#FRENCH BROOM MULCH HOW TO#

Also, when it blooms in the summer, it releases hundreds of seeds that can geminate over decades. The broom can grow up to 12 feet and become dry and woody, perfect fuel for flame. Martin Matarrese, vice-chair of the WPAD, said he had the volunteer church group focus Sunday on invasive French broom because it’s possible to get rid of the plant by the roots in the winter without having to use chainsaws or poison. Piper said that plan will likely prioritize reducing fire risk over bringing back native habitats and will point to ways volunteers like the ones Sunday can help make Oakland safer. In February, the city will begin to develop a vegetation management plan that will be completed sometime around December 2018. The WPAD expired in 2014 after losing support from Oakland voters but it still has some money to disburse for fire prevention projects, Piper said. That’s why it’s important to have brush clearings like Sunday’s group effort, said Sue Piper, chair of Oakland’s Wildfire Prevention Assessment District (WPAD). Should a fire similar to the 1991 Oakland Firestorm that killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes whip through the area, the entire Montclair Village and its residents would be in danger. The open space behind the sports field is right between the Caldecott Tunnel and Montclair. Parishioners believe in a heavenly father and mother and, Altansukh said, “as mother loves her children more than herself, we love the world more than ourselves and serve it from our hearts.” They place water pumps in Africa, provide disaster relief, and the Hayward branch of the church also does blood donations. “Everything we’re doing here - mulching, weeding and cutting flammable brush - is to prevent forest fires,” said Tim Altansukh, a church member from Hayward.Īltansukh explained that the church, which has 2,500 parishes in 175 countries across the world, has a strong volunteering mission.

#FRENCH BROOM MULCH HOW TO#

A group of teens discussed how to manipulate a particularly stubborn root out of the ground in one spot while others tossed cut broom to their team members to stack on the piles. Halfway through their mission to uproot French broom and other invasive plants, there were piles of cut weeds 5 feet high dotting the landscape near the North Oakland Sports Field.

OAKLAND - More than 120 members of the Hayward World Mission Society Church of God grabbed pickaxes, loppers and root extractors Sunday to remove dangerous fire brush in an Oakland hills area once charred in the 1991 Oakland Firestorm.

French broom mulch