THE WALL
I was sitting around Saturday afternoon; not much else to do
when it is 80. I heard a vehicle stop across the road from my house. I kind of
thought it was the selling meat out of the back of the truck dude. My doorbell
rang as I knew it would and the screaming beagles headed to the wrong door; as
expected. I couldn’t hear the person’s introduction; because the dogs had found
the right door by the time I had gotten it unlocked. The first thing I actually
heard was “my boss talked to you and he said this is one of the properties that
we have permission to spray Japanese Knotweed on”. Ah, NO..I didn’t talk to
anyone. He left a card. Nobody is spraying anything here.
I can look at this for about 6 months out of the year:
Or I can look at this year-round. Which would you choose?
He began to tell me all about knotweed and what a threat it
is to the environment. I cut him off at about the third word. He kept trying to
tell me the evils and I kept cutting him off as we walked toward the knotweed
wall. You know that every spring the USFWS sponsors noxious foods for noxious
weeds event at McDonalds. Yep, they tell you all about invasive weeds and you
get a Happy Meal out of the deal. I can tell you right now that I have never
eaten a McNugget or a knotweed. But, if I ever have to choose one of them to
consume I can guarantee you that it will be knotweed & garlic butter. It
will not be McChicken Parts.
We finally reached the knotweed patch and I already knew
from the propaganda that they were supposed to spray their poison at or near
peak bloom time. I stood and stared at the flowers for a little while and said
you are not going to spray my bees. He said do you have bees and I said look.
There were a couple thousand honey bees present and thousands of other pollinators
big and small everywhere you could see. Between the bees and the trailer; he
was beginning to see my argument. But, then in a last ditch effort he started
to tell me all about knotweeds damage to riparian habitats. I told him it was
about 100 years too late to be worrying about Grassy Run and that knotweed was
the least of this watersheds problem.
Do you really think that knotweed has anything to do with
this?
I do want to make note right now that I like the guy they
sent. He was professional, not argumentive and was just doing his job as his
boss had instructed him to. I am also sure that he will be allowed to spray
plenty of bees this summer. Everyone knows that honey bees and other
pollinators are in decline. Could it possibly be because of the USFWS spraying
the dreaded knotweed?
You want to know the real kicker in the deal, now? I don’t
have any knotweed on my property it is on someone else. That shows how well
this spraying project was planned out. Billy Joe Shaver states it best in
Oklahoma Wind yep “the government ain’t something you can trust”.
(c) 2015 High Virginia Outdoors Photos (c) High Virginia Images ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
