Saturday Workday
Location: Crossover Trail and Bluff Trail
Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (FFRP) is planning an ice plant pulling work party Saturday May 17, 2025, 10 AM – 12 PM. This is a great opportunity to help restore our beloved Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, catch up with old friends, make new friends, and get a great workout! And even after our amazing progress removing iceplant over the last several years, I promise, there is still plenty of ice plant to go around!
Join us where the Crossover Trail meets the Bluff Trail, Saturday May 17, at 10 AM. Marvin Josephson will have a white truck set up there with wheelbarrows, etc. The closest parking is at the North Windsor Bluff Trail entrance. Our work area will be along the bluff between the Arch Trail and the Crossover Trail.
No experience necessary, we’ll show you how it's done. Pulling iceplant really is hard work, but we all work at our own pace, no competition, and every little bit helps. Just wear sturdy shoes, clothes you don't mind getting grubby, a good pair of gloves, and your favorite clippers if you have any. If not, no worries, we have a few loaners. And please bring a sustainable water bottle. Marvin will have a 2 gallon jug of filtered water on site to refill. And, if you have a wheelbarrow and don't mind bringing it, that would be great.
We are often asked, why remove iceplant from Fiscalini Ranch Preserve? Iceplant is at the very top of the list of invasive species on the original survey when our Preserve was created 25 years ago. Iceplant is not a California native plant, it was introduced into California in the early 1900s for erosion control along railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. With shallow roots and branches climbing over each other, and heavenly laden with salty water, it becomes very heavy. This causes large mats of the ice plant to spall off steep surfaces, taking nutrients and topsoil along with it, especially damaging along our coastal bluffs. Iceplant competes aggressively for space with native plants, smothers protected habitats like our coastal cliffs, increases soil salinity and leads to more rapid erosion.
Spread the news, invite your friends, the more the merrier!
Thank you all for your help in preserving and restoring the Ranch!
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