From: Chang, David
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 5:57 PM
Subject: [SBCWMA News] December 2006
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News
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Cape Ivy Found on Anacapa Island 12/10/06
Sarah Chaney, restoration ecologist for Channel Islands National Park, reports
that Cape ivy (Delairea odorata) was found recently on West Anacapa Island,
where it was previously not known to occur. West Anacapa Island is one of
three islets that make up Anacapa Island in Ventura County. Cape ivy is
not known to occur on any of the other Park islands, with the exception of an
apparently, extirpated small population in the Vail Ranch compound on Santa
Rosa Island.
Access to West Anacapa is tightly restricted for protection of breeding sites
of the California Brown Pelican and other seabirds, and for protection of rare
plants, and has been since the 1960s. The most likely route for
introduction of Cape ivy to West Anacapa is by pelicans or gulls, carrying
plant fragments from the mainland. Almost any fragment of Cape ivy will
root and establish to form a new infestation. Currently, the plant
appears to form very little seed in California, but this situation appears to
be changing rapidly as self-infertile clones become intermixed with other
clones and become fertile seed-producing populations. Seeds are small and
readily wind-dispersed over long distances.
Three occurrences have been located on the island, all on the north side.
The largest is about 0.4 acre, and occupies the bottom and sides of a deep,
steep-sided canyon. The Park Service treated about half this area on
Santa Ynez River Arundo and
Tamarisk Control Project
At the urging of Tim Robinson, senior scientist at the Cachuma Conservation
Release Board, and Bruce Wales, director of the Santa Ynez River Water
Conservation Board, the Santa Barbara County Weed Management Area will be
leading an effort to control Arundo donax and Tamarix spp. on the Santa Ynez River. Arundo and tamarisk
infestation are both believed to be relatively incipient on the Santa Ynez
River especially when compared to the creeks of the South Coast and other
rivers in Southern California. This reason alone is good enough cause to
begin a project now, before the problem becomes more expensive.
The project is starting anew with a meeting scheduled in January 2007 to
discuss the scope of the problem and its next steps. The project already
starts with a budget of $3,300 thanks to in-lieu fees directed to the project
by the local California Department of Fish and Game.
If you are interested in attending the meeting or can help with the project
contact David Chang at dchang@co.santa-barbara.ca.us,
(805) 681-5600.
IRWMP Meetings
The Santa Barbara County Water Agency, along with partnering cities &
special districts will be conducting the 3rd in a series of public
workshops to discuss the preparation of the Countywide Integrated Regional
Water Management Plan (IRWMP).
The workshop will provide a forum to discuss the project evaluation results
based on the draft projects list discussed at the last workshop and go over the
public process for reviewing the draft document when it is ready.
Meetings will be held on Wednesday, January 3, 2007, 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the
Employees’ University at 267 Camino del Remedio, in
Santa Barbara and on Thursday, January 4, 2007, 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Board of
Supervisor’s Conference Room, 4th District, 401 E. Cypress Ave in
Lompoc.
Visit http://www.countyofsb.org/pwd/water/irwmp.htm
or call 805-963-0651 x3522 for more information.
Eighth Annual NIWAW – February 25 to March 2, 2007
The Eighth Annual National Invasive Weeds Awareness Week (NIWAW 8) will be held
in Washington, D.C. the week of February 25 to March 2, 2007 to bring people
and groups from across the country together to focus national attention on the
severe impacts caused by invasive weeds. Individuals and organizations
interested in this issue are invited to participate in this event and help
build on the success of NIWAW activities in previous years. NIWAW 8
events are designed to focus on the important roles the Federal government must
play to help the U.S. deal with invasive weed problems. (See “Educational
Resources” below for information on training for NIWAW.)
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Four Points Hotel, 1201K St. NW,
Washington DC. This is the HQ Hotel for NIWAW8. The contract room
rate is $175 per night, single or double occupancy. State and local taxes
are currently 14.5%. Please ask for the National Invasive Weed Awareness
Week group rate. The room rate is available for the nights of Saturday,
February 24 through Thursday, March 1, inclusive. The hotel telephone
number is 202-289-7600, and the cut-off date is January 25, 2007. The
toll-free Starwood hotel telephone number is 800-325-3535.
For more details visit the NIWAW 8 website http://www.nawma.org/niwaw/niwaw_index.htm
The NIWAW website has a link to weed management success stories that you might
find interesting. http://www.vmanswers.com/content.aspx?pid=1142&id=NIWAW
EPA Issues Final Rule on Aquatic Pesticide Applications 11/21/06
The US EPA issued a final rule clarifying when a Clean Water Act is not
required when pesticides are applied. However, I recall that this
position has been stated before but not applied to our region. I do not
know the status of the situation in Santa Barbara County. Consult with
the Central Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board for their interpretation.
Here is the US EPA’s News Release:
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
News
for Release
Tuesday,
Nov. 21, 2006
EPA Issues Final Rule
on Aquatic Pesticide Applications
(Washington, D.C. -
Nov. 21, 2006) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final
rule clarifying two specific circumstances in which a Clean Water Act permit is
not required before pesticides are applied. The two situations are when:
n
pesticides are
applied directly to water to control pests, including mosquito larvae, aquatic
weeds and other pests in the water
n
pesticides are
applied to control pests that are present over or near water where a portion of
the pesticide will unavoidably be deposited to the water in order to target the
pests effectively
After considering two
rounds of public comments, EPA concluded that the Clean Water Act does not
require permits in these two situations.
"This clean water
rule strengthens and streamlines efforts of public health officials and
communities to control pests and invasive species while maintaining important
environmental safeguards," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water
Benjamin H. Grumbles.
The Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) requires
that pesticides be registered by EPA before they can be sold or
distributed. Before they are registered, they must undergo extensive
study and review to help ensure that, when properly used, they do not cause
unreasonable adverse effects on human health and the environment.
Pesticide labels contain application instructions. Applications of pesticides
that violate the FIFRA labels are subject to enforcement.
The final rule replaces
EPA's Interpretive Statement on the Application of Pesticides to Waters of the
United States in Compliance with FIFRA, published on Feb. 1, 2005.
Final
rule: http://www.epa.gov/npdes/agriculture
FIFRA
and the pesticide program: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/
Contacts:
(Media only) Dale Kemery, (202) 564-4355 / kemery.dale@epa.gov
(All
other inquiries) Virginia Garelick, (202) 564-2316 / garelick.virginia@epa.gov
Enforcement Response Procedure is Codified.
12/4/06
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has responded to criticism of
its regulation of pesticide use by developing a procedure meant to increase
consistent treatment of pesticide rule violations. These processes were
applied by policy by the state’s agricultural commissioners. These
policies are now codified into § 6128 and § 6130 of Title 3, California Code of
Regulations. In summary, this action specifies appropriate enforcement
responses to be taken by the county agricultural commissioner each time a
violation(s) of law or regulation related to pesticide use occurs. Click
here for the online California Code of Regulations.
CDFA Awards 2006 WMA Funding 12/4/06
The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced that 18 counties
have been awarded full or partial funding from the $1.5 million that was
available this year. Santa Barbara County was not one of the counties
awarded funds this year. Steve Schoenig is offering feedback on proposals
that did not make the cut. He emphasized that all the proposals were
great and that the selection committee had a difficult time choosing.
Steve stated that counties that were not funded this year are much more likely
to get funded in next year’s process. Those counties who received awards
this year will not be eligible to apply next year. Amador,
Calaveras/Tuolumne, Colusa/Glenn/Tehama, El Dorado, Fresno/Mariposa/Madera,
Inyo/Mono, Lake Tahoe, Los Angeles, Low Desert, Mendocino, Modoc,
Orange/Riverside, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta
and Siskiyou weed management areas received funding.
New Local Grazing Service Available to Santa Barbara
County 12/6/06
A new weed control service is available in Santa Barbara County. Carlos’s
Grazing Service is offering their sheep and goats to graze areas of high grass,
weeds, and other vegetation to reduce the threat of fire; improve the general
appearance; and provide an aesthetic method of grounds maintenance. This
service is being offered to city, county and state agencies, and the general
public. Grazing is controlled by electrified plastic netting or is free
range under control of an on-duty shepherd and stock dog. Their flock
currently consists of 25 head of Navajo Churro Sheep:
1 ram and 14 adult ewes; 4 lamb ewes, and 6 ram lambs. Two stock dogs, an
Australian Shepherd and Kelpie, assist with herding. They intend to add
Angora goats to their operation to increase the number of weed species grazed.
Carlos’s Grazing Service utilizes a grazing management system that focuses on
intensive grazing management and 6 grazing methods: alternative stocking,
deferred grazing, frontal grazing, intermittent grazing and mixed
grazing. They welcome inquiries from Lompoc landowners with parcels of ¼
acre to 20 acres and from landowners of 1 to 20 acre parcels in Santa Barbara
County. Public property managers needing to create fuel breaks and fuel
load reduction in Santa Barbara County and SLO County are welcome to request
service.
For more information: Raul Carlos, 805-736-5235 or 805-291-2892.
Federal Regulators Ask for Electronic Discussion on
Methods to Predict Invasiveness
This is a reminder that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is still
accepting electronic public discussion on methods that can be used to evaluate
the potential of imported plants to become invasive species if they are
introduced into the United States. Any interested person can participate
in the electronic discussion, which will allow participants to upload files and
interact with other participants and with APHIS staff. The electronic
public discussion will be held from November 27, 2006 to January 26, 2007.
Click here for more
information. Click on the link to the Electronic
Discussion.
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Educational
Resources
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NIWAW Training Available
Getting ready for NIWAW? This year’s
event is taking place FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 2, 2007 and we have some
resources to help you prepare for the event and spread the NIWAW message.
All you need to participate in these interactive online informational
sessions is a telephone and an Internet connection.
Legislative Visit Preparation: Making Your Visit Count. Former staffers and regulatory officials will discuss
the different ways you can get your message across to legislators.
§
10 A.M. PST on Tuesday,
January 16, 2007
Media Relations 101: Growing Community Interest in NIWAW. Media relations professionals will discuss how you can
get the word out about your weed control success to your local media.
§
10 A.M. PST on
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
All courses are free and open to anyone interested in participating.
Contact Sören Erickson with your name and
e-mail address at 612-455-1759 or serickson@psbpr.com to register for the
courses. Space is limited, so sign up early!
National Plant Data Center Creates Online Key to Wetland
Monocots. 11/21/06
There is a new Interactive Key to Wetland Monocots of the US (ca.2400 taxa)
available from PLANTS.
Click here for
details. It is free for use and download and
requires no installation or registration.
The data set was developed cooperatively by the Missouri Botanical Garden and
the USDA NRCS National
Plant Data Center and was compiled from numerous and varied sources by Dr.
David Bogler of the Missouri Botanical Garden (ca.
1.7 million data points). The automated plant key runs in a new version
of SLIKS which is free and
requires no installation. It lets you identify the monocots known to
occur in U.S. wetlands. The species list in this key is derived from the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory National List of
Vascular Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands: 1998 National List. [Not
all wetland monocot species may be found on the key and list. – dc]
This draft plant character data set is for testing purposes only. For further information, click on the "Instructions,
Information, Disclaimers and Policies" link after the application is
loaded.
The version of SLIKS (2.0) used for this particular application was
specifically designed for Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you need to use
another browser, there are other options available at the SLIKS website.
Agreements for completion of datasets for all US grasses, all US legumes, all
US gymnosperms and all US Ericaceae have been made
through various CESUs in the CESU network and
the data sets should be delivered over the next near. First drafts of the
keys for the grasses of Louisiana and Missouri are available now for testing
and evaluation by qualified botanists. Please contact
(gerald.guala@la.usda.gov) for copies. (This news item is nearly verbatim
from an email broadcast to the Ecological Society of America and the Alien
Plants Working Group originated by Gerald Guala.)
New Book on Measuring Plant Diversity 12/18/06
Rapidly invading plant species from other countries are affecting rangeland
conditions and wildlife habitat, forcing more native plants into threatened and
endangered status and changing natural wildfire regimes. Because resident
native diversity can affect the likelihood of invasion by non-native plants, it
is critical that scientists accurately assess the composition of plant
communities over large areas. A newly released book by USGS ecologist Tom Stohlgren, Measuring Plant Diversity: Lessons from the
Field (Oxford University Press, 2006), presents field and analysis methods that
can more accurately describe plant biodiversity and help evaluate vulnerability
to invasion.
For the rest of the article text, see the link above. The book is
available at Oxford
University Press or check with your local or online bookstore.
New Book on Surveying Non-indigenous Plants 12/11/06
"Inventory and Survey Methods for Non-indigenous Plant Species," is a
75-page compilation of techniques written by 20 experts from land management
agencies, conservation groups, and academia. Emphasis is on practical
applications and choosing the most appropriate inventory and survey methods
according to land management objectives. Examples are primarily from the
western U.S., but the concepts are intended to be universal.
Edited by L. Rew and M. Pokorny,
the book is co-published by Montana State Univ. Extension and the Center for
Invasive Plant Management and includes color photos, maps, and diagrams.
Books are available for $20 each, including postage and handling; bulk
discounts are available.
See http://www.weedcenter.org/products_pub/prod_pub_new.html#pub
for more information.
Free Material Available On the Role of Wildfire in the
Spread of Non-native Plants 12/11/06
"The Role of Wildfire in the Establishment and Range Expansion of
Nonnative Plant Species into Natural Areas," a review and synopsis of
current literature, is available for free download from http://www.weedcenter.org/products_pub/prod_pub_new.html#res.
The 80-page review is written by M. Johnson, L. Rew,
B. Maxwell, and S. Sutherland. This is a companion to the previously
published literature review by P. Rice that focused on prescribed burning and
invasive plants, which may also be downloaded.
The above website from the Center for Invasive Plant Management links to a
number of invasive plant educational resources that are useful for learning and
outreach.
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Acknowledgement
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This
newsletter is compiled from various sources, including emails I receive from
people who are involved in the invasive weed field, and from listserves.
I modify the emails, but sometimes they are inserted here nearly
verbatim. I thank those people for this information and for their
devotion to protecting and conserving habitat. If you recognize something
that you wrote and object to its use here or on my website, contact me and I
will promptly remove it from my website.
Happy
Holidays!
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Sincerely,
David Chang
Agricultural Commissioner's
Office
County of Santa Barbara
(805) 681-5600
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