LAKEPORT – Clear Lake Trowel & Trellis Garden Club (CLTTGC) voted during the May meeting to donate $200 to the expanded Penny Pines Reforestation and Restoration Fund, Project II.

The program began in 2007. The first project was funded May 1, 2009, with a donation of $5,700.

Garden clubs across the state donated to this fund. Contributions are made in $100 increments, checks made out to California Garden Club Inc. (CGCI), deposited in a restricted CGCI account. Projects are considered in the $5,000 to $20,000 range.

For Project I the CGCI Restoration Chairman contacted the US Forest Service Region 5 Headquarters in California to find which National Forest had the greatest need at this time.

The reply was the Cleveland National Forest for tamarisk removal, an invasive plant species (salt cedar) from Eurasia, and planting with native plant species on Cottonwood and La Pasta Creeks in San Diego County.

According to information provided by CGCI, tamarisk produces dense thickets of 3,000 plants per acre to a height of 25 feet, the deep extensive root system draws salts from ground water.

Salts are excreted through leaf glands and distributed on the ground increasing the salinity of the soil preventing germination of many native plants.

This produces one of the highest evaporation rates per acre of any plant, lowering the water table and drying up springs, wetlands and riparian areas.

Leaf litter increases the intensity and frequency of wildfires. The fires stimulate the growth of tamarisk but kill native plants.

Anyone interested in more information or in donating to this program through Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club contact Penny Pines Chair Ann Blue at 707-263-5854.

Clear Lake Trowel & Trellis Garden Club is a member of Mendo-Lake District, California Garden Club Inc., Pacific Region and National Garden Clubs Inc.

Ann Blue is Penny Pines chair for the Clear Lake Trowel & Trellis Garden Club.