arUNDOING in Sleepy Hollow

A worker down along Carbon [Canyon] Creek works on removing the dreaded arundo donax.  All photos by Ron Nadeau.

The Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council, contracting with the Santa Ana Watershed Authority, has embarked on another project to remove arundo donax, the highly-flammable and very invasive Asian bamboo that has been very aggressively growing along Carbon [Canyon] Creek in recent years.

Although large sections of arundo were burned to the ground in the Novemebr 2008 Freeway Complex Fire and then treated by SAWA when the opportunity to deal with the roots of the plant, sections that were spared from the fire, mainly on the San Bernardino County portion of the canyon, continued to thrive.

The work site to remove arundo along Carbon [Canyon] Creek is at the west end of Sleepy Hollow, south of Carbon Canyon Road.

So, this latest attack on arundo is centered on the western end of Sleepy Hollow just where the creek goes from the north side of Carbon Canyon Road to the east.  Permission was granted by some property owners to get to the arundo and coordination was made with the City of Chino Hills for a roll-off bin to haul away the removed material.

Thanks to Ron Nadeau, long-time Sleepy Hollow resident and Fire Safe Council stalwart, for organizing this project; to the city for its efforts; to SAWA for coordinating the work; and to the local property owners for their assistance.

A roll-off bin is loaded with removed arundo from the creek.

Mitigating the presence of arundo wherever possible along Carbon [Canyon] Creek helps not only with reducing a major fire risk, but also allows the water flow in the creek to move more smoothly and prevent damage along the route of the watercourse.