Water + soil + earth’s green mantle of plants = world

Man cannot exist without plants

- Plants use sun’s energy to produce basic foodstuffs for life

People’s attitude towards plants: narrow

- Foster it when we see any immediate utility
- Destruct when we see its presence undesirable/ a matter of indifference

Why do we destroy plants?

- They are poisonous to man/livestock
- They happen to be at the wrong place in the wrong time
- They are associates of unwanted plants

Unthinking of people
Sagebrush lands of the West (high and windswept)
- A campaign there to destroy the sage and substitute the grassland
- High western plains and lower slopes of mountains that rise above them
- Climate: winter: blizzards drive down from the mountains and snow lies deep on the
plains; summer: heat is relieved by scanty rains, very dry

Evolution of great plains of the West

- Only Sages survived and colonized there

Why can sages colonize there?

- Low-growing and shrubby: hold its place on the mountain slopes and plains
- Small gray leaves: hold moisture to defy the thieving winds

Animals that perfectly adjusted to the habitat as sage

1. Pronghorn antelope
- Mammal
- Fleet and graceful
2. Sage grouse
- Bird
- “Cock of the plains”

Different part of sage for grouse

- Low sage of foothill ranges: shelter nests and young
- Denser growths: loafing and roosting areas, provide staple food for grouse

Two-way relationship between sage and grouse

1. Sage: staple food supply
2. Grouse: loosen the soil beneath and around the sage to help the grass that grows in
the shelter of sagebrush to invade

What do antelopes do in winter?

- Those who summered in the mountains move down to lower elevations
 - Sage provides food that tides them over the winter
-
When all other plants shed their leaves: sage remains evergreen /gray green (waste is
purple in colour)

Sage leaves (cling to stems of dense and shrubby plants)

- Bitter
- Aromatic
- Rich in proteins, fats and needed minerals

After snow-> top of sage is exposed-> reached by sharp, pawing hoods of antelopes / bare
and windswept ledges of grouse or by following the antelope

Mule deer, sheep also feed on sage-> sage is food for winter-grazing livestock

Sheep feed on sage for half the year during winter (sage has higher energy value than alfafa
hay)

Sage eradication
Land management agencies
1. Cattlemen want more grazing land aka grassland (grass without sage)
2. Land management agencies found a land suited to grass growing mixed with sage
3. They propose to eliminate the sage to create unbroken grassland

Grassland is not a stable and desirable region

- Annual precipitation is too low to support good sod-forming grass; It favours the
perennial bunch grass that grows in the shelter of sage

Government agencies and industry support

- Created an enterprise to create expanded markets for grass seed and machines for
cutting, plowing, and seeding, and chemical sprays

Result of their action

- better grass growth between and under the sage than pure stands once the
moisture-holding sage is gone

Effects of Sage eradication

- Fabric of life is ripped apart (antelope, grouse and deer disappear-> wilds things are
destructed->land become poorer-> sheep starve in winter storms due to lack of sage
leaves and vegetation)
- Spraying: eliminates plants that were not intended target

Justice William O. Douglas in My Wilderness: East to Katahdin

- Sprayed 10,000 acres of grassland-> killed sage and willows thickets (moose live
there)
Beaver feed and lived on willow, fell the willow, and make a strong dam across the tiny
stream -> backed up a lake

Trout in the stream grew from less than 6 inches long to 5 pounds, Waterfowl are attracted
to the lake

presence of willow and beavers: make the region an excellent place for fishing and hunting

Weed control
New England
- Managed by utility corporations
- Routinely treated for brush control

Southwest
- Undergo chemical spraying

Timber-producing lands
- Aerially sprayed to weed out the hardwoods from the spray-resistant conifers

What places are also treated

1. Agricultural lands
2. Private lawns
3. Parks
4. Golf courses

Chemical weed killers

- Cheaper than mowing, but still expensive
- But infinitely damaging to the long-term health of landscape and interests that
depends on it

More vacationing tourist protest about the disfigurement of roadsides by chemical sprays
- Originally: fern and wildflower and shrubs with blossom or berry

Conservationists went to Maine Island

- Very angry, because the roads are originally lined with bayberry and fern through
the evergreen forest, but now its lined with brown desolation

Chemical spraying led to tourist loss!!!

Chemical spraying
- improperly planned (above)
- Studded with abuses (below)

In New England
1. a contractor has some chemical remaining in his tank-> discharged it along woodland
roadsides (spraying is prohibited there)
Result: loss of blue and golden beauty of autumn roads (aster and goldenrod) there
 2. a contractor changed the state specifications for town spraying (highway dept
doesn’t know) and sprayed roadside vegetation 8 feet instead of specified 4 feet
Result: brown swath
In Massachusetts
1. town officials bought a weed killer and are unaware it contains arsenic
Result: 12 cows died from arsenic poisoning
In Connecticut
- spray roadside with chemical weed killers
Results: large trees that are not directly sprayed are killed (leaves of oak turn brown and
curl; new shoots grow rapidly and give a weeping appearance; large branches die; other
branches don’t have leaves)

A road with little traffic, only a few sharp curves and intersections that the brush may
block drivers’ vision
è still sprayed

Author of Proceedings: say the killing of good plants are “simply because they are in bad
company”

Why do we need to preserve our roadside vegetation?

1. Hedgerows along country roads and bordering fields provide food, cover and nesting
areas for birds and homes for many small animals (65 out of 70 species of shrubs and
vines [roadside species] are food to wildlife)
2. Hedgerows are also the habitat of wild bees and other pollinating insects (men
depend on them a lot)
- Pollinating insects like wild bees take part in pollination of cultivated crops

What will happen without insect pollination?

1. Most of the soil-holding and soil-enriching plants of uncultivated areas would die
out->affect the ecology of the whole region
2. Herbs, shrubs, and trees of forests depend on native insects for their reproduction->
without these plants many wild animals and range stock would find little food

Honeybees and wild bees depend heavily on weeds such as goldenrod, dandelions for
pollens that serve food for their young

In spring
Vetch provides spring forage for bees before the alfafa is in bloom->tide them over the early
season-> ready to pollinate the alfafa
In fall
Vetch depends on goldenrod to stock up for winter

Emergence of one species of wild bees: very day of opening of willow blossoms
Herbicides
Harmful
- They rain down on forests and field-> bring about permanent destruction of wildlife
habitat
- Does not provide permanent control to roadside brush, need to repeat year after
year
- Insist to continue with it although selective spraying is introduced

Brush control/ Selective spraying (developed by Dr Frank Egler)

- Eliminate plants ultimately tall (aka trees) enough to block drivers’ vision or interfere
with wires on rights-of-way by direct treatment and to preserve all other vegetation
- Shrubs are resistant to tree invasion, while grasslands are easily invaded by tree
seedlings
- Effective (if area is stabilized->no need to respray for 20 years)

How to spray?
1. By Men on foot
2. Knapsack sprayers
3. Complete control over their material
4. (NO BLANKET SPRAYING) because only directed to trees and other exceptionally tall
shrubs

Best and cheapest controls for vegetation: other plants (NOT CHEMICALS)

But the custom is too entrenched, and people don’t know about the facts of selective
spraying-> blanket spraying thrives

Advantage of selective spraying:

- Minimise the amount of chemical applied to landscape
- Won’t broadcast the material but only apply concentratedly to the base of trees ->
harm to wildlife is kept to a minimum

Most widely used herbicides (not sure toxic or not)

- 2,4-D
- 2,4,5-T
- And related compounds

People who spray their lawns with 2,4-D -> severe neuritis and paralysis (uncommon)
è Also disturb the physiological process of respiration in the cell
è Affect reproduction of birds
è Death

Animals are attracted to plants that are sprayed with herbicides (could be fatal)
- if the plant itself is poisonous/ or have thorns or burs
because there is an increase in sugar content-> so sweet
another effect: sharp increase in nitrate content of corn and sugar beets, sorghum,
sunflower, pigweed, smartweed

ruminants: cattle, sheep, antelope, goat, deer

the physiology of the digestive system of ruminants are too complicated-> dangerous
1. stomach is divided into 4 chambers
2. rumen bacteria digest cellulose in one of the chambers
3. when animals eat food with high nitrate content->rumen bacteria act on nitrates to
change them to highly toxic nitrites
4. nitrites act on blood to form chocolate-brown substance-> oxygen cannot take part
in respiration-> death
*Exceptionally dry weather can also increase nitrate content

2,4-D affect people by silo deaths

1. corn, oats and sorghum contain large number of nitrates and are ensiled
2. release poisonous nitrogen oxide gas to silo
3. a few breaths already cause chemical pneumonia

Relation between weed and soil

- interdependence and mutual benefit
- weed take something from soil and contribute to it
- e.g. roses are doing badly, and the soil is infested by tiny nematode worms. But the
scientists said no to spraying or chemical treatments, they suggested planting
marigolds among the roses.
- Marigold is a weed that excrete something from its roots to kill soil nematodes ->
roses with marigolds flourished

Functions of weeds
- Indicate the condition of soil

Why do we need plant communities?

1. Maintain Wild habitats of original populations of insects and other organisms
(genetic factor of them is changing due to development of insecticide resistance)

Negative effect of herbicides

1. 2,4-D Kill broad-leaved plants so grass can thrive in reduce competition-> grass
become weeds

Blanket spraying aiming for ragweed control is in fact resulting in more ragweed

Ragweed
- Annual
- Seedlings require open soil to be established
How to protect against:
1. Maintain dense shrubs, fern and other perennial vegetation
 2. NO SPRAYING (because spraying will destroy the protective vegetation and create
open areas)

Pollen content of the atmosphere is due to

- Ragweed of city lots and fallow fields

Crabgrass
- A symptom, not a disease (only grows in unhealthy lawns)
How to protect against:
1. Provide fertile soil + desired grass + open space

But suburbanites (under nurserymen who are under chemical manufacturers) insist to apply
chemical crabgrass killers to their lawns

Chemical crabgrass killers (poisonous)

- Contain arsenic, mercury, and chlordane
- But buyers don’t know the content under the trade names
- Apply once: leave tremendous amount on the lawn

Biological control (harmless and very economical)

- Curb unwanted vegetation
E.g 1. handling Klamath-weed problem
Klamath weed comes from Europe-> US Penn-> California Klamath River
- No animals or plants require Klamath weed, so they are uninterested in it-> land
values will drop
- Many insects in Europe feed on Klamath weed, and the source is limited
- 2 types of beetles in southern France (pea-sized and of metallic colour) only feed and
reproduce on Klamath weed
- So US import these beetles from France to remove the weed-> desirable range
plants return

E.g.2. Captain Arthur Philip brought various species of cactus to Australia to culture
cochineal insects for dye -> cacti and prickly pears escaped from his gardens to the wilds->
half of the land was useless
- 3 billion Argentine moths were brought to Australia -> destroy the prickly pears -> the
areas are reopened to settlement and grazing