“But we’re seeing a really heavy load of seed on these plants right now.”ĭue to budget restrictions, the water district will only be able to address a portion of the French broom. French broom typically seeds between June and July, but some of their seed pods are already out, although they are not dry and viable yet,” said Michelsen. Michelsen said the eradication will begin as soon as the water district finds an ecological restoration consultant to coordinate the effort. It will be a supervised, certified direct application of the herbicide by trained professionals, according to Jen Michelsen, the water district’s environmental programs manager.įinally, Monsanto products are banned and the non-Monsanto glyphosate product the water district uses will not include any other “additive” ingredients. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a U.N.-sponsored scientific agency, declared that glyphosate probably causes cancer in high concentrations. This “cut stump method” is somewhat controversial due to concerns about the glyphosate. Fish & Wildlife Service,” said water district manager Brian Lee.Īfter extensive public discussion, the board of directors announced May 8 it will cut the French broom and carefully dab the brooms’ stumps with the herbicide glyphosate. “In order to prevent a new, massive seed bank that will threaten native endangered species, we must move immediately to cut and treat the French Bloom utilizing standard practices for local public agencies, as approved by the U.S. In order to minimize the impact of the invasive plant on the rare and sensitive ecosystem, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District, which maintains 180 acres of sandhills in the Zayante area northeast of Felton, will begin employing a “cut stump method” for eradication. ZAYANTE > A super bloom of 20,000 French broom plants is on the verge of casting more than 150 million seeds across the sandhills habitat of the Olympia Watershed.
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