Posted on 02/07/2007 8:13:41 AM PST by SmithL
The county's dream of having an herbicide-free, eco-friendly road-maintenance program has hit a giant pothole.
To the dismay of the Board of Supervisors — which placed a moratorium on the use of herbicide by county workers in 2005 — the county's Public Works Department on Tuesday reported it doesn't have the money or the equipment to mow the blackberry, poison oak and scotch broom sprouting along the 600 miles of public road in the unincorporated county. As a result, Public Works officials said they would return by May with a request to use quicker, more comprehensive herbicides to get the job done.
It's either that or take money from the county's road-repair budget, which is backlogged with tens of millions of dollars in repairs, to fund mowing, said Public Works Director Tom Bolich.
"I don't have enough money to do everything you're asking us to do," Bolich said.
Mowing costs about $3,000 per mile; herbicide spraying runs about $140 a mile. Last year, county crews mowed along just 45 miles of road. That left overgrown weeds blocking drivers' vision, spreading into farmers' fields and shooting up through the blacktop.
This year, about $500,000 is budgeted for mowing, and about $10 million for road maintenance. After the meeting Bolich said about $2 million would be needed to do the mowing right.
Supervisors Ellen Pirie and Mark Stone sponsored the moratorium two years ago to protect drinking water, children and salamanders, among other things, that might be threatened by the chemicals. On Tuesday, Pirie wasn't buying the financial argument.
"I just don't feel like the Department of Public Works' heart is in this," she said. "I think you're just waiting for this to fail" Advertisement
In the audience, two mothers holding babies pleaded with the board not to allow county workers to spray the chemicals.
"People don't pay taxes to be poisoned," added Marilyn Garrett, a long-time advocate of the moratorium.
The conflict over how to deal with weeds sprouted last spring, after the first full crop bloomed following supervisors' 2005 decision to stop using herbicides.
Before the herbicide moratorium, the county would mow 100 miles of road and spray another 200 with glyphosphate, the active ingredient in such herbicides as Roundup, every year. But mowing becomes more difficult without herbicide to help keep the weeds down, county Public Works officials have said. Fire danger adds to the problem, as firefighters often request the county not mow on hot, dry days when a mower could spark a wildfire.
But not everyone, including cattle rancher Frank Estrada of Estrada Brothers in the Pajaro Valley, understands the objections to using herbicide.
"Roundup, we've sprayed it ever since Roundup probably was invented," Estrada said. "We've never had any problems with it, with livestock or dogs or cats or whatever else is around here"
To handle the out-of-control weeds, Public Works is researching new mowers that can work faster, and has discussed with vendors the need to develop organic herbicides. But so far, neither option has panned out.
That leaves Supervisor Tony Campos demanding that the board allow herbicide in select rural areas around the county.
"We can't get our roadways fixed, it's an embarrassment and this is contributing to it," Campos said.
But Stone had the opposite idea. Instead of making exceptions for herbicides, Stone said, when the moratorium runs out next year, he expects a permanent herbicide ban for county workers.
That would leave Public Works back where it started; in search of a fiscally responsible way to control giant weeds along the county's roads.
"We're about ready to start waving the white flag," Bolich said.
Weed control in Santa Cruz?
HA!
Those folks worship weed.
I know in some parts of the country one can hire herds of goats to take care of the weed problem.
I'm sure there are plenty of illegals in that county who would mow it all for about $5 a mile, under the table of course...
Maybe they should try using goats, but then PETA would probably go nuts....another fine example of the "Law of Unintended Consequences".
Nam Vet
Why doesn't Hillary just take the profits from RoundUp and create a fund for road maintenance in Santa Cruz?
It's for the children!
Hey knuckle head Glyphosate is an organic chemical!!!
~Maybe they should try using goats, but then PETA would probably go nuts....another fine example of the "Law of Unintended Consequences".~
A company here used to keep goats to produce medical products. (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) They were run out of town. Seems the local huggers didn't like how they managed their herd.(ranched)
~I don't know about scotch broom~
Nor do they; it's actually French broom.
The worst part of the deal is that mowing spreads weed seeds all over the county.
And broom seeds stay viable for decades.
And you, sir or madam, are the first person on this thread to nail the million-dollar question: spreading of seeds and plant material all over the place, which will just make the situation spiral out of control in several years unless they take great care to wash down the mower and tractor every time they get done with a particular area containing particular weeds.
Even then, that is an iffy proposition. Out here in Nevada, we have BLM contractors who come in to do re-seeding of burned-over areas. They're supposed to wash off their equipment between jobs, but even with that, weed seeds get moved from one area of the state to another.
For any here who think herbicides are "icky" and they conflict with your sense of ecology, here's the fact: proper use of herbicides is the most environmentally sound way to control weeds unless you're willing to graze or burn the plant material down to nothing. Grazing along a road is a formula for car:animal collisions. Burning -- well, we here in Nevada have seen what happens when you turn government employees loose with a match. It often isn't quite what you wanted for results.
So herbicides are the viable and sound solution.
If they wanted to do this job once every three to five years and do it right instead of doing it every year, they'd spray the right-of-ways with Sahara DG and call it done. It is a soil sterilant developed for the railroads, who must maintain clear rights-of-way. Sahara binds tightly in the soil and does not migrate. It is pricey, but it works and works well.
Well you know lots of children play on the side of the highway.
Let these guys do it. They work cheap.
What will it cost the County to clean up the road kill?
Nope, the labor unions put a stop to that.
Dang. It was such a good idea. Especially since it is not the kind of work that the labor unions would even THINK about doing.
LOL...they do have porta-fence for them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.