Ecological Concerns Incorporated » Newsletter

Trees Threaten Homes and Roads: What you need to know

ECI — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 17:17:57 +0000

Residents of the Central California have taken a beating this winter storm season. This winter has been a great example of how our storms are changing along with climate change. It is predicted that there will be less frequent but stronger storm systems headed our way in the future (Source: NASA).

As these storm systems become stronger, our tree care must be more diligent. Currently, there is a high demand for certified arborist to perform property risk assessments specific to their trees.

Signs to look for to detect risks of falling trees or limbs:

• Bare branches

• Brown leaves and needles

• Sawdust at the base of the tree

• Signs that the tree roots are shifting

• Dead wood

• Deep cracks through the bark

For more information:

• Visit brochure on tree hazards at http://bit.ly/2jeWJ29

• Visit brochure on trees at power lines at:http://bit.ly/2joEhEk

• To find arborists certified by the Internal Society of Arboriculture: visit http://bit.ly/2joy9w4

Source: PG&E and U.S Department of Agriculture

CALL ECI TO SCHEDULE A CERTIFIED ARBORIST TO ASSESS YOUR PROPERTY FOR RISK 831-459-0656

Easy Live Willow Stake Planting in Four Steps

ECI — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:02 +0000

Willow stakes are easy and effective way to revegetate a riparian corridor. They provide valuable erosion and bank stability as well as vital cover for local fish. Below is a quick demonstration of how to collect and stake your cuttings. For a more in depth description check out this great guide from our friends at Wildhorse Riverworks Inc.

President Obama Protects 6,23o Acres Along the California Coast

ECI — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:59:01 +0000

President Obama has protected approximately 6,23o acres of land in California and there is a large section that expands the Coast Dairies property in Santa Cruz. This is will bring more funding and public accessibility to the dynamic landscape. Most of the new federally protected land is along the Central and Northern coast. READ MORE

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be part of the California Coastal National Monument and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying maps, which are attached hereto and form a part of this proclamation. The Orange County Rocks and Islands shall be managed as part of the original offshore area of the monument, and the remainder of the lands shall be known as the Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, and Piedras Blancas units of the monument, respectively. These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 6,230 acres. The boundaries described on the accompanying maps are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” – President Obama

Read more about the history and ecosystems of each newly protected area in the Proclamation HERE.

Lost Coast Headlands

Cotoni-Coast Dairies Near Davenport in Santa Cruz County

Coastal Dune Restoration to Combat Sea Level Rise

ECI — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 01:04:42 +0000

ECI is working with several partners to restore (eradicate invasive iceplant and reestablish native plants) twenty acres of sensitive dune habitat within Salinas River State Beach (SRSB). The twenty acres were carefully selected because of recent studies that show coastal vulnerabilities to Sea Level Rise. These studies have found that the adaptive capacity of natural ecosystems can protect coastal areas from those vulnerabilities. Other studies suggest that the removal of iceplant and reestablishment of native plants will enable dune habitats to better respond to wave impacts, which will enable them to be more resilient to more frequent and more damaging storms (De Lillis et al. 2004).

The iceplant eradication is primarily through the use of hand spraying herbicide and hand pulling of iceplant. Iceplant is an extremely invasive species that has choked thousands of acres of dune systems along the California Coast. A recent analysis of aerial imagery of SRSB revealed that iceplant cover ranges from 35% to 65% with an average of 48% across the foredune community.

In SRSB, there are 280 acres of rare coastal dune and coastal marsh habitats. The dunes extend inland in some places for over 1000 feet and are 50–60 feet above sea level at their highest points. They are home to many species of wildlife and migratory birds.

The three plant communities at SRSB are foredune, coastal scrub and dune pond. Several special status plants and plant communities are occurring here, including Menzies’ wallflower (Erysimum menziessii ssp. menziesii), Monterey gilia (Gilia tenuiflora ssp. arenaria), Monterey spineflower (Chorizanthe pungens var. pungens), and sand-loving wallflower (Erysimum ammophilum), as well as central dune scrub and northern coastal salt marsh communities.

Chorizanthe pungens

Vegetation in the foredune and coastal dune scrub communities provide food, cover, and nesting sites for many species of insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Velvet ants, ground-nesting wasps and bees, scarab and dune beetles and many other insects live in the dunes. Harriers and songbirds may forage on the plants and animals found in the dune scrub plant community. Amphibians and reptiles include the Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla), Coast garter snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris), and the northern alligator lizard (Elgaria coerulea). Mammals such as coyotes (Canis latrans), raccoons (Procyon lotor), feral cats (Felis catus) and non-native red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) may hunt birds and smaller mammals in the dune habitat.

The eradication phase will be complete after spring 2017 with a second round of removal scheduled for fall 2017. There is also seed collection from the local dune communities for future planting and seed broadcast. After planting and seed broadcasting, there will be ongoing maintenance and monitoring to ensure success. The findings of this project will be published as a Dune Restoration Best Practices Guide for future efforts.

Project Goals:

Eradicate Iceplant from Fore and Mid Dunes
Establish Diverse Native Plant Composition in SRSB Dunes
Enhance Storm Reslience of Dune Systems
Support California State Parks Dune Management Efforts

Historical flows of the Salinas River

Employee Photography Shines on New Instagram Account

ECI — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 18:29:49 +0000

Find and follow ECI on Instagram. Like our photos and share relevant information in the habitat restoration community. We’re all working together to improve California’s habitats and ensure a better future.

Central Coast Wilds Nursery Manager Position Opening!

ECI — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:07:23 +0000

Central Coast Wilds Nursery is hiring for a Nursery Manager Position. The Nursery Manager will work with the General Manager, Senior Botanist and the Nursery Staff to manage all aspects of nursery sales, contract management, production, maintenance, and facilities organization. The Nursery Manager will be given specific training and ongoing supervision, in order to assume various responsibilities.

Central Coast Wilds (CCW), a division of Ecological Concerns Incorporated (ECI), is a California native plant nursery founded in 1992. Our work is motivated by our concern over the continuing threats of native species extinction, concomitant loss of biodiversity and the desertification of California’s bioregions. We believe that these trends can be reversed through the integration of ecological principles with land use planning. We provide ecological services with applications in natural lands management, landscape design-build and sustainable agriculture.

Nursery Production Responsibilities:

Oversee and direct all nursery staff.
Manage propagation, irrigation, fertilization and maintenance schedules.
Implement organic IPM programs for general and specific pests.
Conduct pesticide safety training.
Implement nursery propagation protocols for over 300 different native plant species.
Use and maintain the nursery plant inventory data base (MS Access DB).
Maintain the supply of all nursery production materials.
Oversee and participate in construction and maintenance of nursery facilities.
Coordinate plant deliveries and deliver plants as required.
Implement and manage BMPs for pest control and water quality.
Procure appropriate potting soil/test and maintain water quality. Contract Management
Manage all aspects of multiple production contracts
Continuously review the status of current projects and plant materials being grown.
Provide accurate grow times for plants requested by potential contract clients.
Communicate with customers and project managers regarding the status of their contracts.
Negotiate change orders to contracts as required to accommodate customer needs.

Required Qualifications

College degree in horticulture or related biological science (e.g. plant ecology).
Minimum five years nursery management experience.
Minimum five years native plant propagation and production experience.
Demonstrated knowledge of California native plant identification at multiple stages of development.
Good working knowledge of California native plant communities.
Strong organizational skills and proven ability to coordinate multiple complex project simultaneously.
Ability to work independently to complete specific tasks and meet inflexible deadlines.
Ability to multi-task and work in a hectic office environment with various personalities.
Excellent communication and customer relations skills.
Must be physically fit: able to stoop, bend, and repeatedly lift 35 lb
Valid driver’s license and good driving record.
Willingness to work in inclement weather (rain gear provided).

Send resume and brief cover letter to info@centralcoastwilds.com

ECI & The San Lorenzo River Parklets Project

ECI — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 20:24:23 +0000

At the corner of River Street and the Soquel Avenue Bridge, there is a serene walkway along the San Lorenzo River flanked with a beautifully and naturally planted patch of earth. This patch is the first completed “parklet” and was sponsored by The Rotary Club of Santa Cruz and designed and installed by ECI.

These areas are the result of the Adopt-A-Parklet program, which was launched in October 2015 by the Coastal Watershed Council (CWC) to enrich the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz. CWC works with local Santa Cruz businesses to sponsor individual parklet projects and provide volunteer staff to help plant and irrigate.

CWC, ECI and the City of Santa Cruz have worked together to complete the projects as well as maintain them by limiting the return of invasive plants and nurturing the reintroduced native plants. The City has been key in providing jurisdictional information on zoning limits and approved planting lists. ECI designs and prepares the ground for each parklet by removing invasives and then spreading mulch. ECI also oversees the planting process during the sponsor company work day.

Bilginsoy describes the project as a “reinvestment into the San Lorenzo River”—an ecological and esthetic restoration that will enhance recreational use. CWC is now working with Plantronics, another local business, to complete the second parklet.

Planting Day with the Rotary Club

A satellite image of all the proposed parklets along the San Lorenzo River.

Lawn Replacement and Xeriscape Project on Monterey Military Base UPDATE

ECI — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:58:33 +0000

ECI removed about two acres of lawn from a military chapel in Monterey last year and the plants are looking awesome! Browse cages are coming off and they are spreading their branches.

The goals of the project are to reduce watering by 20%, reduce use of heavy fertilizers and maximize rainwater retention rates.

There is also the added benefit of promoting California natives and indigenous plants to the Fort Ord ecology.

Last Year’s Installation

Crews installing browse protection for deer in the area.

One Year Later

Creek Pollution Disaster May Turn Into a Well Funded Habitat Restoration Project

ECI — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:39:34 +0000

This July, California Water Service Company (Cal Water) settled with both the San Francisco Bay Region of California’s Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) over the damages from a major pipe leak.

In October 2013, a Cal Water pipe broke and polluted the San Mateo and Polhemus creeks with potable water. Over several days, eight million gallons of drinking water entered the two creeks. Drinking water is treated with high levels of chlorine, which can be highly toxic to certain fish. Specifically, this Cal Water incident resulted in 276 fish deaths, 70 of which were steelhead trout, an endangered species.

Cal Water is now required to pay $505,519 to the Water Board, $20,000 to CDFW, and $1 million towards pipe replacement and creek restoration expenses. The fine will be used to perform repairs to this section of pipe and make improvements to the creeks’ habitat through restoration.

If this area is restored properly, there will be a dramatic effect on the biodiversity of the surrounding habitat corridor. Many restored natural areas end up healthier than they were before the pollution events took place. Hat Creek in Northern California is a good example. A three-year project began in 2013, restoring 1-1/2 miles of in-stream trout habitat and a recreational river trail.

The funds have not yet been allocated specifically for restoration but many community members are advocating for this cause of action and the project could become a reality in the not too distant future.

More information on the Hat Creek restoration project click here

For additional details on the Cal Water settlement visit click here

Think Twice About Letting Your Lawn Go Brown This Summer

ECI — Mon, 30 May 2016 19:01:45 +0000

Sam Greenspan, producer of 99% Invisible, covers the history and design of our American home landscape, aka our lawns. There is a deep history of psychology that keeps many Americans from converting their water loving lawns to more sustainable gardens. In this episode of 99% Invisible, the team deconstructs our love of lawns and highlights a Tampa man’s fight for the freedom to let his lawn turn brown. Listen or read below.

99% Percent Invisible #episodelawnorder

In communities across America, lawns that are brown or overgrown are considered especially heinous. Elite squads of dedicated individuals have been deputized by their local governments or homeowners’ associations to take action against those whose lawns fail to meet community standards. Call them lawn enforcement agents.

In 2008, a lawn enforcement agent stopped by a home in Bayonet Point, a subdivision in Hudson, Florida, outside of Tampa. Maybe the lawn enforcement agent snapped some photos, maybe there were some boxes ticked off a checklist. Whatever the agent’s field methods, he or she went back to lawn enforcement headquarters and sent out a letter.

The recipient of the letter was Joe Prudente, who owns the Bayonet Point home with his wife, Pat. The letter said that their lawn was too brown, too weedy, and not maintained well enough. The Prudentes had received a few of these letters before. They tried keeping a clean, green lawn. They watered it, fertilized it, and had even completely resodded their front lawn three times. But patches of grass kept turning brown. Joe Prudente decided he would not resod the lawn again.

Prudente met with his homeowners’ association, but it was not cutting him any slack. It told him if he didn’t resod his lawn, it would notify the court. Shortly thereafter, Prudente got a court order telling him to turn himself in or that he would be arrested. At 66 years old, this otherwise law-abiding retiree from Long Island presented himself to the Pasco County jail wearing a “Grandpa Gone Wild” T-shirt. He was apprehended on allegations of failing to properly maintain his lawn to community standards.

Fortunately for his wife, only Joe Prudente was listed on the mortgage—otherwise she would have landed in the slammer too. Prudente was held without bail. The only way he would be let out was if his lawn was fixed. Luckily for Prudente, the local paper had written about the arrest and detainment of a senior citizen for having a brown lawn. Word got around, and dozens of people came out to help dig up and resod the Prudentes’ lawn. Prudente was released from jail the next day.

Most cases of homeowners brushing up against “lawn enforcement” do not usually end in jail time. But Prudente was not the only person to have ended up behind bars because of a landscaping issue. Rick Yoes of Grand Prairie, Texas, spent two days in jail for having an overgrown lawn, and Gerry Suttle, a 75-year-old former city council member of of Riesel, Texas, had a warrant issued for her arrest until some neighborhood kids came by and mowed the lawn that she had been unable to take care of on her own.*

When European colonists set sail for the New World, they took grasses with them. But lawns were still mostly for rich people and, eventually, public parks. It wasn’t until the turn of the 20^th century, with the first suburbs, that lawns started appearing around the homes of the middle class. This is where the lawn shifts from being about the flagrant display of wealth to a moral force for the good of civilization.

Andrew Jackson Downing, considered by some to be the father of American landscape architecture (along with his successor, Frederick Law Olmsted), promoted the lawn as a way of beating back the chaos of city life. Downing wrote in his 1850 treatise The Architecture of Country Houses, “[W]hen smiling lawns and tasteful cottages begin to embellish a country, we know that order and culture are established.”

When the United States began to suburbanize in the 1950s, suddenly middle-class people were owning larger and larger swathes of land. Covering this land with grass was partially utilitarian—it was a cheap solution to doing something with a large piece of earth—but this connection between lawn and order grew stronger.

Today, grass is the largest irrigated crop in the United States. It comprises much of our urban fabric. A quarter of all of Franklin County, Ohio, which includes Columbus, is lawns—and that’s excluding sports fields and golf courses.

These grasses live a completely unnatural life cycle. We don’t let them grow tall enough to go to seed, but we also water and fertilize them to keep it from going dormant. We don’t let them die, but we also don’t let them reproduce. Michael Pollan writes that “Lawns are nature purged of sex and death.”

In his book Lawn People, political ecologist Paul Robbins interviewed dozens of people about their lawns. Interviewees told him that if their grass got too long, neighbors would come by and ask if their lawnmower had broken and if they needed to borrow one. People who wouldn’t mow their lawns might find an aggressive neighbor had done it for them in the middle of the night or while they were out of town.

“The free-market American neoliberal subject who does as he or she pleases would just say, ‘To hell with my neighbors! I’m just going to let my lawn grow!’ ” Robbins says. “But instead they do the Communist thing, which is collective management of what is essentially a moral commons. It’s not your lawn, it’s the whole community’s lawn, and you’re responsible for this part.”

But as much as the lawn seems to be rooted to the American landscape, we may be seeing a transition. At least, in the Western U.S., California Gov. Jerry Brown declared in 2015 that the Golden State would need to cut water use by 25 percent. “We’re in a new era,” said Brown. “The idea of your nice little green grass getting water every day—that’s gonna be a thing of the past.”

In California, the lawn is perhaps the most visible symbol of the drought. Restrictions allow people to water only two or three times a week. In California, Arizona, and Nevada, governments are actually paying homeowners to rip out their grass and replace it with artificial turf or landscaping that doesn’t need water. This 2014 “Brown Is the New Green” campaign from the Santa Clara Valley Water District in California suggests that homeowners could just let their lawns turn brown.

But if you want to keep a lush green lawn amid the drought, you can hire a lawn painting service. Xtreme Green Grass, based in Sacramento, California, manufactures a nontoxic solution that turns brown grass green. (It can also do white to emulate snow in the wintertime.) Lawn painting isn’t new, but if you’ve never heard about it, it’s because it’s generally only been used on golf courses and pro sports fields. It’s only since this most recent drought that lawn painting has come home. Xtreme Green Grass has built up a nationwide franchise, and it has a number of competitors. Many of Xtreme Green Grass’s clients are homeowners associations—so lawn painting is becoming accepted by even the strictest lawn enforcement agencies.

Perhaps we as a society are beginning to question the supremacy of the perfectly kept lawn. Now, in the dead of California’s drought, some people are berating one another for using too much water (see #droughtshaming). Although it may be good that people are becoming more conscious of water usage, the moral architecture of drought-shaming is a little too familiar. It’s just the newest trend in how people police one another’s lawns.

ECI has been converting water loving lawns for the past 25 years. Here is another article about how the Rosicrucian museum is saving an average of 4.5 million gallons of water a year after replacing their lawns with California natives. ARTICLE HERE

DredgeFest California Workshop & Landscape Tours 2016

ECI — Mon, 30 May 2016 18:01:32 +0000

DredgeFest California Workshop & Landscape Tours
Explore the present and near future of sedimentary infrastructure in the Bay-Delta.

DredgeFest California
Workshop June 13-17
Public Tour June 18 & 19

DredgeFest California combines an intensive design workshop, held at U.C. Berkeley, with two tours open to students and the public.

Our focus is the sedimentary challenges and potentials of the Bay-Delta system of San Francisco. Here, sediment-linked phenomena such as pulses, droughts, dredging, diking and reclamation all intermingle. It’s a menagerie of sedimentary events in a region bound to sediment-management practices like no other, that is now facing serious challenges born of climate change and sea level rise.

In an effort to communicate the scale of operation in these massive landscapes, two day-long tours will be held. One tour will focus on the San Francisco Bay itself and the dredging and reclamation that occurs there, while the other will address the levee-linked landscape of the Delta. These tours are open to the public and welcome to curious participants of all levels and will give an opportunity to experience these unique places first-hand.

Advanced students and regional experts are also invited to apply to participate in the workshops. Over five days, designers, local stakeholders, and experts (from academia, industry, and government) will come together to envision and respond to future sedimentary scenarios for the Bay-Delta. Workshop details and application instructions can be found at http://dredgeresearchcollaborative.org/dredgefest/workshops/

For more information, visit http://dredgeresearchcollaborative.org/dredgefest/

Organized by the Dredge Research Collaborative, DredgeFest California completes the Four Coasts project.

Central Coast Wilds Nursery Welcomes Andrew Wall

ECI — Thu, 19 May 2016 18:06:53 +0000

Andrew Wall grew up in Sunnyvale and began studying horticulture in 2007 at Cabrillo College. Focusing on Crop Production, Andrew worked for Cabrillo horticulture as a student assistant, lab assistant and most recently as the nursery manager and garden curator. Andrew also developed his horticultural skills while working at Hidden Gardens retail nursery in Aptos as well as Four Winds Growers in Watsonville. Andrew is interested in organic nursery production and California Natives and is now training to become CCW nursery manager.

ECI Staff Picks for the Best Wildflowers Destinations in Northern California

ECI — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:34:42 +0000

El Niño brought a lot of great storms and the Sierra snow pack is up dramatically compared to last year. Those heavy rains have saturated the soil and spurred one of best wildflowers seasons in years. Death Valley received a lot of attention this year for their amazing blooms. You don’t have to go that far to enjoy amazing hikes. Many of our project sites are exploding with color and have inspired our team to share their favorites. Here are a few staff recommendations to get out and enjoy:

1. Edgewood Wildflower Walks near Redwood City - Edgewood’s serpentine grasslands are renowned throughout California for their lush wildflower carpets and rich biodiversity. Free walks are led by docents at Edgewood Park and vary according to what’s in bloom. The walk covers about 3 miles, at a moderate pace with frequent stops. Walks start from the Bill & Jean Lane Education Center. Bring water, a hat, sturdy shoes, sunscreen, and a snack if you wish. Walks don’t stop for lunch, but picnic tables are usually available after the walks in the Old Stage Day Camp area.

2. Dispea Trail in Marin - This trail is perfect for everyone. It starts down by the ocean and steadily climbs through old oak groves. After the fern covered oak groves the trail opens up to blue skies and steep grasslands facing the ocean at a 45 degree angle. The trail hugs the hills and eventually dips back into beautiful redwoods and pops back into meadows and vistas.

3. Table Mountain Ecological Reserve near Oroville Lake – Created by ancient lava (basalt) flows, the approximately 3,300 acre North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve is an elevated basalt mesa with beautiful vistas of spring wildflowers, waterfalls, lava outcrops, and a rare type of vernal pool called Northern Basalt Flow Vernal Pools. Typically fissures in the basalt soak up winter rains, forming seasonal streams and waterfalls. In a few places, however, the underlying basalt is impermeable to water forming a temporary pool. Soon to dry up after rains end, only specialized plants and animals adapted to this habitat can survive over time.

4. Henry Coe State Park through the Dowdy Ranch Entrance – There are great views looking east and north to the hills of the Diablo Range. The landscape looks almost did when early explorers like Juan Bautista de Anza traversed it in 1775.

The EPA’s 8 Tools of Watershed Protection

ECI — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 19:05:05 +0000

As the El Nino rains fall this winter, we’re all reminded about watershed protection and the EPA has amazing online resources for developers and city planners.

The eight tools roughly correspond to the stages of the development cycle including initial land use planning, site design and construction, and ultimate occupancy and long-term maintenance. As a result, local watershed managers will generally need to apply some form of all eight tools in every watershed to provide comprehensive protection. A local watershed plan is often used to define how and where the eight tools are specifically applied to meet their unique water resource objectives.

1) Land Use Planning, is perhaps the most important because it involves making decisions about the amount and location of development (and new impervious cover) that occurs in a watershed. Land use planning techniques, such as watershed planning, watershed-based zoning, overlay zoning, and urban growth boundaries, are used to redirect development, preserve sensitive areas, or reduce impervious cover in a given portion of the watershed.

2) Land Conservation, involves choosing the most critical areas in a watershed to conserve in order to sustain the integrity of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Critical habitats for endangered species, aquatic corridors, hydrologic reserve areas, contiguous forests and wetlands may be important conservation areas, and can be protected via land acquisition and conservation easements, to provide permanent protection from development.

Aquatic Buffers are the third tool, and involves making choices on how to maintain the integrity of streams, shorelines, and wetlands, and protect them from encroachment. Buffers are recommended along aquatic corridors to physically protect and separate water resources from disturbance and pollution from adjacent land.

4) Better Site Design, which seeks to design development sites to create less impervious cover, conserve more natural areas, and use pervious areas to more effectively treat storm water runoff. Better Site Design affords greater protection to water resources by reducing both storm water runoff volume and pollutant loads to downstream waters.

Erosion and Sediment Control deals with the clearing and grading stage in the development cycle, when storm water runoff can deliver high sediment loads to downstream waters. This tool reduces the impact of sediment by requiring specific temporary practices to be installed at construction sites that reduce erosion and prevent sediment from entering downstream waters.

6) Storm Water Management, identifies how, when, and where to provide storm water management within a watershed, and which combination of storm water treatment practices will best meet watershed objectives. Storm water treatment practices compensate for the hydrological changes caused by new and existing development by reducing runoff volume and improving water quality.

7) Non-Storm Water Discharges, involves making decisions on how to control discharges from waste water disposal systems, illicit connections to storm water systems, pollution from household and industrial products, and other point sources of water pollution.

8) Watershed Stewardship, involves creating programs to promote private and public stewardship to sustain watershed quality. The goal of watershed stewardship is to increase public understanding and awareness about watersheds, promote better stewardship on private lands, and develop funding to sustain watershed management efforts. Each of the eight tools should be specifically applied to protect unique wetland resources in watersheds that may be vulnerable to impacts from future development.

 Source: https://cfpub.epa.gov/watertrain/moduleFrame.cfm?parent_object_id=1278

Rainwater is Expected to Rank the Highest in Consumer Demand

ECI — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 21:28:29 +0000

Sustainable design is the big trend for residential landscapes, according to the 2016 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends Survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The top trend—rainwater/graywater harvesting—reflects a growing consumer demand for beautiful residential landscapes that also save water.

The hottest sustainable design elements include rainwater/graywater harvesting (88 percent), native/adapted drought tolerant plants (85 percent) and permeable paving (77 percent).

Here are the top ten project types with the expected highest consumer demand:

Rainwater/graywater harvesting – 88%
Native plants – 86%
Native/adapted drought tolerant plants – 85%
Low-maintenance landscapes – 85%
Permeable paving – 77%
Fire pits/fireplaces – 75%
Food/vegetable gardens (including orchards, vineyards, etc.) – 75%
Rain gardens – 73%
Drip/water-efficient irrigation – 72%
Reduced lawn area – 72%

In other news, The global rainwater harvesting market is set to reach nearly $962 million by 2020, according to market research by Technavio.

The market includes three main segments: Residential, commercial and industrial. The largest in 2015 was the commercial market with 42.6%, followed by the residential segment (30.6%) and the industrial segment (26.8%).

The commercial sector is the largest market for rainwater harvesting with more than 40% of sales in 2015.

The commercial segment includes malls, hotels, educational institutions and hospitals where the use of non-potable water reuse systems can be high. Rainwater harvesting is cost-effective for buildings with large roofs and high demand for non-potable water.

The second largest market is the residential segment, which was valued at $233 million in 2015. Many local and regional governments promote residential water harvesting through grants, loans, discounts and rebates. Some localities are beginning to mandate rainwater harvesting.

Source: New Terrain newsletter

California’s New Front Yard Workshop Sold Out at UCSC Arboretum

ECI — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 23:44:12 +0000

Atop the foothills of UC Santa Cruz, the Arboretum was the perfect setting for the California Native Grasslands Association to hold the California’s New Front Yard Workshop on Thursday, February 11th, sponsored by Ecological Concerns Inc. The workshop sold out and seating was tight. Luckily, everyone at the event was excited for a day of learning.

The morning session consisted of a series of interesting lectures by seasoned professionals speaking about a variety of topics to help homeowners, landscape professionals, and public agencies alike, better understand and achieve new sustainable models for front yard landscapes.

Landscape Design: Martin Quigley, Director of Gardens and Grounds, UCSC Arboretum
Plant Species Selection: Brett Hall, California Native Plant Program Director UCSC Arboretum
Sheet Mulching and Lawn Removal: Dakotah Bertsch, Landscape Designer & Project Manager, ECI
Drip Irrigation, Rainwater and Grey Water: Jon Laslett, Senior Project Manager, ECI

In the afternoon, participants broke into groups and enjoyed hands-on demonstrations and tours from each of the presenters. This is where participants were able to enjoy the grounds of the Arboretum, get a more in-depth and hands-on sense of what their projects might look like and how to do it themselves, and discuss any lingering questions.

It was a great turn out and hopefully many of the students left with confidence to tackle their projects, inspire others, and add to the matrix of ecological landscapes in our beautiful area.

: At the entrance to the arboretum, participants mingled and talked with industry experts.

: From Left to right the Q&A session with a panel of speakers: Jon Laslett, Sr. Project Manager and Ecologist at Ecological Concerns Incorporated; Dakotah Bertsch, Landscape Designer and Project Manger at Ecological Concerns Incorporated; Martin Quigley, Director of Gardens and Grounds at UCSC Arboretum; Brett Hall, California Native Plant Program Director at UCSC Arboretum.

: Dakotah Bertsch demonstrating how to do sheet mulching properly.

Habitat Restoration Education Starts Early in South Santa Clara Valley

ECI — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 22:55:07 +0000

ECI’s Jon Laslett, Ecologist and Senior Project Manager, and Michael Friedman, Marketing Director and Project Manager, participated in a restoration day organized by Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW). The restoration day was held along the upper reaches of the Pajaro River that winds its way through an easement property managed by The Nature Conservancy. It was a sunny day with students and teachers teaming up to plant native trees and shrubs who’s genetics are unique to Pajaro River Watershed.

: STRAW led the group in safety and planting protocols before letting them loose to the restoration day.

: Students team up with teachers and parents to perform planting along the flood banks. The young plants installed today will provide over a mile of shade and habitat for future fish and frogs.

: Perfect weather for a picnic on the upper reaches of the Pajaro River.

STRAW is a program created and sustained by Point Blue Conservation Science. “STRAW’s science education emphasizes project based learning and offers an integrated learning experience for students to work together, connect to their local watershed, and be empowered by their actions.” – Point Blue

Medicinal and Edible Plants of the California Redwood Understory

ECI — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 23:00:34 +0000

There is a plethora of medicinal and edible plants living in the foggy shadows of the California Redwoods.

Below is a short list of great natives to use in your shade garden or observe in their natural environment. *

Madrone / Arbutus menziesii - Both the fruits and the flowers are edible, although the fruits are high in tannins and therefore are sometimes made into cider. Long known as bee plants, madrones provide honeybees with ample nectar and pollen and are important tree species for commercial beekeepers. Madrone wood is dense and durable, making it popular as a flooring material and an efficient fuel source. The bark has also been used to tan leather and the wood to make charcoal for gunpowder.

California Hazelnut / Corylus cornuta - People have utilized them as a rich food source for centuries, and the nuts are still grown commercially in some places. In the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas, indigenous Californians in the Muwekma Ohlone, Rumsien Ohlone, Amah Mutsun, and Ohlone/Costanoan/Esselen Nations did, and still do, eat the nuts whole or boil them to extract the flavorful oil. Hazelnut wood is used for arrows, hooks, utensils, baskets, and fishing traps.

Huckleberry / Vaccinium ovatum - Huckleberries are some of the tastiest of California’s native berries and can be eaten fresh, dried, or preserved. They are a close relative of the blueberry and have a high Vitamin C content.

Salal / Gaultheria shallon - The berries grow sweeter with autumn frosts, and can be eaten fresh or made into jams, preserves, pie fillings, or even wine. Native Americans utilized them as a regular food source, often drying them into cakes and mixing them with bear fat. The leaves can be used to flavor soups, and also have medicinal value as anti-inflammatory teas, tinctures, and poultices.

Wood Rose / Rosa gymnocarpa – The hips contain high levels of Vitamin C, as well as calcium, phosphorous, and iron. They can be eaten raw or cooked; however, it is important to first remove the seed hairs as they can cause irritation to the mouth and throat. Shoots and petals can also be eaten raw, and the seeds (hairs removed) are high in Vitamin E, good as a nutritional supplement, ground and added to flours. There are many medicinal uses for the wood rose: chewed leaves can be applied to reduce localized pain and swelling, as well as to make teas. The pliable woody stems can be bent into hoops or used to make arrows.

California Grape / Vitis californica – The grapes, enjoyed by wildlife and humans alike, can be eaten raw or made into jams and jellies. Young tendrils are also edible either raw or cooked, and tender leaves can be wrapped around other foods and baked to enhance the flavor. Native Americans use the roots and vines in basket and rope making and obtain a yellow dye from the leaves. Wild California grapes are also credited as the saviors of the European wine industry, when most of Europe’s wine grapes succumbed to a pest outbreak in the late nineteenth century. California grapes were resistant, and since then almost all commercial wine grapes produced globally have been grafted onto California grape rootstock.

Black Cap Raspberry / Rubus leucodermis - The berries are great for eating raw and for making jam (if you can get enough). The flavor is subtle, not as sweet as commercial varieties. Medicinally it is used as an astringent to stop bleeding and treat dysentery. Also the roots and leaves may act as a mild sedative.

Thimble Berry / Rubus parviflorus – The sweet and tangy fruits ripen to a deep red in summer, and can be eaten fresh, dried, or as preserves. Shoots can be peeled and eaten as a vegetable or made into a tonic herbal tea. The bark can be used to make soap, and dried and powdered leaves can be used to prevent scarring from burns.

Woodland Strawberry / Fragaria vesca - In addition to being a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants, both the berries and the leaves of the woodland strawberry act as natural bleach, whitening tooth enamel as well as preventing the buildup of tartar. The leaves and roots were used as far back as the Middle Ages for tooth and gum health. All parts of the plant have been used medicinally, as digestive aids (roots, stalks), astringents (leaves), and antibacterial salves (leaves, juice).

Yerba Buena / Satureja douglasii / Clinopodium douglasii - The small, shiny green aromatic leaves have been used in soothing teas, as a cooking herb, or in potpourris and perfumes. Yerba Buena – the common name of related plants found on several continents – has long been used medicinally by Native American, Mexican, and European peoples for a variety of digestive ailments.

California Spikenard /Aralia californica - Spikenard berries can be harvested and eaten fresh, cooked, or dried. Like its ginseng relatives, is used medicinally as a tonic. The roots are used as an anti-inflammatory remedy and as a cough suppressant and expectorant.

* Please do not harvest plants on public lands without checking local and state regulations first.

Extending Moore Creek Preserve into a Westside Front Yard

ECI — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 23:45:00 +0000

This residential client, with a home overlooking beautiful Moore Creek Preserve in Santa Cruz, requested ECI’s help to transform their small front lawn and patio into a more ecological landscape. The client’s goals were to remove the lawn, reduce the footprint of the hardscape patio, create more space for gardening, and to use native plants to extend the natural beauty and habitat of the Preserve into their own yard.

ECI’s landscape designer, Dakotah Bertsch, worked with the client to develop a plan to incorporate their goals into a cohesive vision for the landscape, working in additional ecological features such as a rain garden to harvest storm water, permeable decomposed granite paths, and a rain water harvesting tank for water storage. Grade changes for the rain garden were achieved using boulders and dry-stacked stone retaining walls, and all soil was kept onsite in order to minimize waste and enhance the sustainability of the project. The lawn and excavated soil from the rain garden were recycled in place to create planting mounds for a palette of carefully selected native plants. Much of the nursery stock used was grown at Central Coast Wilds, ECI’s nursery division, with seeds and cuttings collected from local watersheds.

The installation took a couple of weeks to complete, and included demolition of their older landscape, light grading for the rain garden, construction of the paths, and planting. The landscape was polished off with wood chip mulch to help retain moisture and build soil. Since installation, the plants have started to grow in wonderfully, and we have seen butterflies and other insects enjoying the new habitat. The client has been very involved in gardening and maintenance, and has even opted to get their landscape rated as a Monterey Bay Friendly Landscape – certifying that their landscape is ecologically beneficial, and qualifying them for numerous local discounts. We are excited to see this project continue to serve our client and the community at large!

Rain Gardens and Bioretention Areas – A Quick Guide to Post Construction Water Quality Treatment

ECI — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 20:42:17 +0000

Rain gardens and bioretention areas are permanent landscape features that are designed and constructed using Low Impact Development (LID) principals. Professionals and residents around the Bay Area are installing these systems to reduce stormwater pollutants and to protect our limited natural resources. Both act as water quality improvement measures by capturing and filtering stormwater before it enters creeks, rivers and streams.

The ultimate goals are to minimize sedimentation while removing pollutants from stormwater, allow for groundwater infiltration and minimize the landscapes irrigation needs. The difference between rain gardens and bioretention areas is size. Bioretention areas are larger and are used in commercial or agricultural settings for satisfying municipal permitting requirements. Rain gardens are generally smaller and emphasize collection and filtration of residential stormwater; permits are usually not required. Another helpful resource is the C-3 Handbook published by the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program.

Both of these post construction measures can involve the application of biotreatment soil. It depends on the infiltration objectives and the infiltration rate of the native soil. For smaller residential rain gardens, you could also use a good compost. A standard biotreatment soil is composed of approximately 65% sand and 35% compost. A biotreatment soils main purpose is to allow for faster infiltration rates and provide interface with the plants roots and remove pollutants. Biotreatment soil is installed at the end of the construction process in order to protect it from potentially damaging construction-related impacts, including runoff of silt, debris, or other organic matter.

Because they adapt well to fluctuating wet and dry soil conditions, drought tolerant and/or California native plants are then planted in the biotreatment soil layer. Particularly good grasses and perennials include those listed below.
• Meadow Barley (Hordeum brachyantherum)
• Creeping Wildrye (Leymus triticoides)
• Common Rush (Juncus patens)
• California Aster (Aster chilensis)
• Golden Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium californicum)
• Creeping Spikerush (Eleocharis macrostachya)
• Western Goldenrod (Euthamia occidentalis)
• Rosilla or Sneezeweed (Helenium puberulum)
• California Tiger Lily (Lilium pardalinum)
• Scarlet Monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis)

Local native plant nurseries are the best resource for recommending the most suitable plants for your location. In order to ensure that the bioretention and rain gardens function properly, they should be inspected and maintained regularly to ensure that there is no excessive sediment buildup, and that there is a dense vegetative cover.

Bill Halleck has over 30 years of experience in landscape architecture, land conservation and habitat restoration. Ecological Concerns Incorporated is a landscape contractor and Central Coast Wilds is its native plant nursery. Both are located in Santa Cruz, CA. Contact Bill with questions or comments at bhalleck@ecologicalconcerns.com.