Dear Bill,Please go to this link at the Dallas Morning News. http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/031302dnmethemlock.88e21.html
We now have hemlock in virtually every watershed in this area. It doesn't kill the quail that eat the seed, but it does kill what eats the quail. It's nasty stuff. It comes from the Middle East. The pollen causes birth defects.
There are thousands of tons of it all along Highway 1. Environmental preservationists took over farms and let them be overrun with hemlock. It's spreading fast. The seed lasts ten years in soil. Are they going to get rid of it?
Do you pull it and remove it in your neighborhood?
I do.
Do you remove it around schools?
I do, but I can't do it all.
Did you know that it is all around the "nature pond" at our local school?
Want to help?
It looks very similar to Queen Anne's Lace, which the kids like to play with. Other children have been known to use the dry stalks as pea shooters with the seed and died. I told the desk at the school about it, but they didn't do anything.
I wonder why?
I sent a note to the owner of the local paper a couple of years ago, but he didn't print it.
I wonder why?
He does print glowing reports about County mowers holding down the brush and weeds and certainly gives your articles about the evils and dangers of herbicides top billing. He prints your meeting announcements and fans the hysteria about the unsubstantiated threats of herbicides to water quality. These weeds are more toxic than any herbicide we could use. The County mowers spread the seed, thanks to people like you. Read it and weep, and don't say I didn't tell you that this would happen years ago.