Bad Weed
Or is it? The case for not yanking out every invasive plant in our dunes
(April 21, 2011) The prevailing wind flows over the ocean, pushing water across its surface. As it sweeps ashore, the wind crosses the wet slope then hits the beige edge of dry sand, lofting millions of grains and urging them southeastward. The papery sound of the sand grains as they tumble plays high counterpoint to the low splashy roar of the surf.
Sssssssssss.
Now, here is the question:
Do we want our whispering sand grains to hit a wall of rigid, tall, pointy dunes anchored by European beach grass, Ammophila arenaria, and be absorbed into the small spaces within that long, golden mane?
Or do we want them to bounce into a broader undulation of shifting dunes, absent Ammophila, where pulsing sand drifts interlace with multicolored mats of low-lying native plants that have diversified because of the very harshness and competitiveness of the environment: sagewort, dune tansy, beach strawberry and seathrift; buckwheat, beach pea, miner’s lettuce, yellow sand verbena and the endangered beach layia with its small white flowers?
At first the answer seems obvious: the pretty scenario, the multicolored one. That’s what we want. Get rid of the dominating exotic beach grass, introduced to so many beaches by our forebears to protect railroads and roads and town from sand drifts. Bring back diversity! Decades of eager volunteers and dutiful prison crews trooping out to the dunes to rip the offending alien out can’t be wrong.
But for some folks — perhaps a minority, but a vocal and compelling one — that invasive beach grass has its place.
So who gets to decide the question of how we direct our sand grains, what plants we allow to exist? And is there only one “right” answer?
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Recent on the cover
May 17
Ring of Fire
Sun and moon will perform a rare pas de deux in Humboldt skies on Sunday
May 10
District Soup
Racing for the top county seat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts
May 3
A Place in the Woods
As park closure deadline nears, a scramble to save what we can
Today
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Flow 2012 Fashion Show
STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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NINE Comments
Comment / By dunelover / April 21, 9:34 p.m.
dope smokin’ hippies, everyone of them
Comment / By Noah Moore / April 23, 11:22 p.m.
Uri is “all for restoration”? Please…
Maybe you need to read his exchanges in the following URL, where he calls people who are concerned about intense amounts of horse feces on trails, “Yuppies”. He also blathers on about “speciation”. yet refuses to give any references to his assertions, despite several requests.
http://www.topix.com/forum/news/opinion/TU22622RJDVT6MF0V/p2
Comment / By Dan Edrich / April 24, 8:33 a.m.
Whoa Noah, it isn’t Uri that destroyed an emergent wetland, violated the Coastal Act, ignored the Long-Term Management Plan; the Local Coastal Plan and every form of reason. It was myopic lemmings that didn’t see the loss of wildlife, did not understand that approaching management of land, to accommodate species, at the cost of whole systems is a too oft repeated mistake. Keep your eyes on your wetlands, if we lose them, we lose it all. How can you observe what is seen at the Manila Overlook and not be embarrassed? When the fore-dune pops it will be uglier.
Comment / By darcey lima / April 26, 7:53 p.m.
Heidi, while fairly covering the “dune managment” meeting, forgot to mention the smirk from Andrea Pickart when she stated,” Lanphere Dunes are open to anybody, any time”. Why then, Andrea, is there a sign that say’s “No Beach Access” at the crossroads on Lanphere Road? Andrea, if you run out of things to bash, cut, or remove. will the government still give you a paycheck and a house to live in? Please, not in our backyard.
Comment / By Andrea / April 26, 10:11 p.m.
Darcey, that was no smirk. I am happy when people discover that they can come onto Lanphere Dunes with a permit. The sign was posted at the request of private residences along Lanphere road. And the gov’t sure doesn’t give me a house!
Comment / By Noah Moore / April 27, 2:09 p.m.
Dan:
Choosing Uri, an equestrian trails at the expense of healthy ecosystems advocate, as one of your spokespeople, only invalidates your outreach.
With someone like him, you are not going to be able to make a good case to the environmentally literate sector of the public. You need someone who will not misquote portions of scientifically-researched papers for his own purposes.
Please see his speaking of the “proven horses do NOT spread weeds” commentary in the previous URL.
Please note his lack of response when asked to provide actual references for his assertions.
Please note his glib responses about concentrated horse manure and water pollutants.
You are doing youself a disservice, and certainly the people of Manila who are concerned with this issue.Your cause may indeed have merit, but it would benefit you to get an actual scientist with proven credentials, rather than a local horseman/recreationist who tries to obscure truth to promote his own agendas.
Comment / By Daniel Edrich / April 28, 7:57 a.m.
Noah, to make this about Uri is to detract from the issues. We are in deep-shit, and it is horse-shit, not from the rear of our equine friends but from the mouths of those whose pretense of understanding coastal dynamics have destroyed our wetlands. Our fore-dunes were pulled while Counsel for Manila, paid by SDRMA, made it all possible! Let me put this a different way, our risk management insurance was used to destabilize our primary dune system. Now Noah, what do you think FEMA will have to say about that? What I’d like to hear from you Noah is a recognition of loss of a paleo-dune and forest, and a looking forward to the destruction from destabilized fore-dune leading to the loss of a protected Coastal Act wetland. These have nothing to do with Uri, look to Bill Weaver, actual scientist, fraud and FOD poseur.
Comment / By Edward Bong Hands / April 28, 8 p.m.
That’s right Dan! Let’s not distract from the issue. The article talks about Dan Edrich. The self appointed savior of the magical, mystical european beachgrass.
Or is that the hind dune pygmie forest your fighting for? HBMWD water lines? What wetland are you defending? Is it the one by the bus turnaround you designed? That parking lot you funded? Your looney tunes fence blocking the road so that when one strolls past your fragrant grange, you have to risk getting hit by the bus? Is it that sweet ass personal trail from your front door to the water? Maybe your just over-correcting for the mistakes you made as an elected official of the agency you sued for the policies you implemented and the activities you funded? Yeah Dan. We know. You’re the fraud asshole.
Comment / By DanielEdrich / Today, 8:35 a.m.
Eddie, tree killing coward, why not use your real name? Which wetlands am I concerned with? All of them. Why aren’t you? As for the design of the turnaround, I had no hand in that. Eddie, you brought it up, who designed the turnaround? I was not elected I was appointed, the mistakes I made had a lot to do with believing in local enviros, trusting The County, CDF@G, USFWS and the Coastal Commission.