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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2016)
5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 Pond spray: Pond was ‘incredibly beautiful, now it’s just incredibly green’ Spray protocol Continued from Page 1A invasive weeds, including the parrotfeather that was taking over the pond. Bloom is upset that she wasn’t notiied. She thinks the herbicide may have killed some trees and weakened other plants on her lot and nearby city prop- erty. She is worried about poten- tial health risks for herself, rent- ers, and wildlife that visit the pond. Bloom said she feels “a crime has been committed,” but oficials from city of Ilwaco and Washington Department of Agriculture say the city didn’t do anything wrong when it applied the herbicide. Bloom’s not satisied. She is grappling with questions that come up frequently in a commu- nity where people love living in close proximity to nature: When a natural feature like a pond stretches across both public and private property, who gets to decide how to manage it? And what, if anything, can residents do when landowners decide to make legal, but controversial decisions about well-loved sce- nic spots? These questions have come up several other times in the last year, in regards to a beloved stand of trees in Klipsan that the landowners harvested, aging stands of spruce trees on coun- ty-owned properties, debris in a Chinook trailer park that blocks neighbors’ view of Baker Bay and oyster-growers’ proposal to spray the Willapa Bay. Pond memories In 2005, Bloom and her hus- band bought the single-wide manufactured home, along with a connected lot that houses a garage. The pond overlaps both plots. “It was such a cute little place,” Bloom recalled in late August. Workers, retirees and Coast Guard families occupy many of Vandalia’s low-slung, mod- est homes, which are wedged between the town’s rural airport and the Wallacut River. Despite the small size and modest construction, Bloom said the tree-lined pond and mature alders gave the Scarboro Lane home a park-like feel and provided a sense of privacy to the double-lot. Not long after moving in, Bloom noticed that an invasive weed called parrotfeather was taking over the pond. Native to the Amazon River, parrotfeather most likely started spreading around the Western U.S. after it was introduced to ponds and David Plechl/EO Media Group Barbara Bloom said she used several hand methods to control weeds for five years in the pond. She holds two photos from 2009 that show the pond after her weeding and before her health stopped her from keeping up with the work. aquariums several decades ago. Bloom asked the city and others for advice. They all sug- gested applying an herbicide, but Bloom resisted. She took it upon herself to weed the pond without the use of what she calls, “poison.” Bloom fashioned a series of rakes and ropes that she attached to her pickup truck. She waded into the tangled weeds and sometimes used a paddleboat to access hard-to-reach spots. She regularly scooped out a green ilm of duckweed with a ine ish net. The city provided her with a site near the airport to dump the piles of parrotfeather she pulled, but Bloom found that the weed, once out of the water, quickly decomposed. Four-foot mounds of the stuff would reduce to a black compost within a matter of months, she said. “It was a Herculean job,” she said. “I did it for ive years.” 2009 was the last time she cleaned it. Pictures from the time show a clear and mostly weed- free pond. In one image, Bloom and her friend goof around in a small boat as her husband keeps hold of an attached line, “just in case.” Within a year of the photo, Bloom’s husband had died, and her own health started to decline. In 2010, she purchased a home in Long Beach, and decided to rent the Scar- boro Lane home. But without Bloom’s constant weeding, the parrotfeather grew and grew. The pond “was just incred- ibly beautiful, now it’s just incredibly green,” Bloom said. “This is what it does if you don’t keep up after it.” Poison in the pond The city of Ilwaco maintains a series of ponds and “green- belts” within the neighborhood, many of which are often used as common spaces by neighbors. The ponds play a function in water table management within the low-lying neighborhood. Most of the pond is on Bloom’s two lots, but one long bank, now lined with small dead trees, falls within the city greenbelt. “All the trees are dead sur- rounding the pond,” Bloom said. A few are on her property. “We’ve got proof of overappli- cation here.” Bloom, who is a certiied master gardener, claims, “they didn’t even kill the weed that they wanted to.” Concerned that the herbi- cide could be sickening the alders that tower over the house, Bloom called a forester friend, who saw, “stress cones” on the alders. “When a tree is distressed, it propagates itself that way,” Bloom explained. Bloom said she used to delight at the dragonlies, frogs, ducks and occasional blue heron that would frequent the little pond. Now when she looks at the pond, she feels a sense of dread and disgust. She has made numerous calls to the city and other agen- cies, but none of those calls have been very fruitful, she said. Most recently, she submitted a letter of complaint with the Washing- ton Department of Ecology. Dog almost drowns Unbeknownst to Bloom, her tenant, who has since moved out, had asked the city to do something about the out-of-con- trol parrotfeather in the pond last June. Dave McKee, of the city’s Public Works Department, vis- ited the pond and took some pic- tures. He forwarded the images to the city and Paciic County Vegetation Management, the city’s contractor for all spray jobs. McKee said they con- T HURSDAY E VENING (2) (-) (-) (6) (-) (8) (9) (10) (12) (13) (-) (20) (-) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) L KATU KOMO KING KOIN KIRO KGW KRCW KOPB KPTV KPDX KCPQ TBS KZJO ESPN ESPN2 NICK DISN FAM FMC LIFE ROOT FS1 SPIKE COM HIST A&E TLC DISC NGEO TNT AMC USA FOOD HGTV FX CNN FNC CNBC BRAV TCM SYFY RFD (2) (4) (5) (-) (7) (-) (3) (10) (12) (-) (13) (20) (22) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) 6 PM Parrotfeather vs ‘Polaris’ According to Washing- ton State Department of Ecol- ogy documents, parrotfeather is particularly bad in Wahkiakum, Paciic and Cowlitz counties, where it accumulates in fresh- water lakes, ponds, and clogs up drainage ditches. Kim Patten, a research scien- tist with Washington State Uni- versity extension, said govern- ments spend millions of dollars a year controlling aquatic weeds in thousands of miles of irriga- tion canals and ditches in the Columbia River basin. Some- times it can be mechanically controlled, other times spray- ing the weeds is necessary, he said. But no matter what you do, “the weeds alway win, and they always return.” Patten said multiple applica- tions are almost always neces- sary to contain the weed. “I’ve seen it thick enough that you can walk on it,” Patten said. “And I have walked on it.” He said the herbicide Polaris, the one used in the Vandalia pond, contains an active ingredi- ent called Imazapyr that is par- ticularly effective at combating parrotfeather and other noxious weeds. It has been one of very few herbicides that has effec- tively controlled spartina growth in the Willapa Bay, he said. “It’s basically the only rea- son we have Willapa Bay, is because of the Imazapyr,” Pat- ten said. He said the chemical is quite safe for both plants and animals. LISTINGS THE DAILY ASTORIAN A cluded it was invasive and “they needed to get rid of it.” The city checked a few other ponds too, but ultimately only sprayed the one. McKee recalled posting notices at the site days before it was sprayed. “One of (the ponds) was just completely taken over with (weeds). Somebody called because they almost lost their dog. The dog jumped in and almost drowned,” McKee said. Beller, Ilwaco’s city clerk, said the tenant had offered to pull the weeds himself. Because the city was already spraying in Black Lake for Elo- dea, city staff thought it made sense to spray the little pond in Vandalia, too. She said the application of herbicide to parrotfeather in the pond would loosen the roots, so that someone could pull the weeds by hand later. Beller wasn’t sure if that ever happened. Nevertheless, she said the city and the contracted her- bicide applicator did every- thing right, including, notifying the public and contacting the Department of Ecology prior to spraying. Beller said it was unlikely the herbicide damaged any trees. “It has absolutely zero effect on whatever she thinks is hap- pening to the trees right now,” Beller said. She said the ponds are within the city right-of-way and are there for the purpose of alleviat- ing the high water table. According to Beller, prob- lems can arise when a private landowner decides to maintain a city right-of-way without the cooperation of the city. “(Bloom) is a private land- owner that, in her mind, has taken over ownership of a city right-of-way, which is illegal and cannot be done, and should not be done.” Beller said. A Washington Department of Agriculture investigator, Val- erie Davis, determined that city staff posted a notiication at the site, the post ofice and city hall and mailed notices to neighbors. But because of the pond’s small size, a special permit and the notiication were not required. “They went above and beyond what they were required to do,” Davis said of Ilwaco oficials. Davis concluded Paciic County Vegetation Manage- ment complied with the require- ments of their aquatic herbicide application permit. She doubts the herbicide damaged any foli- age on land, and pointed out that prolonged dry weather fol- lowed by heavy winter rains might have caused the problems Bloom observed. “It doesn’t seem likely that a1-percent solution would kill the trees,” Davis said. Davis said Bloom might not have received notiication because she wasn’t living there at the time. “You could take a goldish and put it in pure Imazapyr and it would be ine,” he said. Nevertheless, especially when combined with a surfac- tant that helps the herbicide stick to foliage, it can cause damage to nontarget plants. He said it can linger in soil and can read- ily be taken up by the roots of plants. Species like alders can be sensitive, he said. Whose pond is it? Bloom said she feels she has every right to manage the weed how she sees it, at least in the part of the pond that overlaps her two lots. She has sought advice on managing the weed and containing the damage she perceives the spraying has caused trees around the pond from several agencies. Recently, she contacted the Senior Assis- tance Center and asked to talk to a lawyer. Her name was placed on a waiting list, she said. After learning Ilwaco ofi- cials consider it a city pond, for the enjoyment of all residents, and the ownership of none. Bloom said, “If that’s a city pond, then I wonder why I’m paying taxes on it.” Bloom is worried potential renters will have problems with the pond. She recently spoke with a woman that wanted to rent the place, but Bloom wor- ried the woman’s4-year-old might wade into the pond and get tangled in the parrotfeather. For now, Bloom said she’ll continue to weed her part of the pond one way or another, but she said she needs help to main- tain the entire pond. She said other neighbors are unhappy that they often do more to main- tain the city right-of-way than the city itself. Bloom said if it was just the city’s property that was affected, she wouldn’t have had such a problem with what happened, “But it’s my property too — and not a word!” “A community pond is what I want,” Bloom said. “Put out a lawn chair, feed the ducks, enjoy the wildlife. That’s what I want.” Now that the pond is green and overrun with parrotfeather and duckweed again, Beller said she may have a city crew pull the parrotfeather from the pond by hand. In the future, she prom- ised to notify Bloom personally with any plans to weed or treat the pond. “I completely understand where she’s coming from,” Beller said. “I just don’t know how else we could have alerted her and taken care of these concerns.” Evening listings THURSDAY S EPTEMBER 1 A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach 6:30 7 PM 7:30 8 PM 8:30 9 PM 9:30 10 PM 10:30 11 PM 11:30 KATU News at 6 Jeopardy! Wheel of Fortune BattleBots (N) BattleBots (N) Match Game KATU News at 11 (:35) Jimmy Kimmel KOMO 4 News Wheel of Fortune Jeopardy! BattleBots (N) BattleBots (N) Match Game KOMO 4 News (:35) Jimmy Kimmel NBC Nightly News KING 5 News KING 5 News Evening Running Wild "Julianne Hough" American Ninja Warrior "National Finals Week 1" KING 5 News (:35) Tonight Show KOIN 6 News at 6 CBS Evening News Extra Ent. Tonight Big Bang Theory Life in Pieces Big Brother (N) Code Black "Diagnosis of Exclusion" KOIN 6 News @ 11 (:35) S. 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