Monday, August 10, 2015

Wrap-Up at Mission Canyon: Achievements



Volunteer removes a mature Euphorbia plant.
Since January, CIR has been involved in a mainland restoration project at Mission Canyon in Santa Barbara to help eradicate a growing population of an extremely invasive plant, Carnation Spurge (Euphorbia terracina).  This plant was recently discovered spreading through this residential area, down the road from the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, and its proliferation has exploded with the late winter rains.  With grant funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the County of Santa Barbara partnered with CIR to stop Carnation Spurge in its tracks and to keep it from spreading even further. 

CIR held four volunteer events at Mission Canyon with CIR staff, 64 volunteers, and 4 CIR Board Members who helped to remove this non-native plant species before the next season of rainfall.  Much of the work was accomplished by basic hand removal and solarization (placing black plastic over the plants depriving them of light).  This project could not have been completed without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers!  We thank the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden for their support on this project by providing free admission at the end of the volunteer event to those who participated to help control this invasive plant population.  We also thank the Mission Canyon Association for all their support throughout this restoration project.  The California Invasive Plant Council is exploring possible future funding options to continue the efforts being made to purge this Spurge.

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