Arundo and arundo

Ouch, now there's a painful anagram pun. Anyway . . . a "friend of the blog" has informed me that arundo spraying and treatment on the Orange County side of Carbon Canyon appears to be fairly imminent.

Because of the unseasonably hot weather (it's strange to think of some silver lining in the fire and the January heat wave!) the new growth of stalks has been greatly accelerated. The development of the stalks is important because spraying would only work once there was enough plant material exposed for the absorption of the chemical to work its way throughout the body of the plant.

Even with the devastating financial crisis still evolving in our Golden State, it appears that there is the funding for the initial treatment. There are overlapping jurisdictions within the Canyon, moreover, so a greater level of coordination has been required, but the opportunity has never been better.

So, in areas that are within the purview of CalTrans, that agency will handle the treatment and the same goes for California State Parks. What still needed to be arranged was a very generous offer by the Santa Ana Watershed Authority (SAWA) to fund and coordinate the spraying on the eight parcels of private property that are on the Brea side.

Key, however, is the ability to move beyond an initial treatment and the funding for that has yet to be located.

Still, a critical first step looks to be coming quite soon. As more news is made available, further posts will be made.