2008-06-23 18:01:07 -0700, Tinman said
Permalink

The ehrharta grass has been remarkably under control this season, perhaps due in part to the aridity of the past few months. The native bunch grasses are doing very well indeed, though, despite the drought.

What was most striking this month was the extensive obliteration of all plant life on the upper slope above the fence:

We first observed this last year, and we’d hoped that this wouldn’t reoccur…but it has. Clearly someone is spraying herbicide over this area, and expending a large amount of time, effort, and money in doing so.

The various potential suspects living at the top of the hill have all denied any involvement, though not everyone has been contacted. It’s hard to see who else might have any reason at all to bother with the area, particularly given how steep and crumbly the slope is. It is quite a challenge just to walk up there, much less lug around heavy spray equipment.

So what’s the harm of spraying there since the upper slope is mostly weeds? Well, there were some native plants (mostly melic grass, but also some wildflowers) that are now dead. And the slope is such a great erosion hazard that denuding it is very bad thing.

The good news is that the Mad Sprayer has consistently stayed above the fence and out of the long-standing park areas where we’ve been working lo these many years. The bad news is that we have no real likelihood of detecting, much less stopping, him. Damn.

Comments

There are no comments so far.

If you signup and login, you can post comments.