More than 100 volunteers spent part of today removing non-native plants at the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us the effort was part of World Environment Day.
About a hundred employees from Takeda San Diego removed non-native plants that are growing on some of the last salt marshes and waterfowl refuges in Southern California.
Darren Smith is an environmental scientist with California State Parks.
He says with the state's budget crisis volunteer efforts like this one are critical.
"My hope with big groups like this is to recruit a percentage of the folks to come out periodically once a month or once every other month and help out with our sort of basic maintenance needs," Smith says.
Keith Wilson is the president of the pharmaceutical company who's workers were volunteering.
"If they choose to volunteer for the day, they'll spend three or four hours working in the field. And then as a reward they have rest of the day off," Wilson says.
The Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is one of the parks Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed closing.
