In last issue's story, "Watershed Committee Has New Chairman," the Messenger got its acronyms confused, and misidentified the agency that used chemical herbicides in Topanga Canyon: it was the MRCA (the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority), not the RCD (the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains), that used herbicides against non-native plants in Summit Valley Ed Edelman park last January. The RCD had no part in the decision to use herbicides, or in their application in that instance. For more details on the RCD as an organization and its policies with regard to herbicide use, please see RCD Board President Nancy Helsley's letter below:
Dear Editor,
No herbicide has been applied in Edelman Park nor anywhere in Topanga by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains! The article by Tonia Young in the July 14 issue of the Messenger ("Watershed Committee Has New Chairman") mis-stated the RCD's name, thus confusing readers between two different organizations.
There is a huge difference between the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. It is the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that has sought to use glyphosate in Edelman Park, not the RCD. Typically, in public forums the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is simply called "the Conservancy" while the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains is called "the RCD" or "RCDSMM."
The State of California has 103 Resource Conservation Districts and there are over 3,000 in the nation. RCDs are set up under federal and state statute to aid landowners and communities with problems in local natural areas. RCDs partner with many different agencies and organizations to remedy a wide variety of problems in the environment. RCDs have a locally elected or county-appointed board of directors who oversee the District's work. RCDs operate on a consensus-based approach with the watershed's stakeholders, while the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy does not use a consensus-based approach.
When a restoration, revegetation or invasive plant control project needs to be done, RCDs have a number of "tools" that can be used, such as mechanical application, manual planting or removal, or cautious and judicious use of pesticide or herbicide. Under our consensus -based approach to watershed planning, if the community does not want the use of herbicide or pesticide, then it will not be used. We are not here to cram one particular method or another down the communal throat.
RCDs recognize that ‘one-size-fits-all' is not good operating methodology and that there are often many different ways to achieve a desired goal. Differences of opinion are legitimate and can be fairly debated in a public watershed planning forum only if all sides of an issue are presented. RCDs depend upon local people caring enough to get involved, to strive together respectfully to objectively distill what is best needed in a local watershed to remedy a problem. We all need to decipher the differences between fact versus emotion, grandstanding versus legitimate debate in order for us all to work for the larger good.
I hope this clarifies our position.
–Nancy Helsley, Board President
Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains
