The historic swinging bridge in Arroyo Grande is an iconic part of the city, but beneath it, an unwanted invader is taking over the local ecosystem.
It was a quiet Saturday morning near the Arroyo Grande historic swinging bridge, but just below, local volunteers were fighting against an environmental danger hidden in plain sight: English Ivy.
Lucas Sidun volunteered with his classmates from Arroyo Grande High School.
“There's just tons of vines taking over the trees, and we're out here cutting them and disposing of them so we can make the ecosystem better for the native species," Sidun said.
Hallie Richard, one of the organizers of the cleanup, says the ivy does more than take up space in the creek.
“The ivy will crawl up the trunks of the trees and pull down trees," Richard said. "That causes a hazard for flooding.”
Richard is the Executive Director at the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District. They worked with the city of Arroyo Grande and other environmental groups to wipe out this hazard before what meteorologists are calling a historic El Niño hits the Central Coast.
The district works from the Morro Bay Watershed all the way to the Santa Maria River to help keep fire- and flood-prone areas in check.
“We focus on conservation of resources, especially in times like this where we're facing a really big flood or we're facing drought conditions," Richard said.
By hacking away at the invasive ivy, the volunteers are giving native plants room to grow before the storms hit.
“The willows and the cottonwoods and the box elder trees, their roots help to stabilize the bank," she said. "They're kind of drought tolerant. So they're able to ebb and flow with our droughts and our heavy, rainy winters.”
But volunteers said they’re not just cleaning up the creek to get ready for the storms. Some participants, like the students from AG High School, gave up their Saturday so they could make a true impact on their community.
Juliette Lindsey is one of the students volunteering from AG High School.
“It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something because I spend a lot of time learning about this, like in our club that we're in and in AP Environmental, which we're all in," she said. "Going out there and actually doing something that I'm really passionate about, something that I really like ... it makes me feel like I'm making a difference."
To learn more about the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District and check out their next volunteer opportunity, visit their website.
