Central Coast Salmon Enhancement, Inc. Announces 

IVY REMOVAL DAY

Any good gardener knows to yank a weed out, but what if the garden is part of your community? On Saturday, May 16 from 9am to 12pm, willing and interested gardeners are needed to help weed an invasive plant out of the banks of the Arroyo Grande Creek. English ivy is threatening the lives of many other organisms along the creek's banks.
 
Dedicated volunteers are sought to continue work on the 3-year pilot Ivy Removal Project, which will use test methods of control to free the area of ivy, and restore native trees and plants. By hand-removing the non-native, highly invasive groundcover near Arroyo Grande City Hall, the City of Arroyo Grande, CCSE, and our hard-working volunteers will aim to restore the habitat and improve water quality. This project began July 2007 and it is pertinent to maintain the work done thus far.

What's So Bad about Ivy?

Commonly found in many home gardens, English ivy's vines wrap around and choke out any nearby plants. Trees are no exception. Ivy deserts bloom where a broad range of native plants used to provide habitat for a variety of animals. As the ivy desert expands, it eliminates all other plants, the shade and leaf cover they had provided, and destroys the homes of several species, eventually killing trees.
 
Because of its vining nature, the invasive ivy will require several pullings. Local volunteer crews are committed to return to the area over this three-year period to ensure the complete removal of the ivy and the re-establishment of native plants and trees to prevent soil erosion, and to ensure water quality is preserved for the locally threatened Steelhead trout population as well as the habitat at large. 

Who do I contact?

In a partnership with the City of Arroyo Grande, Central Coast Salmon Enhancement is recruiting volunteers to assist with follow up work to plant native riparian plants and remove re-sprouting ivy. The group will provide volunteer training and support. Please contact our office at (805) 473-8221 or victoria@centralcoastsalmon.com to be part of the local No Ivy League, or for more information about this creek restoration project.