We support the San Lorenzo Valley Water District Plan to control Silver Wattle Acacia, French Broom, and Portuguese Broom at the Olympia Wellfield site. We are environmental scientists, each with over 20 years of experience restoring coastal California ecosystems. We consider the proposed methods consistent with best management practices to remove these invasive species, conserve the threatened Santa Cruz sand hills habitat, and minimize risks to water quality.
In 2004, Dr. Jodi McGraw wrote a 354-page Sandhills Conservation and Management Plan: A Strategy for Preserving Native Diversity in the Santa Cruz Sandhills, for the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. One section of the report assessed various eradication techniques for invasive plants.
Rosemary Chalmers, host of “Good Morning Monterey Bay” on KSCO 1080 AM, lives in Ben Lomond, and is a ratepayer in the San Lorenzo Valley Water District.