A combined team of Los Padres ForestWatch and Keep The Sespe Wild volunteers assembled this past Sunday, December 1 for a tamarisk removal project in an unnamed tributary of Sespe Creek.
Image courtesy Alasdair Coyne, KSWC
Tamarisk was sold as an ornamental and windbreak plant in the 1800s and 1900s. Mature tamarisk trees can produce millions of tiny seeds that easily disperse through wind and water, and these seeds quickly escaped from gardens and started taking over the banks of streams and rivers. Tamarisk grows rapidly and can reach heights of twenty feet, and its taproot can extend more than one hundred feet underground. The plant provides poor habitat for native bird species, smothers native willows and other plants, and consumes large amounts of water from adjacent streams, leaving greatly-reduced water supplies for fish and wildlife.
Image courtesy Alasdair Coyne, KSWC
A hearty thanks to the day’s crew, but the work isn’t done yet! The volunteers removed several mature tamarisks over the course of the morning, but a few of the trees still remain in the drainage, and scouting further upstream revealed another grove … so we’ll be back!
For more information about ForestWatch’s volunteer projects or to get involved, visit LPFW.org/volunteer.
Image courtesy Alasdair Coyne, KSWC
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