[APWG] Skip the vinegar, and go for Ecological Restoration

[Craig Dremann]

Dear Carole and All,

In California, our DOT, Caltrans, has promised to lower their roadside
herbicide spraying by 80% by 2010.  Caltrans is already permanently at
zero for all of Humboldt County since 1999, and have put in place a
temporary zero roadside herbicide spray policy for the next three years
for all of Santa Cruz County.

You might contact the Caltrans Districts maintenance director that
manages Humboldt County (D-1, Eureka), and the director in Santa Cruz
County, to see what they've come up with as alternatives.

About 6 years ago, Caltrans was experimenting with developing a safe
"alternative" to the usual herbicides, and they funding research with UC
Davis at their Hopland, California Experiment Station, to come up with a
"natural" or fairly non-toxic herbicide.  

I think that acetic acid and corn glutin were both looked at as
possibilities, but I don't think either product worked sufficiently well
for the agency to use either of them into widespread use.

What we're finding here in California, is that for exotic terrestrial
weeds, most herbicides are useless---because all of lower elevation
California is 99.999% infested with over 1,000 species of exotics.  If
you eradicate one exotic, another one is waiting on the side to take
over once you've finished.

The only option, is to use Ecological Restoration techniques to restore
the native local ecosystem understory, with at least two and ideally a
dozen local native plant species.  

That's why a huge investment needs to be made to invent the Ecological
Restoration technologies to get the job done right the first time, and
skip this thrashing around for an herbicide alternative.   

There's an outline on how to get started with dry-land ecological
restoration at http://www.ecoseeds.com/standards.html and also a talk on
ecological restoration vs. exotics at http://www.ecoseeds.com/talk.html

I was surveying the Wash. DC to Delaware corridor in 2000 when I was out
teaching a class on native plants for roadsides to the Delaware DOT, and
I was shocked to see how the eastern native grass and herbaceous plant
understory has been so completely hosed, just like in the West. 
Probably close to 99% extinguished. 

The only place where I found a decent understory was at the edge of the
Great Falls in Maryland, probably because when the sheep and cows 200
years ago heard the rushing water, it made them too afraid to graze
right next to the edge of the gorge!

Sincerely, Craig Dremann, Redwod City, Ca (650) 325-7333