Summary
The City owned Railroad Forest area is ten acres of which
approximately eight acres is covered with dense blackberries. Acacia and Scotch
Broom are also prevalent. In among these plants are old railroad tracks, some
shapely native trees and Calder Creek.
Initial work would be done using a tractor with a loading bucket
and rotary mulching mower behind. The bucket is used to push down the berries
and compress the masses that reach ten feet in many areas. The mower would
grind the berries into a rough mulch. The tractor would be assisted by a man on
the ground. He is there to cut and remove the broken down tree branches mixed
in among the blackberries and to provide another set of eyes for the work.
The tractor work would remove the majority of the berries
but not all. It would provide avenues into and around the thickets, but because
of existing trees, rough terrain, low branches etc. areas are inaccessible.
Clearing these areas and pulling vines out of trees is hand work. This is where
the volunteer hand labor takes over the removal.
Seeding
As areas are cleared the ground will be seeded with native plant
seed. The seed among other things will be provided by a local environmental
contractor, Prunuske Chatham Inc, together with oversight from their staff of
environmental consultants.
Regrowth
The regrowth from the berry root balls will be eliminated by
spot spraying in mid May, using Garlon 4, a broad leaf herbicide labeled for
this application. This herbicide will not effect grasses. This work will be
supervised by Dante DelPrete, who is a State Certified Applicator, and familiar
with this product. (his concern was public works is short staffed.) My estimate
is that this will cost the City $1,000 for treating four acres.
This will complete phase one of the project. Once the grass is up, once you can walk
through the property, see the trees and shrubs that are there, then you can
thoughtfully assess what should happen next. Once the land is cleaned and
planted with grass, that may be enough. Perhaps only a bench by the creek
should be added.
Timing
The optimum time for doing this work is in dry periods of
the winter months, because:
*Most of the leaves are off and you
can see into the thickets and see what you are doing.
*The grass seed
needs spring rain to develop.
*State Fish and
Game have restricted machine work to this time.
Organizers
This project is organized by Lynn Deedler, with field work
supervised by Lynn and Chuck Sackett. We both have extensive experience in
doing this kind of work, and we see eye to eye on how to accomplish it. Chuck
is recognized as the best landscape designer and builder in Sonoma County.
Clare Najarian is the volunteer coordinator. Roger Wilson is the Analy High School
volunteer coordinator. Many
environmental professionals have offered to help.
Insurance
To satisfy the REIC requirements for both liability and
workman’s compensation insurance for those working with power tools, employees
of Chuck Scakett’s landscape business, Apple Blossom Nursery, will do the work
and will be paid their regular wages.
Hand work volunteers will sign a liability release, and are cover by
REIC.
Cost
The cost to the City of Sebastopol will be for only these
employees, permits, some equipment rental, and other direct expensive. Most equipment will be provided by Lynn
Deedler. First year estimate $3,000 to
$5,000.
What will be
accomplished
Four acres cleaned and planted this year is the estimate.
There are many unknowns; what is in there, weather, and particularly what the
volunteers accomplish. Along with a list of prior workers, ten responded
following a newspaper story. It is anticipated that once work starts, they will
come. Once the City makes a commitment to support this project the scheduling
and volunteer recruitment can begin.
Time is short.
