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

[Ty Harrison]

Regarding Dreman's calculation of openspace preservation cost vs. 
restoration funding in the Stanford and Bay Area foothills of California, 
the situation is not much different here in the urban counties of Utah on 
the Wasatch Front where, like in the Bay Area, developers have "had their 
way" with the landscape.  Local bond monies have been spent to acquire the 
few remnant "open spaces" with essentially no money to manage or 
rehabilitate them.  What is the solution?  Ecologists need jobs, but 
municipalities, park organizations and land trusts are hesitant to employ 
the expertise they need to protect their investment.  It makes no sense, and 
Dreman is right.  Ty Harrison
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2012 7:20 PM
Subject: [APWG] Billion dollars of grasslands + no management budget or plan


> 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
>
>
>
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