POST receives $30,000 grant for pampas grass removal on Pescadero ranch

The Bella Vista Foundation has awarded Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) a grant in the amount of $30,000 to help complete the removal of pampas grass on the 6,391-acre Cloverdale Coastal Ranch in Pescadero, CA. The Bella Vista Foundation has supported POST’s land management activities on Cloverdale since 2002, granting a total of $130,000 for stewardship activities. As a result of this support Cloverdale Coastal Ranches’ grasslands are much more diverse and healthier than they were several years ago.

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Purchased by POST in 1997, Cloverdale Coastal Ranches was the largest undeveloped and unprotected property on California’s central coast at that time. The ranch’s size, habitat diversity and acres of undeveloped land offered an ideal opportunity to test and implement land management strategies.

"For the past six years POST has been developing and implementing a wide variety of land management tools on Cloverdale Coastal Ranches," said POST president Audrey Rust. "The huge success of the Pampas grass control program is a shining example of the tremendous amount of on-the-ground work that has been accomplished."

POST developed and is implementing an integrated management plan to restore the ranch’s natural resources. Land management measures outlined in the plan include controlling severe erosion that causes siltation in critical riparian habitat, controlling pampas grass, an invasive non-native plant that is driving out native species and degrading wildlife habitat, and enhancing and restoring grassland habitat through prescribed fire and other management measures.

All of this work has been completed with the help of POST’s public and private partners, including the Bella Vista Foundation. Other partners include the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the San Francisco Foundation. In 2003, with the help of a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy and a $50,000 grant from the Bella Vista Foundation, POST began implementing a pampas grass control program. The first stage involved removing pampas grass on a 350-acre test area, testing both manual methods, and treatment with herbicides.  In the following year, using the knowledge and experience gained in the test phase, POST succeeded in treating over 767 acres for pampas grass infestation.

"Thanks to the Bella Vista Foundation, this most recent $30,000 grant will aid in completing the third and final phase of this project," said Jeff Powers, Cloverdale Project Manager. "Enabling POST to target the remaining 480 acres of dense infestations of pampas grass on the Ranch and to re-treat earlier work areas will lead to the eradication of another 431,000 plants. Subsequent years will focus on monitoring and treating new infestations that may occur throughout the ranch."

POST’s pampas grass control program is demonstrating that effective methods for the removal and control of pampas grass can be utilized cost-effectively over a large area of land. Since the variety of topography and habitat restraints encountered in Cloverdale Coastal Ranches’ work areas are fairly typical for rural coastal areas in San Mateo County, the knowledge POST has gained will prove extremely useful for future pampas grass control efforts on the Coast.

POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust dedicated to preserving the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula landscape. Since its founding in 1977, the organization has been responsible for saving nearly 55,000 acres as permanent open space and parkland in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Included in that total are 14,259 acres of coastal land POST has protected in the last three years through its $200 million Saving the Endangered Coast Campaign.

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For further information contact Anne Sharman at 650-854-7696 or [email protected]