Camarillo's Leisure Village neighborhood will get $250,000 in fire-protection grant money to clear invasive vegetation from Conejo Creek. The county-owned stretch of waterway is classified as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday, Sept. 22, to approve the county's formal response to a Civil Grand Jury report on Arundo donax, first reported by the Moorpark Acorn. The bamboo-like plant can grow up to 30 feet tall and thrives along county waterways, where it crowds out native species and creates extreme wildfire danger.

Supervisor Jeff Gorell helped secure the $250,000 through a fire-protection grant for vegetation eradication along Conejo Creek, according to the county's response, which was prepared by Assistant County Executive Officer Mike Pettit. The county's Public Works Agency is pursuing additional grant funding.

The grand jury investigation began with a public complaint about arundo growing unchecked within 100 feet of homes in the Leisure Village Tract.

What the county agreed to

Under the approved response, the county will resurrect the Ventura County Arundo Task Force, which was created in 1999 but dissolved into an informal weed-management group by 2009. The county will also help develop a 10-year eradication plan for the Calleguas Creek watershed, which currently has no active watershed council or removal project.

The county also plans to update its Wetlands Permitting Guide, which the grand jury found has not been revised since 2006.

What the county rejected

Officials agreed with eight of the grand jury's 13 findings but partially disagreed with five. Three of six recommendations will be implemented. The county rejected placing the Resource Conservation District in charge of the task force. The district is independent, the county said, and not governed or managed by the Board of Supervisors.

The county also turned down the grand jury's call to redirect Watershed Protection District funds toward arundo removal. Those benefit-assessment rates have not changed since 1997 and pay for routine maintenance and legally required stormwater programs. Redirecting them would harm those operations, the county's response stated, and raising the rates would require voter approval.

The response called funding the main barrier to eradication, noting that best practices require expensive hand clearing, chemical treatment and repeated re-treatment that can stretch for years.

A decade without a plan

The June 2026 grand jury report is titled "Giant Reed, Giant Problem: Arundo in Ventura County." A previous grand jury in 2015-16 made a similar recommendation. A decade later, the county still has no coordinated countywide eradication plan or budget line item tracking arundo removal, according to Edhat.

Community briefing at Leisure Village

Two days after the board vote, Gorell hosted a community briefing at Leisure Village on Thursday, Sept. 24. County fire, public works and conservation district staff answered residents' questions about arundo removal and wildfire preparedness. Leisure Village HOA President Tom Frutchey and General Manager Christi Moore hosted the event.

Ventura County's agriculture department set a fall 2026 target to relaunch the task force and will coordinate with the Resource Conservation District's watershed coordinator.