Black mustard, a well known invasive species, has vastly spread in the fields of Palos Verdes degrading the soil quality for our original plants and animals, causing the population of the native species to wither alarmingly. Brassica nigra is a native plant brought to Palos Verdes by Spanish Missionaries. Palos Verdes culture is being negatively impacted by black mustard mainly because it affects the natural land, which is linked to the area's history. Black mustard's growth has been exponential affecting Palos Verdes's land , culture, and history, including plants that Native Americans used to use for ceremonial, medicinal, and food purposes. Additionally, black mustard can be highly flammable so when the land is dry it is at risk of wildfires leading to homes, parks, and other important areas that are essential to Palos Verdes burning down. In general, black mustards growth weakens the connection between the local population and the natural history of land in Palos Verdes. Not only is Black Mustard affecting the plants and animals, it has decreased the quality of life for the residents in Palos Verdes. The risk of explosive fires and the instability of the soil leaves the houses to slide down is moving the residents out of Palos Verdes.
Our mission is to start a non-profit fundraising organization with partnerships with Trump National Golf Course and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. The revenue we have earned from the fundraiser would directly go to the rent of the goats and to purchase the gardening supplies for the volunteers. There has been goats rented in Palos Verdes to take out a variety of different weeds and invasive species but, our organization wants to directly focus on reducing or completely getting rid of black mustard for stability in the ecosystem, houses, and residents getting affected by them. Through the help of volunteers, they would help control the goats and manually pull out the plants.We invite people from different age groups and hobbies to come forward and support our precious hill!
Pros:
Wealthy residents who want to take action
Small and supportive community
Free volunteers
Non-profit organization
Cons:
Not enough funds/volunteers
Unreliability of goats
Might not reach out the community
Possible partners:
Trump National Golf Course
Terranea
Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy
One proposed solution our organization considered but ultimately did not pursue is to reach out to high schoolers who may be interested in working in our field in exchange for volunteer hours. This may provide free labor, and in addition, we won't have to waste extra money on gardening tools, as the volunteers would bring their own. This event would also allow for the additional option of a fundraiser to allow additional proceeds to go to goats.
Pros:
No money spent
Students get volunteer hours
Cons:
students may not own any gardening tools
not enough students sign up
Very labor intensive
Possible Partners: Palos Verdes Unified School district
Our solution is preferable as the fundraiser raises money and spreads awareness of black mustard and the harm they are creating for the residents from large companies and non-profits while, the other solution will spread less awareness to the locals of Palos Verdes. Our solutions targets all age groups and groups of people with different interests like golf, gardening, and more. As the other solution only relies on students who want to build up their service hours, our solution focuses on a wider range of people not only in Palos Verdes but people who are active in protecting wildlife nationally. The other solution relies on only one group of students while our plan has wealthy residents who enjoy socializing and golfing with a group of a wide age range of volunteers.