The Council of Watershed Health, in partnership with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation is working to remove four acres of arundo donax in high-priority target areas within the San Gabriel watershed to increase water availability in the basin and enhance native habitat. Additionally, the Council for Watershed Health will update its baseline survey to inform plans for removing more acreage of this highly invasive plant. This initiative is part of a larger statewide effort to eliminate this detrimental species.
Arundo donax, a giant cane plant, has been listed as one of the top 100 Worst Invaders of the World by the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union. It proliferates along waterways across much of coastal and central California. Arundo has significant negative impacts on water availability, water quality, habitat, native species, fire regimes, and infrastructure, and it transpires water at a rate five times higher than native vegetation.