Yet its the federally protected Mount Hermon June Beetle that has precipitated the water district’s current French Broom problem. Until 2002, CEMEX mined sand from the Olympia Watershed, which is how the extinct sea cow was found. As a result, much of the Santa Cruz Sandhills habitat endured devastating mining operations. When the waters of this ancient sea receded, they left behind large deposits of porous, high-grade sand that turned out to be exceptionally good for optics, glass and silicon chips. In 1963, the fossil remains of an extinct species of sea cow that lived about 10 million to 12 million years ago in shallow, nearshore waters were discovered in the Olympia Watershed. The sandhills are basically the exposed remnants of an ancient seabed. Of that land, 180 acres is sandhills habitat within the Olympia Watershed - an area in the Zayante area northeast of Felton. The water district manages roughly 2,000 acres of land in the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed. “However, removing mature French broom in the sandhills habitat is challenging because of its huge root systems.” “It grows in dense thickets that block sunlight and out-compete native specialty plant species, many of which are listed as endangered,” said Jen Michelsen, the water district’s environmental programs manager. While it’s not the ugliest invasive plant in the world, it’s dangerous to native species. Such is the San Lorenzo Valley Water District’s current conundrum: how to eradicate 20,000 invasive French broom plants from 40 acres of sandhills without damaging the fragile ecosystem.Īt this time of year, the fast-growing French broom is awash in bright yellow flowers. FELTON > The management of land as sensitive and rare as the sandhills habitat in the Santa Cruz Mountains is complex - no perfect solution exists for some problems.
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