The San Lorenzo Valley Water District Board of Directors on May 8 debated and voted 3-2 to approve a plan addressing the rampant French broom growth in its Olympia Wellfield in Felton.The plan, as proposed by director Margaret Bruce and narrowly approved by the board, had five distinct provisions.When District Manager Brian Lee officially announced the board action the next day, in a press release that was emailed to media, posted on the district’s website and emailed on May 10 to the district’s email list, it mentioned only three of the provisions.Missing from Lee’s press release about the board action – which was distributed by the district’s Santa Cruz public relations firm, Miller Maxfield – was a provision that directed “an immediate hand eradication program” in the Olympia Wellfield. This provision, as described by Bruce and clarified at the meeting for dissenting directors Bill Smallman and Eric Hammer, was for “cutting only,” and would involve no herbicides.The provision also said this no-herbicide cutting of the French broom would be implemented using the $25,000 budgeted for invasive plant removal in the current district budget.Also missing from Lee’s press release sent out by Miller Maxfield was a provision that directed staff to calculate the cost of manual removal of the invasive plants from the watershed – without using herbicides – and add it to the district’s five-year budget documents for the upcoming public debate over water rates.Lee’s announcement did give prominent mention to the fifth provision in the board’s May 8 vote – to begin cutting French broom and carefully applying the herbicide glyphosate to the stumps, identifying large “mother plants” (in Bruce’s words) as the targets of this chemical eradication effort.Lee’s announcement gave that action top billing, going so far as to say that a “super bloom” of the yellow-flower shrub had “inspired” the board to “take a stand to protect the Olympia watershed.”That provision – to apply the controversial herbicide using the “cut-and-stump” method before a “blue-ribbon task force” to be created by the board could weigh in on the method’s safety or effectiveness – inspired Hammer and Smallman to vote against Bruce’s five-part plan.When asked why two of the five provisions of the high-profile decision were omitted from the release and who made that decision, public relations consultant Bill Maxfield wrote:“District staff are confident the press release adequately covers the major points included in the motion that are of greatest interest to the public (selective use of glyphosate; immediate cutting in target locations; applying for a “take permit”; establishment of a task force), understanding that all information/details related to the motion is public and available. The formatting and purpose of the press release is intended to present the gist of the news resulting from the motion, as well as overall context.”The May 8 meeting was not videotaped because it was not a regular board meeting. Maxfield could not say when minutes or audio tapes of the meeting might be available. He also could not provide an immediate answer when asked if either board president Gene Ratcliffe or Bruce had read or approved the text of the announcement before it was released. “The SLV community has really stepped up to actively participate in the district’s discussions about how to address this issue and we’re better for it,” Lee said in the press release. “We have a plan that enables the district to take immediate action, while also making it clear that we’re very much open to a long-term strategy that moves away from use of herbicide.”“It’s time to redouble our efforts to consider new ideas for our long-term effort to protect the watershed,” Lee said. “This plan provides the path to do that.”

A divided San Lorenzo Valley Water District Board of Directors voted Monday, May 8 night to begin applying the controversial herbicide glyphosate in its Olympia Wellfield in Felton.

When the San Lorenzo Valley Water district presented its Bloom and Acacia eradication plan for the Olympia watershed, it used portions of two documents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that supported the district’s claim that it could begin work on the plan immediately, with no required permits.

Rainfall tops 100 inchesThough the water year is not officially over until Sept. 30, the area’s rainy months ended in April. And what a delightfully wet year it was.Indeed, the entire state climbed its way out of the five-year drought, with rainfall rivaling the torrential rains of 1982-83.In north Scotts Valley, where Ferd Bergholz maintains a private weather station, the bucket tipped at 100.89 inches. That’s far above 43.09, which is normal for this time of year.Felton received 92.28 inches for the year. Average for this period is 48.39 inches, according to a Cal Fire report.At Cresta Vista in Boulder Creek 82.31 inches of rainfall has fallen this season.Meanwhile, climate experts are monitoring strong signs that El Nino may be making a comeback in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.“There is significant multi-model agreement that a significant event may unfold in the coming months,” Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA. “That would be pretty eyebrow-raising, since it has only been a year since the last big El Nino.”Swain added that it is still too early to predict what kind of effect this event would have on California.During the 2015-2016 El Nino, the northern tier of the state received above-average rainfall, Central California measured average rain, and the southern part of the state had below-average rainfall.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials on Tuesday announced final approval of a plan for an endangered beetle that will allow construction of a new Scotts Valley Middle School to begin in earnest.

In a stunning development in the continuing controversy over the proposed removal of invasive plant species from a protected watershed in Felton, the author of the eradication plan abruptly quit last week, leaving its implementation in limbo.

The heavy winter rains and a warm, sunny spring have sparked one of the greatest Callifornia wildflower blooms in decades. It has also has fueled a similar bloom among “non-native,” “exotic” or “invasive” species.