Eradicating Algerian Sea Lavender in San Diego

I know I post a lot here about news stories, but I thought I would start including some of the things that I’m involved with on a personal level as well. Here goes.

I’ve volunteered with the San Diego River Park Foundation for a number of years now. And I’m really excited about this latest development, at least as far as my involvement with the organization goes. I’ve been working with a couple interns on an infestation of Algerian sea lavender (Limonium ramosissimum). This is an invasive of Mediterranean origin that plagues California estuaries from here in San Diego up the coast to San Francisco.

As an exotic or invasive, it hasn’t been around a very long time, so strategies for eliminating it have yet to be developed. Our first step has simply been to figure out exactly where it is. So far Winnie and Kayla, the two interns, have mapped out where the sea lavender is growing. They are also investigating strategies that have been used to eliminate similar exotics and exotic plants that are found in similar estuary environments.

Where the Algerian sea lavender has encroached in the estuary of Dog Beach at the mouth of the San Diego River