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County plans herbicide treatment on giant reeds along 208 acres of Matilija Creek, Ventura River
Weed invasion
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Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff "It always finds a way to come back," Mary Meyer, an environmental scientist for the state Department of Fish and Game, says of Arundo donax, which can grow 30 feet tall.
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For years, botanist Mary Meyer has waged a losing war with one of the few plants she loathes.
The giant reed Arundo donax refuses to die despite Meyer's varied methods of attempted plantocide. Hacking and slashing, poisoning and starving, burning and even smothering.
"It always finds a way to come back," said Meyer, an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game who lives in a house at the edge of Matilija Creek.
"It's a seriously bad plant that consumes significant amounts of water, spreads incredibly fast, often from just pieces of stem that have broken off and washed to a new spot. Every bit of it can reshoot," she said. "I have new plants emerging from a boulder that were under there for two years with no sun or air."
Come September, Meyer will get major reinforcements in her backyard battle with the bamboolike plant that has infiltrated rivers and creeks throughout Ventura County and Southern California. Using a $5 million state grant, the Ventura County Watershed Protection District will launch a giant reed control project targeting 208 acres of weed-infested floodplain along the Matilija Creek and Ventura River.
Other invasive species, including tamarisk, the yellow-flowering Scotch broom, Peruvian pepper trees and castor bean, will also be eradicated.
Herbicide will be used because it is the most effective way to kill off the aggressive, invasive plants, said Pam Lindsey, a district biologist assigned to the project. That decision was based in part on preliminary data from a study begun in 2004 that evaluated arundo removal methods within 16 acres along the Ventura River.
Project planners have decided an herbicide called glyphosate, which breaks down quickly and is approved for use in water, will be used to kill arundo and other invasive plants, said Dennis Kanthack, restoration coordinator with the district. Glyphosate, which is sold under brand names Roundup and Aquamaster, blocks the plant's ability to grow by disrupting protein production.
Strict criteria set
The decision to use herbicide so far appears to have wide support. Several local environmental advocacy groups helped federal and local agencies develop the plan.
"Arundo has done real damage to the native ecosystem in the Ventura River watershed," said Paul Jenkins of the Surfrider Foundation, which advocates beach preservation. "As long as they're doing it right and carefully, using herbicide should be very safe. We recognize the long-term benefits of this eradication project."
With wildlife and residents in mind, planners set strict criteria for spraying areas.
Spraying will be done only on plants 200 feet away from structures and more than 15 feet from the waterways, Lindsey said. Plants within those boundaries will be slashed one to two feet above the water line and daubed with a sponge loaded with concentrated herbicide. After several weeks, when the herbicide has killed the cane's deep thick roots, the dead stalks will be removed.
A monitoring program will be in place to ensure herbicide is not getting in the water and flowing downstream.
"We're being very cautious and conservative with the application of herbicide," Lindsey said. "We have people who live up there and are actually using the creek water for drinking and water supply. We also have several endangered species to consider like red-legged frogs and steelhead trout."
Foliar spraying will begin in September and last for about six months, outside bird breeding season, Lindsey said.
Repeat treatments will be necessary in about 20 percent of the project area, which includes 1,274 acres from the Highway 150-Baldwin Road bridge northward to 2,000 feet upstream of the Matilija Creek falls, Lindsey said.
"Starting in the upper watershed is critical to remove the sources of infestation because arundo spreads by traveling downstream," said Anna Huber with Wildscape Restoration in Ventura, a consultant on the project.
The $5 million grant expires in August 2008, meaning the work must be completed by that date, said Tom Lagier, the district's project manager. The project will go out to bid in July, and crews should start work in September.
Public outreach and education is a critical component, Lindsey said. Residents will be asked to help monitor the area for any sign of returning arundo.
Last month, the county surveyed the properties of 72 residents living in the canyon along the creek and river. Of those, 24 had arundo or other invasive species on their land.
County has several options
This week, the county sent letters requesting permission to go onto those infested properties. If owners don't agree to the herbicide method, the county has several options. Crews could chop the reed down and cover it with tarp for several years, a less effective and more costly alternative. Or the county could seek temporary rights to come on to the property and treat the arundo with herbicide.
The latter will be considered only if the alternatives are not feasible, said Keith Filegar, a real-property agent with the county Public Works Agency. So far, no letters or calls protesting the project have been received by county agencies or supervisors.
"Temporary condemnation is the extreme, our first step is education and persuasion, but we can't leave pockets of this stuff because it comes back in a big way, and we would just be throwing money away," Filegar said.
"Ultimately, it will be a decision for the Board of Supervisors if people object."
Supervisor Steve Bennett agrees.
"The advantages of this project far outweigh the disadvantages," Bennett said. "There may be alternatives like chopping by hand, but we can't do that if it's 12 miles. If we don't get it all out, it will endanger the whole project."
Arundo, he said, is a bigger threat to people living in the canyon than a mild herbicide carefully applied.
Part of dam removal
Arundo is an extreme fire hazard, able to ignite and explode even while green. The cane grows back even more densely after fire.
When the river and creek have high flows, thick patches of the giant reed are carried downstream, where they damage bridges and culverts, litter the beach, and recolonize in spots along the way. Thick stands also change the flow of water, exacerbating bank erosion.
The project is part of the larger Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration that will remove the 60-year-old dam and replenish the habitat of native plants and animals in the watershed. The dam's removal will also allow sediment to flow once more to the Ventura beach, which has eroded since the structure was built.
The bulk of the money for the dam removal project is federal. Last week, the Senate passed a bill authorizing spending $144.5 million for the dam removal and restoration of the Ventura River.
A similar project to remove arundo from the bottom portion of the watershed from Highway 150 to the river mouth will come next, sometime in the next few years.
Of all the invasive plants, arundo is the largest threat to Southern California's vanishing riparian, or riverbank, ecosystems, scientists say.
In the picturesque Matilija Canyon, this foreign invader has launched a form of biological imperialism, ousting native plants to establish its own colony.
Now, miles of fields of the reed choke Matilija creek and the Ventura River, sucking up massive amounts of water to fuel its rapid growth, as much as three inches a day under the best of conditions. The plant often grows as tall as 30 feet.
"It looks like grass on steroids," Meyer said.
The reed grows four times as fast as native plants, quickly forming dense thickets that crowd out native vegetation. Birds can't nest in the stalks, and animals and insects can't eat it.
"There's absolutely no use for this plant, unless you count making reeds for wind instruments," Meyer said. "But there's not enough oboists or clarinetists in this world to justify this much arundo."
Arundo donax facts
- Introduced in California in 1820 as building material.
- Can be traced back 5,000 years as the material used to make the most primitive pipe organ, the Pan pipe or syrinx. Now used to make reeds for woodwind musical instruments.
- Uses massive amounts of water to fuel extraordinary rate of growth. Under optimal conditions, arundo grows more than three inches per day.
- Unlike other plants that photosynthesize only through leaves, arundo's entire stalk can transform light into energy.
- Considered native plant of Mediterranean countries, but origin is most likely India.
Also known as: Giant reed.
Description: A tall, perennial grass that grows from 6 to nearly 30 feet tall. It is considered a weed and grows and spreads rapidly.
Habitat: A native of the Mediterranean area, it is found in damp places near water, such as ditches or rivers, in most of the southwestern U.S.
Problem: It can quickly crowd out other plants and can drastically reduce the water flow in a small stream or irrigation ditch.
Solutions: Weeds can be manually pulled, dabbed with herbicides or burned. Some landowners have even used goats to eat the weeds.
Source: The Nature Conservancy
Project details
The project site includes Matilija Creek and a portion of the Ventura River.
The treatment efforts will be focused on 208 acres.
The project will also control other nonnative species such as Scotch broom, tamarisk, Peruvian pepper trees, and castor bean.
The project area extends from the Highway 150-Baldwin Road bridge northward to 2,000 feet upstream of the Matilija Creek falls.
Two methods will be utilized to remove and control giant reed.
- Foliar spray*: Herbicide is carefully sprayed directly onto the foliage of the target plants.
- Cut and daub*: Plant material is cut with hand-held equipment. Herbicide is then carefully painted or daubed onto cut stems.
*All herbicides used in locations near water are approved for use in aquatic environments. No herbicides will be sprayed in or over areas of water.
Posted by CarpCoyote on May 20, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Poor Mary Meyer of the Fish and Game Dept..her hatred of arundo has pushed her off the deep end. "I MUST KILL BAMBOO!' she mutters like a zombie from the "native-only" cult. So what else is new? These folks have been following a religion called "bionativism" which is based more on fear than science. If control of arundo is important to them, there should be a scheduled creek and river maintenance program instead of mass poisoning and hysteria. Use conservation corps, youth in jail, etc, a few times a year to keep the river beds clear.
The wild should be left as is, with very little interference by man. That means groups like Surfrider and other environmentalist alarmists should BUTT OUT! There are many species that use all plants, whether someone labels them native or non-native.
Music to my Ears
Arundo donax, is commonly known as Giant Reed or Spanish Cane. Originating on the Indian subcontinent, its native range extends from the marshes of Eastern Europe to Indo-China and it is now found in most temperate and tropical climates throughout the world. It has traditionally been selected as the plant of choice for manufacturing mouthpiece reeds for woodwind musical instruments like oboes, clarinets, and saxophones.
Posted by carexpritch on May 20, 2007 at 9:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why does the Star continually misspell the non-plural name of Paul JENKIN ??
As for the comment above by CarpCoyote, he also must like c---roaches and rats infesting his home as well, and believes anyone wanting to exterminate those pests is just another Bionativist Zombie.
Reeds for woodwind music instruments are grown commercially in plantations in France, where the arundo is kept in highly contained plots with deep moats around them to prevent this weed from spreading. The only reason to keep the wild and invasive arundo around for woodwind reeds is if every person on Earth had a garage full of clarinets and 1000 cases of reeds as a supply.
Next time (i.e., next week) anyone along Ventura River wonders why they think they have a water shortage, they can look to all the arundo upstream that is transpiring (i.e., sucking) dry the water from the gravelly Matilija Creek canyon.
The arundo also makes pretty lights when it is dry in the summer and burns up all the native trees and everything else within 500 ft. from the arundo patch. Did CarpCoyote forget to add that bonus value for arundo in Ventura County too?
Posted by CarpCoyote on May 20, 2007 at 10:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What next? Evil arundo coming to eat your children? Watch out for that killer purple thistle! More native-only nonsense from carexpritch.. the same elitism they are using to "restore" the Channel Islands! look for the bywords folks.."smothers, invades, exotic, chokes, sucks water, alien, crowds out natives,devastating, etc".. and you get the picture. Rational science based control is the way to go..not fear mongering...
Posted by star on May 20, 2007 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Rational science based control is the way to go..not fear mongering..."
This from the goofball who thinks you can send a handful of delinquent teenagers out "a few times a year" to clear 200 acres of 30' tall woody reeds.
Go spend 5 hours hacking away, Carp, and 3 hours hauling it out, and then come back and tell us how much progress you made. Better yet, just go pull some weeds in your front yard, so it doesn't look so junky. Obviously, your yard is thick with dandelions, spurge, burr clover, oxalis, and devilgrass.
Look at the terrible mess the arundo made on our beaches after that big storm, how much was spent cleaning it up, and how much of it is still there. It's a manmade problem. It's absurd to say we should now "BUTT OUT!"
Posted by CarpCoyote on May 20, 2007 at 4:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Did you even read the article, Star? Our brainy “botanist” Mary Meyer spent years “hacking, burning, poisoning and smothering” her hated bamboo nemesis. And yet, it always grew back stronger..I wonder why..duh!
To control it you need PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE! Arundo doesn’t know that you hate it and despite your nutty efforts to "cleanse" the creeks, it will continue to grow! You will run out of time and money before you get rid of it. And you better not be using my tax dollars! Maybe you can focus your talents on stopping wind dispersal of seeds! Build a fence at the borders..make sure it’s real high!
Of course I have dandelions in my yard..and fennel.. I love ‘em!
Instead of killing plants and poisoning the watershed, why don’t you and your native pals go pick up some litter..a real man made scourge….
Posted by ed.fitzhenry on May 21, 2007 at 7:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Goats would do a great job with minimal cost, and the only by-product would be some poop. Spraying herbicide is STUPIDITY! Poison always has an effect, and this one will be no different. How about using AGENT ORANGE? What about NAPALM?
Arundo is a nuisance, but doesn't warrant poisoning the entire watershed. The bottom line is not the issue here! Hey, Steve Bennet and Kieth Filegar, this whole project is a waste of money, and it's going to kill a whole lot more species than just Arundo! How can the architects of this nonsense be so stupid? Hopefully the guy who stole all that fertilizer from the valley won't dump it upstream. And I hope that this stupid program won't be cutting and spraying the Peruvian Pepper Trees that encircle the Ventura County Gov't Center.
GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATSGOATS!GOATS!GOATS!!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!GOATS!
Posted by Ventura22 on May 21, 2007 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've used roundup on this stuff(smaller scale, of course) with success. I like the goat idea, but wouldn't they eat the good plants as well? What about the waste they would produce? We sure don't need any more fecal type of contamination near our streams.
Sounds more and more like the only effective way to control this stuff is constant maintenance and clearing. Couldn't we help reintroduce some other native species along the creek that would help choke-out this bamboo stuff? The genie got out of the bottle many years ago in this case and it's become more or less of a native species itself.
Posted by JepsonVash on May 21, 2007 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, silly coyote. He (she?) is a trickster and is purposefully spreading disinformation to further his advantage. You see, Coyote is pretty much the only animal who can survive in Arundo, and he would like to see it spread across the mountains.
Coyote would like to frolic highways 101 and 150 after the bridge washes out. Arundo has a tendency to get stuck under bridges and break them.
Coyote likes fires because he likes eating roasted deer. He also likes when fires burn down houses. Coyote likes running around in the remails of human cities. He knows cottonwoods don't burn but Arundo does.
Coyote wants to see Lake Casitas run dry, because he thinks he can catch the fish in there as it dries up. Since Arundo uses so much water, it will suck the creek dry. It is already happening - this year NO water was diverted to Lake Casitas due to the drought, but also due in part to Arundo. He knows where the secret springs are and he will not go thirsty or have to leave like we will.
Coyote doesn't care if mudslides happen due to fires and noxious weeds that don't hold the soil well. Coyote doesn't build his den near unstable slopes like people do.
Coyote knows that lots of hippies live in Ojai and are afraid of herbicides. Herbicides are gross, let's face it. However, the amount of herbicide used for this stuff is tiny. Coyote has sat on the edge of farm fields in the Ojai Valley and watched farmers dump hundreds of gallons of pesticides on the field, more pesticide in an acre in a month than the entire arundo project would use. He knows why the river is poisoned. He is hoping that when Arundo dries up the creeks, the farmers will have to leave. After that, he can run around in the star thistle where the farmer's field used to be.
Coyote is not worried about taxpayer money, or he wouldn't suggest 'manual removal', because it costs about 10 times as much as using herbicide.
But Coyote doesn't pay taxes. What does he care?
Coyote can't read (dont ask me how he types though) so he hasn't read any of the hundreds of scientific papers addressing Arundo and other noxious weeds. He can't swim to the islands so he hasn't seen what the wild pigs were doing to the islands. And what does he care, anyway? Pigs are tasty.
I dunno, part of me is partial to Coyote's view. But the truth is, he is latching on to an obsolete view of the land. People have managed this land for 13,000 years. The idea of 'leave the land alone and nature will take its course' is silly. Intelligent management of our river areas, such as removing Arundo, will benefit the river, not ruin it. Also, the 'native plant cult' is a myth, i think. If not, how do i join? It sounds fun. But seriously, 95% of non-native plants are harmless or even beneficial to humans and the environment. It just so happens that a handful of plants get 'loose' and screw everything up. They are a form of pollution and should be removed.
Posted by ferd on May 21, 2007 at 8:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey carpcoyote:
1. No natural enemies of Arundo exist here (go look at a patch for yourself- not a leaf is eaten, yellow, mildewed, or anything).
2. No native plants can outcompete it, due to above.
3. It does use tremendous amounts of water, which results in less above ground flow, and therefore drying up of streams.
4. The above, in turn, leads to less riparian diversity.
5. I am not a professional biologist, and have nothing to gain by saying the above.
6. You should take (and pass) a real ecology course at the college level before you make assertions about this.
Posted by JepsonVash on May 21, 2007 at 8:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A few other points
-Goats work great on a lot of weeds and might work on the Arundo after you cut it.. but they won't eat the mature stalks. Also, Coyote will eat them if you arent careful
-There are natural enemies of Arundo in other parts of the world. There are studies taking place to determine if they could potentially be released here. However, anything that is not extremely species specific will just end up eating something else. Biocontrol is risky and really a last resort.
Posted by Kodak39 on May 21, 2007 at 8:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So I guess it would be OK with Carpcoyote to have Arundo, thistle, dandelions, fennel, hemlock, peppertrees, Eucalyptus, Tamarisk etc. as the only habitat in our watershed? I'm sure all animals, native or not, would do really well in a monoculture of weeds. Monocultures already exists in many of our waterways. Oh, and I'm sure you have some sort of expertise in this area...NOT! Maybe you should start a one-man organization, you could call it NETI-Nutcases for the Ethical Treatment of Invasives. Only by an intial removal (yes, smother, choke, etc) and then maintenence can anyone get a "handle" on this water guzzling plant. DUH! Don't you get it, IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!
Posted by JepsonVash on May 22, 2007 at 12:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Also, for those of you worried about herbicide use, you might look less at noxious weed removal programs and more closely at your strawberries instead:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news...
Posted by CarpCoyote on May 22, 2007 at 7:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"So I guess it would be OK with Carpcoyote to have Arundo, thistle, dandelions, fennel, hemlock, peppertrees, Eucalyptus, Tamarisk etc. as the only habitat in our watershed?"
Poor things..you've been brainwashed by the university-cloned "biologists"! Here's an assignment (but don't tell your teachers!) go online and try to find the benefits of thistle, dandelions and fennel..the benefits are countless..pinch fennel for a sensory introduction to sweet licorice summer, BEES like it,too..or purple thistle..finches use the innards for nests..that's a good enough reason to keep it!!
Actually, I've been studying this pseudo-science whereby folks try to rid the countryside of plants they don't like. I am convinced that instead of a bonafide science, it is in reality a new mental disorder..I will call it Idle Minds Disorder or IMD.... IDLE means I...Don't...Like...Evolution!
and the reason the Ventura River is dry is because IT HASN'T RAINED!!
Posted by C2ShiningC on May 26, 2007 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Coyote, I appreciate your contrarian stance. It forces us to become more knowledgeable about the subject! In many parts of the world, arundo donax is seen as a nuisance weed growing in critical watersheds. Each acre evaporates about 2 million gallons of precious water a year. Even when there is no surface flow, it still sucks up any remaining moisture in the riverbed. The herbicide they are going to use is not anyways near on the toxic scale of contact herbicides such as Paraquat. Do you have a link to any credible study indicating toxicity problems with gyphosate?
Bottom line, they have tried ignoring it as you suggest. It has only become worse. Now they want to try to do something about it. I say, let them take a shot at getting rid of it.
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