[APWG] Billion dollars of grasslands + no management budget or plan

[Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company]

Dear All,

To prepare for my talk on March 20th about performance standards for
grassland weeding and/or restoration, and have discovered that since 1880,
within a 30 mile radius of Stanford University about a billion dollars
worth of native grasslands have been purchased, with the purpose of
preserving them.

The rate of preservation of native grasslands has increased over the last
decade, so that tens of thousands of acres have been purchased, for at
least $200 million dollars.  However, all the money was spent on the
purchase of the land, with no budgets since 1880 to either manage the
weeds or restore the grasslands and wildflower fields so far.

Stanford has spent $5-10 million over the last few years, to study the
interaction of weeds and their native grasses with Federal grants on their
Jasper Ridge preserve, but no work on weed management itself so far.

I cannot find a single agency within the group that hold the billion
dollars worth of grasslands in this area, that have any plans to either
manage the weeds to any degree of performance standard, or to restore any
of their grasslands to any performance standard.

That includes the San Bruno Mtn. HCP, that promised 30 years ago, to be
able to restore grasslands in exchange for a permit to kill the Endangered
butterflies that live there, and build houses.

Buying native grasslands to preserve, especially on the scale of a billion
dollars worth, does not make sense if you do not at the same time, budget
at least an equal amount of money to manage and restore the grasslands, so
that this rare and precious ecosystem can continue into the future?

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333