[APWG] 200 Endangered species need their habitats weeded in California

[Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company]

Dear All,

I have put together a web page about our local native grasslands at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/WMA.html and there are photos of Michael Shaw in
his 74 acres that are over 90% native cover, and Mark Vande Pol and his 14
acres of 99.5% weed-free grasslands and woodlands.

This is the first step that we are taking in our area, a very simple and
quick measurement to see what percentage cover we have in our grasslands,
for native grasses, wildflowers and weeds.

If anyone on this list tries my 30 steps in their natural areas listed at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/grass.yes.html, that process should be able to get
a significant increase in native cover in a very short amount of time,
like the 180 days that I am suggesting.  Please me know if you try the 30
steps, and what the results are.

If you are working with annual weeds, like we do out here in California or
in the Great Basin with cheatgrass, the time frame to get solid native
cover could be as short as 60 days or less, like I got with the Riverside
County Stephen’s Krat exsitu test pots between November 1 and December 31,
that you can see the photo of on the 30 Steps web page.

All of the counties from San Diego to San Bernardino are buying up tens of
thousands of acres of grasslands and shrublands to preserve hundreds of
Endangered species, but no successful plans to manage the weeds, or
significant annual budget to manage the weeds have been offered yet.

It is like buying up 1,000,000 old dilapidated homes that all need new
roofs, but you haven't even invented a way to put a new roof on a single
house yet.

Riverside County has formed a Regional Conservation Authority and is
proposing buying 500,000 acres, and San Diego County is taking about
spending $1.2 billion on land acquisitions alone.

So at the end of the day, there might be close to a million acres in
Southern California preserved that are very weed infested right now,
mostly grasslands and shrublands, that are going to need help becoming
weed-free so the 200 or so Endangered species that live in them, can
survive for the future?

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333