Environmental footnotes
Court weeds out lawnmowing ordinance
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Of the Emerald
BACKYARD JUNGLE: It could
be illegal not to mow this
summer's crisp, brown lawn.
Donald Hagar of New Berlin,
Wis. let his backyard grow wild in
1974 Hagar, a wildlife biologist
with the U S. Forest Service, de
cided to let his backyard grow up
in native prairie vegetation after
the area had been dear cut with a
lawn mower He was interested in
the variety of wildlife that could be
attracted to a wild plant in his yard
and wanted to study plant succes
sion.
However, it seems that New
Berlin, like many other towns
around the country, had a weed
ordinance Among other provi
sions, the ordinance prohibited
the owner of land m a developed
subdivision from letting grass ex
ceed 12 inches In addition, it re
quired the removal of certain nox
ious weeds from the property
Because Hagar s neighbors
complained when his entire lawn
was not mowed, the city of New
■edm took the case to court After
Nvo years of heated debate, the
uiuiMani^ was ueciarea uncon
stitutional and Hagar won the
case, reports the national wildlife
federation.
According to the court ruling,
such an ordinance is unconstitu
tional because it does not apply
equally to subdivided and unde
veloped land. In his argument,
Hagar attempted to show that
many reasons for supporting the
ordinance were actually counter
productive.
For example, the ordinance
was designed to eliminate those
plants such as ragweed and a few
grasses which produce allergenic
pollen. In fact, Hagar said, the
best way to eliminate ragweed
and certain non-native plants is to
allow normal plant succession to
occur
Native plants are best adapted
to the particular climatic and soil
conditions of a specific area and
will eventually crowd out the non
native plants most offensive to al
lergy sufferers. The same pnna
ple is being employed by an ad
visory committee to the Lane
County Board of Commissioners
investigating the possibility of
planting non-noxious weeds
along Lane County roads instead
of spraying herbicides.
As the Wisconsin case points
out, there are numerous benefits
to society from naturally land
scaped, unmowed areas. Besides
food and cover for native wildlife,
natural vegetation is a tremend
ous energy saver because it re
quires no energy to maintain or
produce.
There is no need for expensive
applications of fertilizer; natural
vegetation is uniquely adapted to
the ecology of its home area.
And if it is desirable to remove cer
tain unwanted noxious weeds,
those not removed by plant suc
cession could easily be removed
by hand.
So if the bureaucracy comes
knocking on your door this hot
summer, ask them for a copy of
the ordinance.
BUTTERFLIES FIRST: The first
insects to join the ranks of the U .S.
endangered species list are the
colorful flutterbies.
Of the 700 kinds of butterflies in
the U.S., the Department of the
Interior has put 41 on its list of
threatened and endangered
species. This marks the first step
toward protecting the butterflies
from interstate shipment, com
mercial sale and mass collecting.
MERCENARY TERMITES: The
Australian termite, a relative of the
American insects renowned for
demolishing wooden structures,
uses refined military tactics to
combat enemies, says Professor
Thomas Eisner of Cornell Univer
sity in New York.
Their secret weapon is a force
of “professional soldiers” who are
little more than walking spray
guns.
“When a termite mound, con
taining as many as three million
individuals, is disturbed by hand,
soldiers immediately rally in re
Controversy floods fate of free-flow rivers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —
Environmentalists are fighting a
rear guard action to prevent
California s last free-flowing rivers
from becoming casualties of the
state s drought
Bolstered by two years of
drought, a coalition of farming,
labor andOusmess interests is try
ing to overturn the Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act. the law that
prevents the damming of the rivers
The act s opponents say dams
would store water that would ease
the effects of future dry years But
environmentalists say there are
less costly and less damaging
ways to expand the water supply
The idea that you can continue
to modify the natural system is a
pry serious one," said John
erold, a Sierra Club lobbyist
When you dam up these nvers
you threaten life support systems,
like estuaries, which have both
biological and economic value."
The controversy revolves
around a 1972 law which bans
dams on the North Coast s Smith.
Klamath and Trinity rivers and
their tributaries and parts of the
American River, near Sac
ramento.
The act also placed a 12-year
moratorium on the planning or
building of dams on a fifth North
Coast nver system, the Eel
Environmentalists contend the
act s foes have never lost interest
in bulding dams on the rivers, and
the author of a bill to repeal the act
says the drought has made repeal
a possibility.
If we don t do it now. I suppose
we never will, said Sen. Ruben
Ayala, D-Chino. “In wet years no
one is concerned
Ayala s bill would repeal the act
and require the state to preserve
free-flowing nvers to the extent
feasible considering the envi
ronment and 'health, safety, wel
fare and sustenance of the peo
ple "
It has backing, he says, from
business, labor and agricultural in
terests
"I think it's morally wrong to
allow water to flow out to sea sim
ply because someone wants to
preserve the environment when at
the same time agriculture is facing
a S3 billion to $4 billion loss be
cause of a lack of water, he said
But environmentalists say that
Ayala s position ignores the prob
lems that dam building causes,
and stress that much of the state’s
water shortage could be alleviated
through conservation.
"There is a General Accounting
Office report that shows that out of
the water the Bureau of Reclama
tion sends to farmers, 50 per cent
of it is wasted through bad irriga
tion techniques, said Mark
Dubois, director of Friends of the
River.
Much of that water could be
saved by lining irngation ditches
or using spnnkler irngation sys
tems instead of more common
methods of flooding irrigation
ditches, he said.
To the environmentalists, free
flowing nvers have benefits that
range from economic to spiritual.
"I really find it difficult to put into
words the value of free-flowing
nvers,' said Dubois. "There is a
real magic that ought to be pre
served for future generations to
touch.”
Dams also cut off salmon and
steelhead from spawning
grounds, which if done in too
many places could mean extinc
tion for the fish, says Sen. Peter
Behr, author of the wild rivers act.
And environmentalists contend
that dams threaten estuaries,
where much of the nutrition for
commercial fish is generated.
Actually, only the Smith is com
pletely free of dams. The other
North Coast rivers have headwa
ter dams but are free-flowing most
of their lengths. The Amencan has
two dams near Folsom, but has
free-flowing stretches above and
below them.
Environmentalists have been
pushing to include the five rivers in
the federal wild rivers system,
which would give them more pro
tection, although Behr says fed
eral dam builders honor the state
law.
But state water officials say they
want to include the wild rivers
issue in an overall federal water
legislation package.
They say that introduction of the
package is being held up as they
try to hammer out compromises
between conservationists and
other interests.
There is also a legal dispute in
volved in the controversy. Ayala
has obtained an opinion from
legislative counsel which says the
wild rivers act cannot block dam
construction on the Eel. Trinity or
Van Duzen River, an Eel tributary.
Haiti enters third year of water shortage
PORT AU PRINCE. Haiti (AP)
— The drought that began three
years ago in the northwestern
corner of Haiti has spread to the
cities, raising the specter of
epidemic and death in one of the
poorest nations of the Western
Hemisphere.
While affluent Haitians dnll their
own wells or learn to conserve
water, the poor buy their supplies
from local merchants at high
prices, or break water mains to fill
their buckets
Electric power is available only
four hours a day because the lake
which provides water for the
country's $35 million hydroelectric
dam is drying up. The government
has purchased an emergency
Oregon Daily Emerald
generating system from an
American firm for $2.2 million, but
it is not yet in operation.
The country has not instituted
water rationing, but the govern
ment has warned the estimated
700.000 residents of Port Au Prince
to conserve supplies. Neverthe
less, it is not uncommon to see
people in the wealthier neighbor
hoods washing their cars.
“I must buy water every day,"
said Yhislaine Printemp, a
47-year-old street vendor with an
unemployed husband and four
children. 'I try to make enough
money to buy water and some
food."
Printemp said she earns about
a dollar a day peddling vegetables
and colored cloth from her stand in
the center of the city. But she must
pay 20 cents a gallon for her
water, she said.
The drought has also affected
the Dominican Republic, which
shares the island of Hispaniola
with Haiti. The Dominican
Republic's stronger economy has
made the impact there less se
vere, although water rationing is in
effect in the capital of Santo
Domingo.
Printemp said it had always
been hard to find enough clean
water in her neighborhood, a
cramped area filled with flies and
dust and body smells. But she
says things have gotten worse in
recent months.
Last year Haitian authorities
were optimistic that the drought
might be easing. A massive inter
national relief effort in late 1975
kept the country's economy from
suffering a major setback, and
rains during the early months of
1976 were very good.
But this year the rains, which
are normally heaviest from about
December to February, did not
come.
In the 65-mile-long Artibonite
Valley, the country's breadbasket,
irrigation ditches are drying up.
The valley used to produce rice
and other staples, but this year
Haiti has already spent $4 million
to buy rice abroad for its five mill
ion people.
sponse and deploy themselves,”
explains Eisner. “Batteries of
snouts confront the offending
finger, all pointing fairly accu
rately.”
Each soldier ejects a spray from
its nozzle-shaped head, that hin
ders the movement of an insect
victim, causes it to become en
crusted with dirt, irritates its skin,
and blocks its air passage.
MOUNTAIN MAGIC: Three
mountain climbing films will be
shown Tuesday by the
University’s Survival Center wil
derness committee. “Solo,” “Sen
tinel: The West Face" and ‘‘An
napurna: The South Face’’ were
premium award winners, what
ever that means, at the recent
Mountain Film Festival in Trento,
Italy.
The films begin at 7:30 p.m. in
the EMU ballroom. Tickets are
$1.50 for students and $2.50 for
other mountain enthusiasts.
BICYCLE BIRDING: If the
weather is anything but raining,
there will be a bicycle birdwatch
ing ride through Alton Baker Park
Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The trip is
sponsored by the Northwest Birds
News Bureau. The meeting place
is the center of the Willamette
River footbridge.
GAS RATES HEARING: The
Oregon Public Utility Commis
sioners office will hold a public
hearing tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the
Eugene City Hall council cham
bers to receive public reaction to a
proposed natural gas price hike.
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