California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week

California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week (CIWAW) is an annual event that brings attention to the problems caused by invasive plants in California, and to the work of local groups that work to protect our natural areas and rangelands. In 2004, the state legislature signed a proclamation declaring California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week to begin the third Monday of July each year. CIWAW is an excellent occasion for WMAs and other local groups to hold public awareness events and to visit the offices of elected representatives to let them know about local weed projects. The next Invasive Weeds Awareness Week is July 16-20, 2007.

To help you organize activities for Weed Week, Cal-IPC has prepared a How-To Guide of Weed Week Strategies (Word) with event ideas, examples of press releases and county resolutions, tips for taking local legislators on a tour, and information on organizing community work days.
Cal-IPC outreach materials can be especially useful during CIWAW.
Print and display the 2007 Weed Week Poster and add your local event information to publicize California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week.

Scheduled events for 2007

Is your organization holding a work day, exhibit, or tour on invasive plants for Weed Week? Contact us to post your event and increase your publicity! Please include the date, time, location, activity, and contact information.

San Diego County

Managing Invasive Weeds in San Diego County: Carl Bell, the UC Cooperative Extension Regional Advisor on Invasive Plants, will present an update on the biology and ecology of invasive weeds in San Diego County and methods for their control. 2 hrs of continuing education credit will be available from the California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation. Tuesday July 17, 2007 – 7 pm, San Diego, Balboa Park, Casa del Prado, Room 104.

Lake Tahoe Basin

Lake Tahoe Basin Invasive Weeds Tour: Friday, July 20, 9:00am - 12:30pm, South Lake Tahoe Area. Visit five sites to better understand the impacts of invasive aquatic and terrestrial weeds, what is being done to stop their establishment and spread, and how to help detect new infestations and species in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Sponsored by the Lake Tahoe Basin Invasive Weeds Coordinating Group, University of California Cooperative Extension and Tahoe Resource Conservation District. Download a PDF of the flyer here.

Past CIWAW Highlights

Demonstrating new technologies for controlling invasive plants.

Photo courtesy Janet Klein, MMWD

Groups around the state used a variety of programs to educate local citizens on invasive plants. The following is a sample of events from California Weeds Awareness Week, July 2006. Are we missing your group’s event? Send a short description of it to info@cal-ipc.org.

On the border of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, Friends of Five Creeks held volunteer work parties on Cerrito Creek to tackle the explosion of bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) that had completely covered about 70 feet of bank and was spreading downstream
The Marin Municipal Water District and Marin/Sonoma Weed Management Area organized a workshop with demonstrations of “New Technologies to Control Invasive Weeds on Public Lands and Watersheds”.
The local government channel in Santa Barbara ran several videos on invasive weeds provided by the Santa Barbara Weed Management Area.
The San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society had a speaker at their monthly meeting to discuss “The War on Weeds: Protecting California’s Biodiversity”.
The San Luis Obispo County Weed Management Area sponsored a Board of Supervisors Resolution declaring July 17-23 Invasive Weed Awareness Week in San Luis Obispo County; published an article on the problems caused by invasive weeds in several local newspapers; and staffed a SLO County WMA display board at the Thursday night Farmer's Market (one of the largest farmer's markets in the State).
The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority in the Santa Monica Mountains brought volunteers from their local REI store to remove weeds in Franklin Canyon.
In Sonoma County, Russian Riverkeeper held a workday to remove invasive plants from riparian areas.
The Tuolumne County portion of the Central Sierra Partnership Against Weeds presented a Noxious Weed Resolution to the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors on July 17, 2006.

2005 Highlights

Friends of Five Creeks, Invasive Weeds Week 2005

Photo courtesy Susan Schwartz

Highlights from Weeds Awareness Week 2005:

Friends of Five Creeks in Alameda County removed blackberries, Cape ivy, and other invasives -- along with litter and shopping carts -- from a derelict, weed-choked reach of Cerrito Creek.
Lake Tahoe Basin Weed Coordinating Group sponsored a "Sweep Broom out of Tahoe" event. Because Scotch broom poses a threat to Lake Tahoe's water quality and creates a fire hazard, the Lake Tahoe Basin Weed Coordinating Group asked Tahoe residents to uproot their Scotch broom plants and bring them in for a free replacement plant.
Modoc County Weed Management Area held its annual weed tour focusing on four major A-rated noxious weeds, and a workshop for local backyard weed warriors focusing on "Pretty Weeds" that are very invasive.
Redwoods National Park held a two-hour hike with some active manual control. The event was a front page story the next day. Park employees also gave two presentations at the visitor's center on Scotch broom, periwinkle, English ivy, and Cape ivy.
The Return of the Natives project at California State University-Monterey Bay held a community weed volunteer event in the creeks of Salinas.
Santa Barbara County aired five programs on Santa Barbara County's government access TV during July, focusing on arundo, brooms, pampas grass, and yellow starthistle.
San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society featured a presentation on the San Diego County Weed Management Area at its chapter meeting, while Carlsbad Watershed Network launched their "No Invasives In My Back Yard (NIIMBY)" program, with tours held at two weed removal sites to educate local residents.

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