FSRC Offers To Split Arundo Removal Cost With Owners

Use a Contractor to Remove Your Arundo and FSRC Will Pay Half

​If you own land along the San Ramon Creek you may be one of the 74 properties known to have Arundo growing on your property, Friends of San Ramon Creek (FSRC) would like to help you eradicate this noxious weed from your property. FSRC is offering to share the cost of removal of your Arundo when you use a contractor to remove your Arundo and treat it with herbicide to keep it from coming back. You can use either a contractor that FSRC recommends or, if you have a contractor who can do it cheaper, then your own contractor. FSRC will pay 50% of the invoice after the removal and treatment. FSRC has limited funds, so this offer is good until this year's allotment of funds is exhausted. 

Arundo Is Invading our Creek

Arundo Crowds Out Everything Else

Arundo (Arundo donax) is a non-native invasive plant with stems that resemble bamboo and leaves that resemble corn. Also called "giant reed" or "giant cane," Arundo is a fast-growing plant that can grow four inches a day and up to thirty feet tall.  To sustain its rapid growth, Arundo consumes prodigious amounts of water, usually along streams and other waterways. It outcompetes native plants and provides little food or habitat for insects, birds, or other wildlife.

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74 Stands of Arundo in San Ramon Creek

Arundo is taking over sections of the San Ramon Creek between Danville and Alamo. To date, Friends of San Ramon Creek (FRSC) has mapped 131 stands covering approximately 118,000 sq. ft. in the San Ramon Creek watershed.  Over the last 7 years FSRC has treated 35 of these patches. There remain 96 patches covering 87,000 sf on 74 different parcels, almost all on private properties. If we don’t stop it, the banks of the creek will be monoculture Arundo and will have much less biodiversity, more fire danger, less water, and more erosion caused by creek narrowing and diversion.

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Removing Arundo Is Hard Work But It Can Be Successful

Arundo is typically eradicated by cutting the stalks and hauling them away and immediately treating the stumps with an herbicide to prevent regrowth. Arundo will have some regrowth after this treatment and will require monthly retreatment for several years to kill all of the plant. FSRC has been removing patches of Arundo for 7 years and has refined techniques that make this arduous job as simple as possible.

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