A rant against easements and herbicide.

I am absolutely sick and tired, not to mention saddened and downright disgusted by the way our utility company and others deal with their easements.  Not only is blanket spraying of vegetation within the easements ugly, it is ineffective, dangerous, and creates massive collateral damage.  For a place with some of the greatest biodiversity on the planet, everyone should be up in arms.

The use of Round-Up and other herbicides / glycophosphates has become a default for brush control.  These substances have their place and I am no stranger to their limited, strategic use.  But the way they are being applied is totally unacceptable.  There are many other avenues to achieve the same end which, with 17 years of professional horticultural experience under my belt, I feel would be effective, more cost efficient and beneficial to the environment.

First, let’s look at what is actually going on here.  Crews (of mostly brown skinned workers) are tasked with spraying the vegetative growth underneath power lines and road easements.  I can’t argue that they don’t need the work, or that they don’t work to achieve the goal set before them at great exertion.  I can, very succinctly, argue there are better, healthier ways to accomplish the same, without exposure to massive exposure to chemicals known to harm mammals (read:  us humans).  

On a recent drive from Sewanee to Monteagle, I witnessed such a worker, with a backpack sprayer, hosing down a 30’ tall tree.  He had no respirator, face mask, safety glasses or other protective gear as required from all herbicide Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) I have ever seen.  When at the Atlanta Botanic Garden, as recommended on the label, and MSDS, of the herbicide we used, I wore a dust mask, Tyvek suit, and goggles.  Yes, spraying for a couple hours in an Atlanta August was a physical trial, but that was what was required.  These guys are out there with no protection from wind-blown chemicals, the plants they wade through which are covered in herbicide, or, likely, any idea of what they are dealing with as far as the chemicals or the plants.

I once owned and lived on a farm in Jumpoff, TN.  The road frontage was along Highway 156, several hundred yard’s worth.  I was trying to operate a sustainable, organic farm.  Immediately upon acquiring the small farm, 22 acres, my wife at the time and I planted a vegetative border of Virginia Pine and Cedar along the road.  The plants were mere seedlings, about 2’ tall, which we dug up from elsewhere on the property.  The screen was about 100 yards long, 30’ deep, designed to insulate our intended home site from the highway.

In this case, TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) was the culprit.  Not only did the backpack equipped warriors spray everything within the highway’s easement, a truck with a high pressure spray cannon came by to insure the job was complete.  The devastation reached far beyond my fence line, impacting many of the trees we had transplanted, as well as the wildflowers I cultivated along the fencerow.  

This total disregard for proper use, as per the label, and private property, first alerted me to the problem.  TDOT provided no satisfaction after many calls and sending photos of the damage.  This carnage plays itself out every year on our fair Mountain through the auspices of Duck River Electric Cooperative.   The guys doing the actual spraying are contractors, obviously with no regard to the label warnings or proper use.

A few years back, TDOT decided it would be a good idea to blanket spray the road sides along Highway 41 from Sewanee to Cowan, TN.  This rocky stretch, leading down from the plateau, was totally devastated.  An outcry from the community, on behalf of a unique ecosystem and incredible display of plants, ended that campaign.  However, after denuding the mountainside, heavy rains washed out the road.  Repairs and a culvert full of rip-rap (an unmanageable ditch filled with large gravel the size of dinner plates) slowed the erosion but the utility has followed up this summer with additional spraying.

Currently, I live on the corner of Prince Lane and Lake O’Donnell Road in Sewanee, Tennessee.  Across the street from my house is a blue line stream, one denoted on topographic maps as a permanent flowing body of water.  It is small, but there.  My first clue to this recent power line spraying was the death of plants at the junction of Depot Branch and Lake O’Donnell Rd.  A Sycamore, about 8’ tall, began to desiccate before the other plants, all right at the culvert which guides the stream under the road.

As with warnings to protect the applicator, any herbicide I have ever worked with has listed on its label and MSDS a proper distance from water for safe application.  The number that sticks in my head is 100’.  The Sycamore was growing on the banks of the creek.  Let us remember the most susceptible members of such a community are our reptilian brethren - salamanders, for which the plateau is renowned, and frogs, too bad for them.  

Where does this water go?  It flows downhill to Lost Creek and ultimately to Lost Cove, a natural treasure and currently protected, at least on the sides of the cove, by conservation easements.  This applies broadly to any area where rip rap is used.  The only way to prevent vegetation from taking over a rip rap area is through herbicide, which inevitably runs off with precipitation.

So, what are the reasons and results for spraying and what are the alternatives?  The only reason is cost effectiveness.  However, results prove this logic terribly flawed.  Attempting to kill a juvenile Tulip Poplar with a spraying, which only reaches the front half, is futile.  Even young pines, less than 4’ tall, are showing only marginal effectiveness.  The tops may be browned out, but much of the tree is left to rejuvenate next year.  I have seen several clumps of trees where a portion of the leaves have been zapped, but the live bits insure a comeback next season.  This is an absolutely futile approach.

My theory on herbicide use, to which I am no stranger, is the size of the plant must first be reduced, i.e. cut to the ground, then, the smaller flush of growth sprayed.  Let’s say there is a growth of brush, mostly an inch or two in trunk diameter.  Once cut down, easily accomplished with a brush mower, regrowth will be small, vigorous, and much more susceptible to herbicide.  This means less herbicide used, all below waist height, and much safer for the applicator.  Many times I have cleared an area with a weedeater mounted brush blade, and returned the next growing season with spraying, quickly killing the intended target.

Only a few years ago, Duck River went along their easement with brush mowers and tractor mounted mulchers to deal with stumps.  Ornamental plants, and those which didn’t pose a threat to the power lines, such as Dogwoods, were spared.  In my mind, such an approach would solve a myriad of problems and enhance the sustainability of easement maintenance.

We in Middle Tennessee are blessed with a fantastic cornucopia of wildflowers in all seasons.  With proper maintenance, and avoidance of herbicide use, this blessing could be accentuated.  First, mechanical controls, instead of chemical, could be applied to eliminate or control woody plants.  This would be financially and labor wise intense on the front end.  Once the woodies, which actually threaten the power lines and road easements are controlled, the areas could easily be controlled with tractors and brush mowers as the road verges are.  With proper scheduling, both such easements could be maintained with fewer mowings while enhancing the natural display of beautiful wildflowers while achieving the same goal of protecting infrastructure.

Bottom line, how should we go about this, O high and mighty critic?  Simply, years 1-3 would control woody plant growth with brush blades or brush mowers.  This mowing would occur in winter, when the workers could most use the employment and the herbaceous plants not be impacted if not enhanced.  Upon the first flush of new growth, the battalions of back pack sprayers are deployed to spray ONLY the regrowth of woody species.  After such a time, an area would be relatively denuded of trees, the true threat.  Granted, some larger specimens might require more equipment.  I have seen massive saws mounted on tractors to clear branches high on trees from power lines.  Such equipment could be employed.

After this stage, workers educated in basic plant identification (who would be higher paid, and lower in number) could spray the regrowth of woody species which would impinge on the power lines or other easements.  For instance, kill oaks, maples, pines, etc. but leave sumac, dogwood, redbud.  This would mean much less labor and use of chemicals with a simultaneous benefit to the non-threatening herbaceous plants, thus benefiting wildlife, general ecosystem health and natural beauty / public enjoyment and worker safety. With time and technology, mowers could accommodate stumps and such (eliminating damage to equipment) to groom the area.  Furthermore, if this grooming were to take place in winter (again when the work would be appreciated), the growth could be knocked down while encouraging herbaceous plants.

Let’s face it – the spraying of easements is ugly, not an ecological / sustainable choice, and dangerous to those who do the work.  Where I live, and most places within 100 mile radius, would benefit aesthetically and environmentally from the natural growth of native plants.  Annual mowings would enhance the proliferation of these plants, save money and carbon emissions in the mowing, and eliminate the hazards to workers.

Please discuss.