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Vedauwoo spraying
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The mobile road sign indicates the spraying through 5/31. |
Brad Wilsonwrote: Rejuvra has such a nice sounding name, of course being made by Bayer/Monsanto we can guess it's completely horrible for most life forms. Cattle & Cash! |
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They are spraying to control cheatgrass, a noxious weed that crowds out native plants and exacerbates wildfire danger. Regardless of the interests of ranchers, the forest service has a responsibility to control infestations of invasive species. The health of our native ecology depends on it. It is not feasible to control an infestation of this scale by hand so fire and herbicides are some of the few tools left. |
Shiraz N wrote: So would you say genocide and horticultural interventions are on the same level |
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Its good to have feelings. But even therapists, who deal with feelings, go to school for a Long time before we take their drugs. Are you on pharmaceuticals? It'd be great if someone would develop a means to combat cheatgrass (it out-competes natives, dominates, turns green in the spring for 3 weeks, then is a whispy, dry super-fire-hazard the other 49 weeks of the year) that doesnt have side effects. Go to undergrad for four years, then grad school for another two or four, get a job, and DO some good (: l dislike chemicals, too. The Government employs educated scientists and professionals to take care of our land. I am glad for that, rather than politicians or the public making such decisions because of their feelings. |
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Certainly Bayer-Monsanto wouldn't push a chemical without fully researching how safe it is. |
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Herbicides kill fish (if used incorrectly). Antidepressants cause suicides (when used correctly). Chemicals suck, eh. |
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Rejuvra is actually a super interesting new herbicide that could potentially help save millions of acres of the American West from being permanently altered by non-native annual grass invasion. For those who don’t know, these invasive annual grasses form a flammable carpet that greatly increases fire extent and severity in our arid western systems that have been historically dominated by well-spaced shrubs and native perennial bunch grasses. When these invaded systems burn, all that comes back for the most part (on a time scale that we’ve been able to study/is relevant to human management) is a monoculture of the invasive annual grasses. Rejuvra is cool because it is a pre-emergent that does not affect established perennials. So it does not affect the majority of the native plants that are already in place while being extremely effective at stopping the cheatgrass etc. Seems like an important tool if we want to have at least somewhat healthy diverse ecosystems in the West. I cannot attest to health impacts (I do know the half life in the soil is fairly short and it supposedly only penetrates the top 1cm). I don’t hate chemicals, but I don’t trust Bayer-Monsanto, the FDA, or anyone else in a position to profit from said chemicals. It’s not the chemicals. It’s the capitalism… |
Shiraz N wrote: Everything was not an invasive species at one point… 1. An invasive species is a recent human centered construct. 2. Many species evolved in situ. 3. Most “natural” historic species migrations likely augmented biodiversity rather than permanently hindering it like the species we now define as invasive species. Edit: I agree that humans tend to ruin a lot of shit (for other humans mostly). That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to fix anything. Also, the whole “freezing nature at a specific time that suits our ego” thing is pretty dated. There’s a lot of diversity in how restoration ecologists pick their reference ecosystems. It’s still usually not a cheatgrass monoculture… |
Isaac Gromackiwrote: If the story ends up to be anything like Roundup (which is still widely available for some reason? Capitalism? ) you would have to think that anything relating to Monsanto won't turn out well in the end. |
M Mwrote: While I think glyphosate is a poor short-sighted tool for managing agricultural weeds and a symptom of a fucked up agricultural system, the science seems to show it’s less carcinogenic than bacon… I guess one could argue that no one is coerced to eat bacon everyday, but there’s actually much much worse chemicals on the market… And, they test a lot of those next to elementary schools in Hawaii… And I think the worst issue with Monsanto is their wholesale material exploitation of farmers and land, forcing small farmers out of the industry, suing them when their crops get contaminated with patented GMO genetics, turning millions of acres into corn and soy that gets fed to millions of sick cattle burping methane into the atmosphere etc… All to say, I don’t think we should be focusing on the glyphosate… *cough*capitalism*cough*cough* |
Isaac Gromackiwrote: Good hypocrisy catch. I was born and raised on a cattle farm with a degree in ag and my first job was in the feed industry. I have not touched processed or confinement raised meat and dairy since I graduated college at age 20. I have converted very few to at least attempt to avoid big ag and its processes. But the majority of my young climbing partners, whilst aghast at being exposed to herbicide from Monsanto at a climbing venue, don't think twice about what goes into their gut, which is a much more intimate interaction with the same company (including soy). Many of these hypocrites are driven by price and convivence, which is a cornerstone to capitalism on steroids. Thanks again, few have the depth to connect the dots and show the mirror. Glad to see the discussion at least. |
Isaac Gromackiwrote: Yet the bacon industry hasn't paid out 11,000,000,000.00 dollars in the last few years over Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia like Bayer/Monsanto has. Strange comparison really. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-appeals-court-finds-bayer-not-shielded-roundup-lawsuits-2024-02-05/ |
M Mwrote: Lawsuit settlements aren’t scientific literature. |
Isaac Gromackiwrote: Comparing an herbicide to bacon isn't very scientific either. 11 billion dollars payed out so far, are you saying there is no scientific data on the dangers of Roundup and that Bayer-Monsanto is just being picked on by lawyers? |
Isaac Gromackiwrote: Comparing an herbicide to bacon isn't very scientific either. 11 billion dollars payed out so far, are you saying there is no scientific data on the dangers of Roundup and that Bayer-Monsanto is just being picked on by lawyers? |
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When are the roads opening up? Just sometime post May 21? |
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It probably wouldn't hurt for people to research how bad cheat grass is for the western environment. Also all the studies trying to control it. Until a better alternative comes along the use of Rejuvra has been shown to be the most effective in controlling cheat grass long term. The up side seems to be better than the down side 30 years in. |
K Mwrote: Seriously! To make it very simple, for those of you who are not aware: cheat grass is a *consequence* of the cattle industry, so attempts to control it are specifically to mitigate the damage done to areas like Vedauwoo that have been historically subject to range leasing. |
M Mwrote: Cheat grass is spread by cattle, and outcompetes the natural food supplies of pronghorn and others. |
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Always entertaining to read thoughts of chemphobic "environmentalists" with no ecological education. |
