Razing Cane

For weeks, residents of this rural community have been battling a formidable enemy called Arundo donax.

The war has been fierce. Armed with chain saws and other cutting tools, the Silverado soldiers have fought a giant reed that towered 25 to 30 feet above them and turned stream banks into a jungle.

There were casualties: One soldier burned out his chain saw; another got poison oak.

But the reed-slayers declared victory Sunday with a tailgate party celebrating the removal of an estimated 165 tons of the plant.

Their effort cleared the banks of Silverado Creek just ahead of the winter rains, expected to be unusually heavy this year.

“This was a Herculean effort,” said Sherry Meddick, who helped to organize the six-week Silverado Creek Project with an army of volunteers from the canyon community’s 350 households. More than 100 residents joined up, Meddick said.

No one at the creek-side party expressed much sympathy for the vanquished vegetation.

“I’m glad to see it out of here,” said Gene Robinson, a 20-year canyon resident who spent four Saturdays hauling it away. “You just can’t get rid of it. It’s like a giant lawn. It keeps coming back.”

At first glance, the bamboo-like reed looks docile, offering a lettuce-green landscape along the waterways of Southern California.

But to those who know it, the fast-growing reed means trouble. It spreads quickly along rivers and streams, forming a virtual wall.

“You can’t walk through it. You can’t stick your hand through it. You can’t see through it,” Meddick said. Such growth can choke out native plants and clog the flow of water--not a pleasant prospect given that some experts think this winter will be one of the stormiest in a century.

In Silverado Canyon, clogged streams can mean damaged homes and flooded roads. During a memorable 1969 flood, Meddick said, every bridge in the canyon and most of the main road washed out.

So with El Nino in mind, residents rallied to clear the reeds from about 2 1/2 miles of Silverado Creek. They had help from the Orange County Fire Authority, parolees from the state Department of Corrections, and volunteers from Calvary Church of the Canyons, Orangewood Adventist Academy and Joplin Boys School.

Some workers cut down the reeds; some carried them away. Others made sandwiches for the workers--and resident Ann Collar cooked 40 pounds of potato salad for the cause.

They finished just in time.

Rain is expected in Orange County today, followed by intermittent showers through Wednesday, said Mark Moede, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

But the skies were clear Sunday as Silverado residents toasted each other and celebrated how effectively their community pulled together.

Canyon dwellers may have a variety of occupations, but they share a love for their rural community, Meddick said. And they have learned to help one another.

“You hear a kid scream, you don’t care whose kid it is. You just get out and fix it,” Meddick said. “Living out here carries some responsibility.”

Another resident, Joe Lamanno, recalled that there was a flood soon after he moved to the canyon in the mid-1970s.

When he saw neighbors rushing to sandbag the creek, “it was an eye-opener to me,” Lamanno said.

This year, he donated 25 or 30 hours to the cane-clearing cause.

“It’s something that needed to be done,” he said.