Team Arundo del Norte Friday June 5, 1998 Meeting at Sonoma Ecology Center 9-11 AM Attending: Richard Dale, Deanne DiPietro, Steve Schoenig, Lois Battuello, Mark Newhauser, Joel Trumbo, Kent Nelson, Mike Dannburg, Tom Dudley, Jim Robbins, Janice Alexander, Paul Jones, Sierra with Circuit Riders 1. Project Updates a. Education/Outreach RFP (Joel) Joel handed out the RFP with educational materials product description. Timeframe: we're very close to going out to bid and then it will take 2 and a half to three months. Print media handout: Contractor will be required to work closely with this group and attend these meetings. Regarding distribution- CalEPPC Newsletter and perhaps RCDs, etc. The list of "appropriate agencies and organizations" will be this group, the other Teams Arundo, and the state and federal agencies involved. We could do a local "bookmark" to give local contacts. California Agriculture is a free publication that we could possibly use, also Pacific Discovery (Cal Academy), and any other agency publications. Private Landowner Guide and Handbook: Lots of new description language. Same for slide show product. Add: Instructions for giving presentation, 2 slide projectors for loan to presenting groups, and a demo to us. Want to add something about making it available on the Internet (DD). We will want to have a disclaimer and explain that we aren't endorsing any product. Joel wants us to look it over carefully at this point and make corrections. He wants to be able to get it out within the next three weeks. There is a minimum of 3 bid rule and there are evaluation criteria. b. Mapping (Tom/Joel) This will also be contracted out. Tom and Joel are working out the details of the desired products. It will be basically like the windshield survey but more extensive. We'll try and compile as many contributions from others as possible. The folks in San Diego have some techniques that we can use. The goal is to have something that's useable statewide. The SFEI EcoAtlas is still being looked into for one repository. It is the tool of choice for Bay Area environmental planning, so making it compatible is a good idea. A student at Berkeley is collecting the Storet data to attempt to correlate elevated nitrate levels with Arundo infestations. Lois showed the brochure with an 800 number for free FEMA county level flood maps. There's a master guide for each county. 800-358-9616 is the number for the Map Service Center. c. Eradication plans (Joel et al.) Task 1 and 2- the herbicide work at Grey Lodge and toxicology tests in the lab. The test plots have been selected and marked and the labs are set up. Leopard frog larvae have been ordered. Herbicide trials and lab work will be done in Sept. QA/QC plan has been written and looks good to Paul. R-11 (surfactant), and Roundup Pro, and Rodeo (glyphosate) will be tested. 2. Arundo biology meeting review (19 May, San Luis Obispo)(Tom/Tricia) Actually 3 meetings. About ten people that are involved in Arundo research. Explored the opportunities for collaboration and shared results. The other research has a variety of scopes and offer good opportunities for comparisons. There has been coordination and sharing of equipment. They have a focused project to figure out the best time to do spraying. Toni Vida is the investigator and thinks there is a one month window for best kill. The trick is to figure out the variety of carbon-nitrogen ratios that allows best kill. Chemical composition will be correlated with the appearance so we can determine the stage in the field without having to do the lab tests. Then there was a meeting with people doing Arundo control in several creeks in the SLO area. They thought it would be hard to sustain a group of their own and would like to participate in the other Teams Arundo. Third meeting: a. Central Coast RC&D Council review (Tom) King City. The heads of all the RCDs in the Central Coast area were there. Tom gave a slide show about Arundo and maybe raised some awareness and exposed them to some information. 3. State Noxious Weeds Inventory (Steve Schoenig - CDFA) The Noxious Weed Coordinating Committee meets quarterly and is composed of state and federal agencies and groups like Cattlemen's Association. They are creating an inventory of projects involving weed control by agencies and other groups. The database is being done at Information Center for the Environment as part of the Natural Resource Projects inventory that they were already doing with funding from BLM, and is up at http://endeavor.des.ucdavis.edu/weeds/. You can search by species being eradicated, by group, by county, etc. The databases are integrated and so are cross-searchable. We have an entry for the Grey Lodge project, but we should still describe all the Teams Arundo. Jim Robbins has been documenting control projects and could enter lots of information. This cross-knowledge can create information-sharing and effort-sharing opportunities. Steve would like to work with us to capture what we know. There is also an effort to map the locations of weeds. Can be obtained for A, B, or C level weeds at township level. More detailed maps are not made public for landowner privacy reasons. 4. Restoration Studies - NFWF (Jim) Jim Robbins has worked on a proposal for a guidebook on what should be done after removal of a weed like Arundo- revegetation techniques and guidelines on when and where they can be done and when passive management may be practiced. Wants to tie in with eradication efforts that are not using Federal funds for matching funds to NFWF. Jim will be sending materials for evaluation to those who he's identified as evaluators and has already gotten help from some. Needs to use projects on the Russian and Napa River and Sonoma Creek and the one at Grey Lodge, and so is looking for more that would be appropriate. To find out more talk with Jim: jdrobins@nature.berkeley.edu. 5. Other potential business and issues - Blacklisting harmful weeds - Project list Deferred to next time. 6. Introductions of guests, if not earlier (Don Richardson with DFG) and brief discussion of our objectives for the tour. Paul was told that if you're working in the active channel, moving soil and riparian vegetation, you do need a 1600 agreement and for that you contact your local warden- Don is the person in our area. If you're doing anything with equipment you're going to need a permit. There is a gray zone even with manual work. Sending application in triggers the process- $130 application fee that can be waived based on need and if you're helping the habitat. If you're doing a bunch of projects in one watershed or at least one county, it would be possible to get one permit for all the projects. Other agencies may need to be notified- Army Corps, the county, Regional Water Quality. If you need a DFG permit, you'll probably need one from Water Quality. 7. Review/clarification of directions to sites. 8. Announcements: CNPS is coming out with a special issue with invasive species, a big one. If we can find more $$ we can help boost the printing CalFed projects are due July 2. There is a Watershed section. Jim could propose to wipe out a bunch of Arundo in the delta. Any Reclamation District would be an appropriate cost-share contributor. There's a plan to spray all riparian vegetation within a 120-mile strip of the Salinas River in Monterey County to open the channel to allow faster flow for freshwater flushing. Mitigation for the project is eradication of tamarisk. There's a hearing coming up - Jun 9, Richard Boyer with Monterey County. Valerie at TNC will be moving to Illinois. That group will continue. Inland Empire RCD will be taking over her position in Team Arundo. Mike is testing a product called Envoy on some plots in Napa. 9. Tour of proposed Arundo eradication sites in Sonoma and Napa Valleys 1. Sonoma Point Apts, Riverside Rd, Sonoma 2. Sonoma Creek at Woodworker's and Hwy 12 3. Lois' project area on Napa River at Ehlers Lane in St. Helena Next meeting: August 5, Wed. at SEC, 9-12 ------ Deanne DiPietro CERES Technical Projects Coordinator California Resources Agency (916) 653-8614