Volunteers are painstakingly removing invasive plants from HMB State Beach

Slowly, for nearly a decade, volunteers have been removing invasive plants from the beaches of Half Moon Bay’s 170 acres of state beach so that native plants, such as the California poppy, can return to our open spaces. Each parcel must be weeded repeatedly until the seeds of the invaders have been eliminated.

"We’ve seen a lot more rabbits up at Francis Beach because now they have the type of ground cover they can hide in," said Ken Robertson, a volunteer with the Half Moon Bay Dune and Restoration Project. "Everything feeds on everything else. We’ve noticed a big turnaround in the ecosystem."

There’s a wonderful article on this labor of love by the Half Moon Bay Dune and Bluff Restoration Project at the San Mateo County Times web site.