8
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
The warning bell
is ringing!
The warning bell is ring-
ing loud and clear, Good
People!
Those hundreds of dead
and dying yellow pine along
Highway 20 from Sisters to
beyond the Camp Sherman
cut-off are telling us to be
careful with chemicals.
Is it really necessary
to use chemicals to abate
vegetation?
According to Peter
Murphy, spokesman for
the Oregon Department of
Transportation, ODOT, has
over 18,000 miles of high-
way shoulder vegetation to
manage state-wide. Trying to
keep vegetation from grow-
ing on highway shoulders to
the point of being not only a
nuisance but becoming a seri-
ous safety factor would be
costly beyond reason without
the use of herbicides.
Not too many years ago
knapweed along Highway
97 south of Bend was so
thick on the highway shoul-
ders it was moving into the
adjacent forest lands at Lava
Butte. ODOT took it on with
gusto, using manpower and
chemicals to not only halt the
advance of knapweed into
forest lands but to completely
eradicate it — and it wasn’t
easy or cheap.
The use of chemicals
to treat the roadside in the
Sisters area didn’t end so well,
and there’s yellowing and
dying ponderosas to prove it.
To those of us who live
in fear of what the chemical-
users around us are going to
do next — such as killing
tens of thousands of native
bumblebees as the result of
another chemical blunder —
those dead trees are crying
out to us, “Be aware and be
careful!”
But, ya’ know, there may
be even more to the dead
trees than meets the eye.
Before ODOT does any-
thing to or for a highway that
rolls alongside U.S. Forest
Service-administered lands,
both outfits sit down and
talk it over. Unfortunately,
the chemical application that
resulted in the tree-killing
apparently dropped though
the cracks; that is, there was
a “changing of the guard”
going on just about the time
the project got into the dis-
cussion phase.
The Prineville Forest
Service office usually han-
dles these projects, but the
person who was responsible
had retired, and that person’s
replacement hadn’t arrived
yet. When that person did
move in and dove into all
that had to be done, all there
was left to work out on the
shoulder vegetation spray
project was the label from
a chemical with the name
of “Perspective,” and it was
given a free pass, even with
these instructions on the
label…
Perspective’s important
restrictions:
• Do not apply this prod-
uct in areas where the roots of
desirable trees and/or shrubs
may extend unless injury or
loss can be tolerated. Root
zone areas of desirable trees
or vegetation are affected
by local conditions and can
extend well beyond the tree
canopy.
• Do not apply this product
if site-specific characteris-
tics and conditions exist that
could contribute to movement
and unintended root zone
exposure to desirable trees
or vegetation unless injury or
loss can be tolerated.
• Do
not
apply
Perspective® Herbicide
to roadsides or other non-
crop areas during periods
of intense rainfall, or where
prevailing soils are either
saturated with water or of a
type through which rainfall
will not readily penetrate,
as this may result in off-site
movement.
Reading those instruc-
tions would seem to awaken
the interest of vegetation
managers who are judging
the impact on roadside veg-
etation, and especially pon-
derosa pine trees; according
to the instructions, the chemi-
cals would impact roadside
trees.
On top of that, roadsides
see big run-offs from rain
and snow, the root system
of pines does spread well
beyond the canopy, etc., etc.
What took place was, in ret-
rospect, “Murphy’s Law” in
action: “If something can go
wrong, it will” — and it did.
Then there’s the road-
side chemicals already
there that will mix with any
chemical(s) used to “control”
or “kill” unwanted roadside
vegetation. What impact do
the materials coming from
motor vehicles have on the
product(s) used to kill road-
side vegetation? What do the
oils, fumes and other debris
issued from tires, exhaust and
other motor vehicle materials
have on that chemical envi-
ronment? What about all the
other debris left behind trees
and shrubs and along the
roadside? The instructions for
the use of Perspective clearly
states that it cannot be mixed
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the results of using the wrong chemicals in the wrong place. trees are
dying along highway 20 west of Sisters.
with other chemicals.
Apparently, Perspective
was not tested for its effect
on the health and welfare of
ponderosa pine, which con-
tributed to the unfortunate
consequences of the death
and destruction to a scenic
corridor that’s unparalleled in
our beautiful state of Oregon.
But that isn’t all of this
calamity: it’s a warning to all
of us to use the utmost care
when using any chemical
that’s applied to our land and
water for any reason.
Today’s chemical man-
ufacturers seem to have
sold most of America
that DuPont’s old slogan,
“America is a better America
through chemistry,” is gospel
for today’s living.
It’s up to all of us, not
ODOT, Forest Service or
DEQ, to keep these accidents
from taking place. Please,
think again before you pur-
chase and use the chemical
you think you need to solve
a problem in your backyard;
we all share the same back-
yards, the land we live on,
the water we drink, and the
air we breath. And above all:
READ THE LABEL!
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Ameriprise Financial and its adfi liates do not odder tax or legal advice. Consumers should consult with their tax advisor or attorney regarding their
specifi c situation. Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. © 2015 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved. File #
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