Green coalition clears way for creek restoration
By Paul Sisolak 11/12/2009
A multi-pronged approach to restoring the Ojai Creek is necessary if a significant portion of the valley’s riparian ecosystem is to survive, say representatives of an environmental group.
The Ojai Valley Green Coalition concluded last weekend the first of three consecutive weekly restoration efforts at the wooded creek, weeding and pulling nonnative plants that environmental advocates say are choking the local habitat through years of neglect.
The Ojai Creek, which runs through the middle of the city’s downtown corridor, is one of 17 streams inside the city limits that the coalition has been heading up a volunteer-based cleanup they say is more than just a cleanup.
“The nonnative plants choke out the native plants. They also tend to be water hogs,” says Deborah Pendrey, the coalition’s executive director. “They absorb a lot of water and it doesn’t allow (it) to flow like it should down the creek system.”
Roughly 35 volunteers appeared on Saturday at Ojai’s Libbey Park to aid in the removal of acacias, Siberian elms, Mexican fan palms, Himalayan blackberries and eucalyptus limbs — all thriving along the creek side, says coalition member Brian Holly, yet all dangerously invasive to the creek’s native plant population.
The cleanup produced more than 40 large bins of recyclable green waste, says Pendrey, in the first week alone.
Holly, a biologist, had prepared and released last month a report assessing and detailing the particulars of the coalition’s restoration project. Beginning with this month’s cleanup activities, the restoration efforts continue in January, with planting of native plant species, regular maintenance of the creek through 2010, and a status check by the end of next year.
Once nonnative plants are eradicated completely from the creek, more room will free up to plant seedlings of native plants like Arroyo willow, mugwort, mulefat, coyote brush and California willow, according to Holly’s report.
Both he and Pendrey were grateful for a $30,000 grant handed down from the California Wetland Recovery Project, enough to fund at least a sizable portion of the ambitious cleanup. They estimate the entire project could cost up to $100,000, which includes the hiring of some paid help from members of Ojai’s The C.R.E.W., Concerned Resources and Environmental Workers.
The timing was right to restore the Ojai Creek, according to Holly, after numerous attempts in the past never progressed past the initial stages. In 1995, a prior effort was given its best by the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy.
“They were successful at removing some of the exotics (nonnative plants), but they didn’t have the funding for a maintenance effort,” Holly said.
The Green Coalition looks to halt the creek’s overgrowth at a point where it nearly grew out of hand, something a city like Port Hueneme has avoided outright through regular maintenance of its Bubbling Springs creek.
“On a yearly basis, we go and remove the nonnative plants. That keeps it clear and flowing and provides a habitat for animals,” says Andres Santamaria, the city’s public works director. “If you don’t remove the vegetation, it would overcrowd the creek.”
The creek acts as one of Hueneme’s flood channels, where basins attached down the length of the mile-long spring flows into a nearby pump station operated by the county.
A second weed abatement session will take place at the creek on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and volunteers are needed, said Pendrey, for the daylong event, as well as for the final cleanup on Nov. 21. People from Ojai and beyond who are also interested in helping the Green Coalition resume its restoration in January can contact Pendrey at 669-8445 or coordinator@ojaivalleygreencoalition.org.
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Great job to the Green Coalition's Watershed Committee, C.R.E.W. and volunteers! We appreciate the hard work you are doing to restore our streams.