OK to collect here."
Brian "It is OK, where are you from?
San Francisco, but grew up in Orange and graduated from CSU Fullerton"
Brian "Cool, You ever make baskets before?"
Young Lady, "Yes, in class, is there a problem"
Brian "No, have you done much hiking in our open space?
Young Lady "Not really, why"
Brian "You might want to harvest the willow over there and not the poison-oak"
Young Lady sheepishly "poison-oak?
Brian Pointing down to the few little leaves "Leaves in three leave it be"
I gave her my card, a lesson in poison-oak identification, and let her wash up with Tecnu and left after doing my good deed.
She is just uninformed. The first thing I do with new people is point out what poison-oak looks like on that day in our forest and as I see changes in the seasons I point out to our students what the changes look like in poison-oak. A person may know what it looks like in one stage of the year but not in others, or how it grows in their home area but not in the area they are hiking in.
In spring in the coldest places of the north coast the leaf bud may not have opened and it may just be a patch of nondescript upright straight smooth stems where the deer feed on it each year keeping it no taller than a foot or two. It may be leafless twigs coming out of the bark of an oak or redwood tree. In warmer areas the leaves may have broken open already and are a shiny bronze. Later in spring a glossy green. When the summer comes, the leaves change to yellow green to reddish hue, and finally turning bright red or pink during the fall.
It may be a low lying shrub or vine. In old growth forest I have regularly seen its trunk the diameter of my thigh going up a tree disappearing in the bark to reappear above giving the appearance of looking like a poison-oak tree.
What Poison-Oak Does and How to Prevent the Rash
Poison-oak is not an oak but a sumac, and the surface oil of the leaves and twigs that causes the rash is urushiol. Children on their first exposure do not tend to have a sensitivity to poison-oak but with increased contact most will develop sensitivities. Those that are sensitive to poison-oak can get the rash from contact with someone else’s clothing, the upholstery in the car, home, or from the family dog. Keep this in mind when your child runs to give you a hug or climbs into the car after an adventurous day in the forest!
It is advisable that your children have long pants and shirts available for hikes and that the clothing be washed as soon as possible after returning home. I have had many a parent have the kids change before getting into the car. The oil can retain its irritating properties for up to 2 years on tools, clothing, and car seats.
What has been very effective for us has been...
Educate the staff and parents to what poison-oak looks like at all stages
Have experienced campers point out poison-oak and its identifying features
Each outing renew awareness of poison-oak
Encourage all participants to wear long pants and shirts in to areas of poison-oak. Closed toes shoes as well.
When returning from outings have staff and Junior staff model washing hands, neck, and face with Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub or Zanfel™ Poison Ivy Wash at each washing station.
Staff should encourage kids to do the same
Climbing helmets and tools washed each day
Climbing ropes washed each week following industry recommendations.
Truck steering wheels and door latches cleaned with each use.
With stinging nettle you know right away if you have had contact with the plant with pain and welts immediately after contact. Not so with poison-oak the rash usually appears within 24 to 48 hours after contact with the plant. In some cases, though, the rash may not appear for a few days afterward. The worst stage of the rash usually occurs within a week of exposure. Depending on how severe it is, the rash may take 2 or 3 weeks to heal.
The rash from these plants occurs most often on parts of the body where the skin is thinnest, like the wrists, ankles, neck, and face. At first the area may appear reddish, and you may feel a mild stinging or itching. Red bumps then appear, often in streaks or patches where you rubbed against the plant or anything that has come in contact with the oil. Itching can become severe before the bumps turn into blisters. These may ooze a clear, yellowish fluid. The blisters begin to crust over and dry up as the rash subsides.
The rash from poison plants is not "contagious." Only the oil itself can be spread to other parts of the body or to another person. Sometimes, after the rash has developed in one place on your body, it may seem to suddenly appear elsewhere in places that were not exposed to the plant. It is typical for the oils to carry from the hands to other parts of the body throughout the day. This fact leads many people to think that the rash can be spread by scratching or bathing, or by touching another person's rash. This is not true, however. The rash may take days to appear after contact with the plant, and your skin varies in thickness over different parts of your body. This is why all of the affected areas may not show the rash at the same time. In fact, keeping the area of the rash clean with soap and water is a good way to help it heal faster. Neither the blisters themselves nor the fluid they secrete contain urushiol. Touching them will not spread the rash to a new location on either your own body or someone else's, unless urushiol is present on the skin. Still, it is best to avoid touching or scratching the rash.
In Summery
So get some good mentoring on what poison-oak looks like throughout the year, go hiking in our open space and keep an eye out for this beautiful plant. Enjoy it from afar and wash your hands, arms, face, neck, tools, and clothing as soon as you can after being in poison-oak territory and enjoy every outing into the wilderness.
