On Thursday 7th October in the Ekoetxea in Busturia the fifth meeting of the Work Group on the fight against the invasive grass was held. The meeting was organized by LifeStopCortaderia and it is the first time it has been held in the Basque Country. Despite the fact that pampas grass is all over the coastal areas of the Basque countries there are only five Basque town-halls, Bermeo, Gernika, Arrigorriaga, Irun and Hendaia, that have signed up to this Life Project. The Gipuzkoa Foru Aldundia has signed up to it and although the Bizkaia Foru Aldundia hasn`t signed up to the project, the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve has embarked on a four-year project to control the pampas grass in this area of special ecological value.
It was an intensive day with many different people and groups, including our friend Jon Hidalgo of Lurgaia, relating their experiences and experiments at combating pampas grass and other invasive species. Obviously it is impossible to summarize everything that was mentioned in this work group but the most relevant for us is the example of Bermeo town-hall. Inspired by a talk by a university professor in 2009 Bermeo town-hall started a modest programme on a small budget to control the pampas grass in Bermeo. Now there are no large accumulations of pampas grass but every year a company has a contract to remove any pampas grass, and this year an information leaflet has been distributed and a course organized to show people how to deal with the problem.
This is something which every municipality that has large amounts of pampas grass should be involved in. For example, in its local news bulletin Arrieta town-hall has provided some information on how people can get rid of pampas grass and after BBT carried out an action in Fruiz the municipal worker was very active in controlling the pampas grass in the area near the new flats. But unfortunately many other town-halls have hardly done anything. As for BBT, we will continue to work with Emaus to help eliminate pampas grass in the area but unless we get support it will be more symbolic than anything else. And this year we intend to write to all the town-halls to inform them of the problem and of the need to take action.
