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NEWS
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Santa Rosa Island
Weed Control
A small crew of 6 people including National Park Service, Agricultural
Commissioner, Channels Islands Restoration staff and 3 volunteers conducted a
seek and destroy trip to Santa Rosa Island against 3 highly rated noxious
weeds. We found and treated over 40 plants of an “A” rated noxious weed -
yellowspine thistle, Cirsium
ochrocentrum. Yellowspine thistle is a particularly vicious
thistle that is rare in California. In Santa 
Barbara County it only occurs on Santa Rosa Island.
We treated what we found with glyphosate.
We also treated 2 other noxious weeds that are rare in Santa Barbara County –
Cardaria draba sometimes known as
perennial pepperweed and Solanum
eleagnifolium also known as white horsenettle. Both of these
weeds are “B” rated noxious weeds. Hopefully, we’ve slowed the spread of
these weeds. More information about these weeds can be found on the CDFA’s
Encycloweedia: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/ipc/weedinfo/winfo_table-sciname.htm
Arundo Seed Viability Research
Project
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the University of California,
Santa Barbara, and the Ventura County Arundo Task Force are seeking
collaborators to assist in collecting arundo seed for research on its viability.
It is generally assumed that arundo does not spread by seed in the United
States. A recent study has shown that sampled arundo seed from
If you would like to help in this study, contact Casey Burns at (805) 386-4489
x105, Casey.Burns@ca.usda.gov
California Invasive Weeds Awareness
Week
Last week, July 18th – 24th, was California Invasive Weeds
Awareness Week. (My apologies for the late reminder, esp. to Andrea and
Darlene) You are encouraged to get the word out that great invasive weed
work is happening locally and around the state.
You can help out by volunteering to control weeds
at local weed pulls and attending invasive weed awareness activities being
conducted at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh by Andrea. Contact her at
805-684-8077. Weed pulls are also conducted at Coal Oil Point and Arroyo
Hondo Preserve. Contact Darlene at 805-692-2008. These volunteer
activities are ongoing. Contact Andrea or Darlene to volunteer. A
list of volunteer activities related to the environment and weeds are available
at: http://www.countyofsb.org/agcomm/wma/volunteers.htm.
In Santa Barbara County, five different educational programs on invasive weeds -
arundo, brooms, pampas grass, yellow starthistle, and plant invaders - will be
shown on the county's government access TV channel 20, during July in
acknowledgement of California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week. Take advantage of
this opportunity to learn more about some of the invasive weed problems, and how
to control the weeds, that occur in California. The schedule is posted at
http://www.gscares.com/GATV/programSchedule.asp. (Unfortunately I've found that this
schedule is not exactly accurate. Only one of the videos is listed, yet I've
seen the arundo video at an unlisted time.)
In addition, ideas to increase outreach and educational efforts have been posted
on the California Invasive Plant Council website at www.cal-ipc.org.
Volunteer for the Santa Cruz Island
Weed Control Project
The SBCWMA is pleased to announce two
volunteer trips to Santa Cruz Island in August and September: Friday August 19
to Monday August 22 and Friday September 16 to Monday September 19.
Volunteers stay at the UC Island Reserve. Participants get to visit
a gorgeous nature reserve while working to protect rare plant and animal
species.
For more information about the project and
volunteering visit http://www.channelislandsrestoration.com/sci
.
To volunteer
contact Ken Owen, 805-448-5726, islands@rain.org.
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Educational
Events
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SBCWMA 2005 Noxious Weeds
Seminar
Registrations are now being accepted for the Santa Barbara County Weed
Management Area’s 2005 Noxious Weeds Seminar. The theme of this year’s
seminar is “Riparian Weeds Management”. Come listen to Jason Giessow talk
on arundo biology and control, learn interesting facts about cape ivy from Mona
Robison, learn the latest about biological control of riparian weeds from
two of the top researchers – Joe Balciunas and Tom Dudley, and learn how to
restore habitat from Maureen Spencer and Tom Lockhart.
The seminar will be held on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at the Royal
Scandinavian Inn in Solvang. For more information and the registration
form visit: http://www.countyofsb.org/agcomm/wma/WMASeminar.htm
Grant Writing
Seminar
The Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office, in
partnership with Grant Writing USA, will present a two-day grant writing
workshop in Santa Barbara, August 25-26, 2005. All government and nonprofit
professionals are welcome to attend.
Grant Writing USA delivers
nationwide training programs and workshops that dramatically enhance performance
in the areas of grant writing, national foundation and government grant maker
research and relations, program planning, and personal and organizational
excellence.
Those of us who write grants may want to
take advantage of this professional workshop being conducted in the local area.
For more information visit http://www.grantwritingusa.com/events/sbca0805.html.
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Grants
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California River Parkways
Program
For those of you who may be interested in applying for financial assistance
under the California River Parkways Program, the State Resources Agency has now
published its final guidelines and application for the program this
year. The deadline for applications is October 18, and approximately
$40.5 million will be available in this round. The grant guidelines
and application are available on the Resource Agency’s website at
http://resources.ca.gov/bonds_prop50riverparkway.html.
Coastal Resources Enhancement
Fund
Applications are now being accepted for the Coastal Resources Enhancement
Fund. Santa Barbara County is seeking proposals that enhance
environmentally sensitive coastal resources, coastal aesthetics, coastal tourism
and coastal recreation. Proposals must be received by September 12,
2005. For more information, visit http://www.countyofsb.org/energy/CREF/CREF.asp
National Parks Ecological Research
Fellowship Program
The National Park Service, National Park Foundation, and Ecological Society of
America have announced their 2005 National Parks Ecological Research Fellowship
Program. The program encourages and supports outstanding post-doctoral research
in ecological sciences related to the flora of U.S. National Parks. The
program will award up to three fellowships each year to researchers who have
recently completed their Ph.D.
Additional information and application materials are available at
http://www.esa.org/nper. Completed applications must be received
at ESA Headquarters between September 1, 2005 and October 1, 2005. For more
information on the NPER Fellowship Program, contact: NPER Program Manager,
Ecological Society of America, 202-833-8773 or nper@esa.org
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Job Opening
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Oak Tree Specialist Job
Opening
(While not related to weeds, this is a natural resource position that I thought
some of you might find interesting. Remember that CalWeedJobs, a website
of postings for environmentally related job openings, is available at
http://lists.topica.com/lists/calweedjobs. )
Santa Barbara County is seeking an experienced professional with excellent
people skills and a background in agriculture, forestry, natural resource
management, environmental science or a related field to help us protect our
area’s oak trees while respecting the property rights of landowners. The
position is based in the Agricultural Commissioner's Office in Santa Maria, with
County-wide responsibilities that will require travel between various County
offices.
The primary role of this highly visible position is to provide administrative
oversight of the County’s Oak Tree Protection and Regeneration Program. The
successful candidate will work with landowners and other interested parties
regarding the self-regulatory elements of the County’s Oak Tree Ordinance and
provide community outreach and technical assistance to aid in the conservation,
replanting, and regeneration of valley oaks and blue
oaks.
Submit applications by August 19, 2005. For more information, visit:
http://www.jobaps.com/sbc/sup/B05-0348-01.asp?RecruitNum1=05&RecruitNum2=0348&RecruitNum3=01
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Sincerely,
David
Chang
Agricultural Commissioner's Office
County
of Santa Barbara
(805)
681-5600
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P.S. Many of you will be seeing the links inserted
in this text in reduced font. I did this to make the text fit. I
hope that most of you can just click or copy the link to use it.
Otherwise, contact me if you need me to provide you with the
link.