Home About Us News Offices Contact Us
Go
Services Projects Resource Center Careers
Headlines
Print This PagePrint This Page
Send to a FriendSend to a Friend
Turning Weed-Infested Field into Oak Woodlands Earns Dudek, NCTD Environmental Award

Encinitas, Calif. – September 23, 2008 – When the Sprinter light rail construction claimed 74 oak trees, North County Transit District (NCTD) replaced the lost trees with nearly 400 coast live oaks elsewhere along the Oceanside-to-Escondido rail corridor and a neighboring creek. For their innovative habitat restoration project, NCTD and Dudek earned the prestigious 2008 Honor Award from the American Public Works Association’s (APWA) San Diego & Imperial Counties Chapter.

“The Sprinter provides a valuable public service by transporting thousands of passengers each day,” said Eric Kosty with NCTD. “We’re pleased to be recognized for our efforts in enhancing oak woodland habitat, which contributed to the rail project’s success.”

“Prior to creating the oak woodland habitat, the site was overrun with invasive weed species including dense patches of mustard and fennel and a large stand of pampas grass,” said Paul Walsh, a Dudek landscape architect and habitat restoration specialist. “We replaced this with coast live oak woodland habitat. The process included mulching the weeds in place, which not only helped to control erosion in the interim, but used the weeds’ biomass to help prevent further weed germination and growth.”

Some of the perennial weeds required follow up spot treatments with a relatively environmentally-friendly systemic herbicide that photo-degrades within hours. Once the three to six feet tall weeds were mulched, a temporary above-grade irrigation system was installed. The irrigation system utilizes low-flow bubblers that dribble into stand pipes placed next to the trees. The stand pipes take the water directly to the tree’s root zone, which maximizes water efficiency by avoiding surface evaporation and wind, which is frequency encountered when using traditional sprinkler systems in large open areas and hillsides.

In 2007, NCTD and Dudek won an APWA award for converting a deserted trailer park into new wetlands to compensate for wetlands lost during Sprinter construction.

About Dudek
Dudek is a California-focused engineering and environmental consulting corporation that creatively solves regulatory challenges for municipal agencies and major land owners. The firm helps clients plan, design, construct and manage successful infrastructure and environmental projects that balance regulatory mandates and technical requirements within financial and scheduling goals. Founded in 1980, Dudek is headquartered in Encinitas in San Diego County with offices in Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Placer counties. For more information, visit www.dudek.com or e-mail info@dudek.com.

Contact:
Christine Clinton
Dudek
760.479.4275
cclinton@dudek.com

  Dudek©2006    Site Map    Newsletter Sign Up