Just in time for the height of fire season Riverkeeper Restoration program staff and the amazing workers from Resilience Works have removed all the arundo near the Syar gravel plant.
This was preceded by a helpful collaboration with Reach for Home, North County’s homeless service providers. This area had many camps that had been occupied for decades and was the subject of a multi-million dollar state Encampment Resolution grant. Since March Reach for Home has successfully transitioned people from camps to housing. As camps were vacated Riverkeeper’s Clean Team staff removed accumulated trash totaling over 200,000 pounds.
In July the arundo removal began at the train bridge and worked upstream. The crews found many struggling native plants in the Arundo stands that are now able to thrive without the competition from Arundo for water and sunlight! After three hard weeks of effort in often brutal heat, the crews removed all the existing Arundo.
The arundo removal has eliminated one of the areas of concern for the Healdsburg Fire Department as numerous fires had occurred in the area in the past ten years. This area and the area below Veterans Memorial Dam will be subject to additional work into this fall to remove re-growth and treat the cuts to prevent further regrowth.
In August, the crew moved back to South Fitch Mountain Road to continue working on residences at Camp Rose Beach and downstream. This fall the priority will be addressing re-growth at sites throughout the 5-mile project area to achieve eradication before starting removal on new properties.