STUBBORN WEED'S STALKS CLOG CAMPGROUND CREEK.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer Work to remove swathes of a persistent tropical weed from Big Tujunga Canyon hit a snag this weekend, when county flood control officials opened the gates on the Tujunga Dam, sweeping tons of bamboo-like stalks into the creek. The Arundo donax stalks didn't stretch more than a few hundred feet downstream. But because of the weeds' resilient nature, county agricultural workers spent Monday fishing arundo canes from the creek near Wildwood Wildwood, city (1990 pop. 4,484), Cape May co., SE N.J., on an island off Cape May; settled 1882, inc. as a city 1911. It has large commercial fisheries and is a popular summer seaside resort with many vintage motels and other buildings from the 1940s–60s. campground in the Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established by executive order on December 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve. It covers over 2,600 km² (650,000 acres) and is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, just north of the metropolitan area of Los . U.S. Forest Service officials said Monday that there is a slim chance Noun 1. slim chance - little or no chance of success fat chance probability, chance - a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an some of the arundo could move downstream and take hold, but it's not likely. ``A lot of the canes are already dead. It's not like it's going to resprout down the canyon,'' said Jim Hartman, acting deputy agriculture commissioner for Los Angeles County. The water was released from the Tujunga Dam at the request of the U.S. Geological Survey, which is studying threatened and endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. in pools along the Big Tujunga Creek. But the warning never made it to the arundo team. County workers, contracted by the U.S. Forest Service, started work this month, hacking down 30-foot-tall bamboo stands, daubing herbicide herbicide (hr`bəsīd'), chemical compound that kills plants or inhibits their normal growth. A herbicide in a particular formulation and application can be described as selective or nonselective. to the stump and chipping the stalks. This is the second year in a $300,000, five-year project to remove arundo from a 10-acre stretch along Big Tujunga Canyon. But arundo is notoriously hard to kill. About 90 percent of the stalks cut last year grew back, said Steve Bear, resource officer for the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. Ranger District. Arundo's thick canes can clog flood channels, change the temperature of streams and crowd out native flora and fauna. It can suck up six times more water than native plants. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com |
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