A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 15, 2007
3. Watersheds
Invasive plants have met their match; Conservation District has money to remove non-natives along Mojave River
Victorville Daily Press – 8/14/07
By Hilary Borrud, staff writer
The invasive, non-native plants along the
Salt cedar, Russian-olive and arundo, or “giant reed,” also displace native plants and habitat for wildlife, and suck up more water than many native species.
Funding to remove these invasive plants has been scarce, and the programs to remove them have been relatively small-scale efforts.
That is, until now.
The Mojave Desert Resource Conservation District will soon launch an ambitious program to remove salt cedar, Russian-olive and arundo along the
The project has a budget of about $440,000 for the next year, and the Mojave Water Agency, which is administering state funds for the project, anticipates spending more than half a million dollars on the project in the next three to five years.
This will be a combination of $250,000 from Proposition 50, the 2002 Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act; $250,000 of the water agency’s own funds; and an undetermined amount from the Biological Trust Fund.
The Mojave Water Agency Board of Directors voted Monday to approve a memorandum of understanding designating the conservation district as the project contractor.
Now that funding is in place, staff at the Mojave Desert Resource Conservation District said the cooperation from private landowners will be crucial to the project’s success. Seventy-five percent of the project area, including some portions of the riverbed, is on private property, said Kirsten Johnson, a GIS specialist with the district.
The district will be holding public meetings to explain the project to landowners, whom the district hopes will allow them to remove the invasive plants.
Rick Aguayo, the district conservationist, said federal funds are available to replace the problem plants with natives through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Information on the program will be available at the public meetings, Aguayo said.
All three species displace native plants and clog the river, but salt cedar holds a particularly nasty reputation. A woody plant that ranges in size from a bush to a tree, it has salty crystals on the tips of its gray-green branches. These drop from the plants into the topsoil, and can ultimately get into the groundwater.
To survive in the desert, tamarisk sends roots deep into the water table and pumps out large amounts of water.
The conservation district will begin removing the three invasive species by cutting them out and spraying herbicide as early as October, and wrap up by February 2008. The removal sites will have to be monitored for regrowth and possibly treated multiple times.
“This whole project was really borne out of the development of our integrated regional water management plan,” said Kirby Brill, general manager of the Mojave Water Agency. The agency is working with the California Department of Fish and Game to preserve habitat along the river, under a management plan that was part of a 1996 court judgment.
In five years, Brill said he expects the project to reach as far as
Beverly Lowry, treasurer for the board of directors, said the eradication of salt cedar, Russian-olive and arundo is important because it will save water, in addition to reducing fire and flood danger.
“I can’t say how many years I’ve wanted this project,” she said.
Removing the invasive species could also help native plants return to areas along the river where they have been crowded out.
Riparian habitat — the vegetation along rivers — is rare throughout
Landowner meetings
Monday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. at
Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. at Oro Grande Elementary,
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/water_2328___article.html/project_plants.html
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