Update:

The WMA was active until 2011 when state funding was lost. Limited funding awards for noxious weed control resumed 2018/2019. Current projects involve regulatory noxious weed control and eradication projects in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Additional information regarding these recent efforts may be obtained by contacting county WMA contacts.

Outreach:

Publications

• Yellow Starthistle treatment brochure
• Noxious Weed Coloring Book
• Alameda Contra-Costa WMA Project Summary 1998-2003

Events

• Yellow Starthistle Field Trip
• Resource Conservation District Annual Weed Workshops

Other

• Poster at 2017 Cal IPC Symposium – Cuscuta japonica Control and Eradication Efforts in Alameda County 2015-2017
• Invasive Weed Awareness Day at Capitol 2008
• Annual Alameda County & Contra Costa County Fair Displays

Projects:

  Integrated yellow starthistle management in Alameda County

• This project is located in South/Eastern Portion Alameda County and focuses on purple starthistle and Yellow Starthistle. The area treated covers 2,004 acres. Methods are control are chemical, cultural and burning. Open Space, wild lands and grazing lands are being protected through this endeavor. Project partners: Public and Private Landowners

  Alameda & Contra Costa Counties yellow starthistle Project

• This project combines the efforts of both counties to cover 300,000 acres. Yellow starthistle is being controlled through the release of biological control agents; Bangasternus orientalis, Eustenopus villosus, Urophora sirunaseva, Chaetorellia succinea. Reductions of invasive yellow starthistle populations in open space and grazing lands with the aid of yellow starthistle natural predators. Project partners: Private and Public Landowners.

   Integrated yellow starthistle Management in Contra Costa County

• The focus of this project is Tassajara Creek & Alhambra Creek Watersheds, which covers 4350 acres. By controlling yellow starthistle grazing lands and open space are being preserved. Methods of control are chemical and cultural. Project partners: Private and Public Landowners.

   Noxious weed control in Tilden Regional Park

• Twenty acres are being controlled from various weeds (i.e. leafy spurge and Scotch broom) in the East Bay Regional Park District. The methods for control are non-chemical. Goals are the protections of park land by removal of invasive species, 3 workshops for vegetation/Land managers. Project partners: Public and Private Landowners.

   Wavy-Leaved Gaura, Barbed Goatgrass removal

• Area being treated are Camp Parks, Marciel Ranch, Alameda County, about 300 acres. Species controlled in this endeavor are Wavy Leaved Guara and Barbed Goatgrass, through chemical and mechanical treatments. Strategic goals are to protecting open space & grazing lands by removal of locally distributed invasive species .Private and Public Landowners.

Partners:

• Contra Costa Department of Agriculture
• Alameda Department of Agriculture
• Contra Costa Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Contra Costa Resource Conservation District
• East Bay Regional Park District
• Alameda County University of California Cooperative Extension
• Contra Costa University of California Cooperative Extension
• Contra Costa Public Works Department
• Roddy Ranch Golf Club
• Alameda Resource Conservation District
• Alameda Public Works Department
• Shelter Belt Builders
• California Department of Food & Agriculture Integrated Pest Control
• Mt. Diablo State Park
• Contra Costa County Public Works
• Contra Costa Water District
• City of Walnut Creek
• City of Concord
• San Francisco Public Utilities Commission/ Cattleman’s Association & Sunol Valley Rancher
• California Department of Transportation
• Contra Costa Farm Bureau
• Contra Costa Water District
• Zone 7 Flood & Water Control District
• Alameda County Farm Bureau
• Friends of Five Creeks
• Alhambra Creek Watershed Committee
• California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter
• East Bay Municipal Utility District
• Golden Gate Audubon Society
• Concord Navel Weapons Station
• Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation
• Alameda County University of California Cooperative Extension