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July 01, 2007
Down and Dirty With Invasive Non-Native Soil
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| Dr. Frolinger is shown above working on one of the most
expansive dirt restoration projects in Chico history. His group the "Troubadours
of Terra Firma" have been working on the issue of invasive dirt in Bidwell
Park for years, and have nearly completed the city funded project near
the Manzinita-Vallombrosa intersection in Lower Park. "A lot of people think we are building a pedestrian bridge, but this is about removing invasive soils from the creek bed" Frolinger said. Using tweezers his group identifies and separates soil by type. Non-native dirt is then transported out of the park to holding areas. When asked how the dirt arrives at it's current location Frolinger spins into an enthusiastic arm waving soliloquy. "Some of the dirt is transported by natural occurrence, such as floods and bird droppings. But much of it occurs due to the proximity of trails and human interaction with thin native soils. The advent of high traction tennis shoes have caused a tremendous increase in the deposition of soils through man-made causes. Beyond that, human caused global warming has influenced soil deposition through a complex chemical process known as "evaporation", where soil is made less dense and more easily transported into the park by non-native invasive wind." Frolinger said. Frolinger continued, "I envision large strips of adhesive similar to that on "post-it notes" at all entrances to Bidwell Park. Cars, bikes, horses, and pedestrians would cross these strips and have non-native soils removed from contact surfaces as they enter. We really need to start looking at the park with a "clean room" mentality." |
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| Frolinger explained how he determines whether soil is
native or invasive. "If you look at these two photos of soil [shown above
for the reader] the one on the left is clearly native soils. On the right
we see dramatic differences in content and coloration that denote invasive
non-native soils. Some of the most aggressive invasive soils seem to come
from the nether regions of nudists frolicking around Salmon Hole. This
is one of the reasons we created our bumper sticker "Keep Upper Park
Pantsed". Unfortunately, when we came up with that slogan, we didn't
know that "pantsing" meant dropping someone's pants in embarrassing circumstances
without the pantsee's foreknowledge." The city funded restoration project is designed to restore the soils in one area of Big Chico Creek to a pristine condition. "We're attempting to restore the creek bed to its state on August 24th, 1843, at 3PM. After exhaustive research using Google, aspects of the science of phrenology, and an inventory of shovel blades from across the north state, we've determined that date represents the optimal health of the soil" stated Frolinger. Restoration of the entire creek system is expected to be completed in early 2015, at a cost of $23 million. The completion date could be delayed if flooding, bird droppings, moderate winds, or human activity in or near the creek occurs during that time frame. |
Posted by Lon at July 1, 2007 08:22 AM
Comments
Oh, where to start? So many opportunities here for puns.
I think we'll need to have a new place in the park for these people called simply: "dirthole"
They can meet there and, uh, throw clods at each other until a master dirt management plan is worked out.
Can RDA funds be applied to restoring "dirt blight"?
Posted by: Anthony Watts at July 1, 2007 06:29 PM