[APWG] Funding a 70-acre weed-back-to-native project with donations--99.99% natives

[craig at astreet.com]

> What, exactly, does "99.99% weed-infested" mean?

>

> What, excatly, does "99.99% weed-free" mean?

>

> WT
Dear Wayne,
Glad to hear from you again.  99.99%
weed-infested acre of land=If you looked at each square foot of that acre,
you would only find about 4-5 square feet still occupied by some native
plants.
Conversely, if you measured another acre and determined that
it was 99.99% weed-free, that means that there was solid local native
plant cover on the entire acre, except for 4-5 square feet that were still
occupied by some weeds.
This goes to the heart of my idea of spacial
extinction of local native plants.  
We usually look at the
term extinction to mean the death of an entire species, like the Passenger
pigeon, for example.  
But perhaps what we should be more
concerned about, is the creeping road to extinction, which is what I call
spacial extinction, where a local native species is extinct on a single
square foot for whatever reason--weeds, plowing, plopping a building on
top of that square foot of land, planting a corn field, etc.
In
California, spatial extinction is a very serious issue, especially if we
want to preserve some of our native grassland and wildflower fields for
the future--considering that the native grasses and wildflower fields are
already spatially extinct over 99.99% of the lower elevations of the
State.  
What I am trying to do with this 70 acres in Palo
Alto, is to see how this problem of spatial extinction can be corrected,
so that this site could possibly become an in situ source of local native
genetic material for other restoration projects where the natives have
become spatially extinct.  
I have set 99.99% local native
cover as a goal, and it is not unreasonable after I saw Mark VandePol's 14
acres only 25 miles away, with his entire property restored to 99.5%
native cover, after starting with a huge weed patch similar to the 70
acres here in Palo Alto.
I am looking for donations through GoFundMe
to get the bales of native grass straw I want to use to kill the weeds
this winter.  Anyone in the area is welcome to visit--the site is
only about a mile from the Page Mill Road exit from I-280.
And that
stretch of I-280 between San Jose and San Francisco is one of the most
beautiful drives in the country because the valley was preserved without
any development in the 1920s as one of San Francisco's water supply
reservoirs.  
In spring you pass by the I-280 Redwood
City/Edgewood Road exit you see serpentine wildflower fields, and if you
drive past this time of year, open your windows to smell the native white
flowered hayfield tarweeds in bloom, with their stems and branches
emitting their lemony scent. 
Sincerely,  Craig Dremann
(650) 325-7333
========================================
>
----- Original Message -----

>

From: craig at astreet.com

> To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org

> Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:12 PM

> Subject: [APWG] Funding a 70-acre weed-back-to-native project with

> donations

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> 'Phase one of the Poppy Project is completed in Palo Alto,
California,

> with very good results, using the weed straw to kill the annual
weed

> seedlings within 60 days of the seedlings sprouting. It is so very
nice

> to be able to kill the weeds with their own straw.

>

> The whole 70 acre project is going to be done with donations, and I
am

> trying GoFundMe as one way to fund this weeds-back-to-native
conversion

> project,, as you can see at http://www.gofundme.com/3yiq8s.

>

> I have been waiting over four decades for the local government
agencies

> or public land managers to get the funding together to do a project
like

> this in my area, and since I will turn 60 in a few months, decided
to

> see if the public might support the project directly, so we can
get

> something going during my lifetime.

>

> As far as I know, this will be only the fourth project in California,
to

> take a 100% weed infested grassland ecosystem >10 acres, and try
and

> convert it back to the original local wildflowers and native
grasses.

> You can see photos of the potential of what California used to look
like

> 300 years ago, before we got 99.99% weed infested at

> http://www.ecoseeds.com/wild.html.

>

> My project is right next to the parking lot at the Palo Alto
Arastradero

> Preserve, so anyone is welcome to come and watch as the project

> progresses. All the native animals are coming to visit,, a coyote,

> butterflies, hundreds of bumblebees in spring, two doves, gophers,
a

> rabbit and a couple of lizards, within a few months of establishing
the

> natives as a solid 99.99% weed-free stand.

>

> Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333

>

>

>

>
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