The following letter was sent by certified mail (it was signed for so it was received) to the commissioners of Ottawa County, Oklahoma from Prof. R. E. Rosiere. The letter not only spoke for itself it also served as an editorial in support of respect for plant life (all of life for that matter). It was addressed to herbicide-happy (the chemical equivalent of the adjective, hatchet-happy) public servants, but it was presented here as a message to all those who disrespect plant life and fail to realize that a public office is a public trust in which tax money and other public resources are to be used wisely.
Following the letter/editorial a series of photographs with explanatory captions were resented to prove the statements made by Prof. Rosiere in his letter to the county commissioners.
By the way, Mr. Chad Masterson was the commissioner for this district (district 2) of Ottawa County,Oklahoma that was the subject or setting for this lesson in respect for green life (and tax payers). According to the newspaper, Miami News Record (16 May, 2017; Dorthy Ballard, reporter): "Chad Masterson assumed the Chairman seat at the Ottawa Count Commisssioners Board meeting, Monday, May 15, 2017".
Stephenville, Texas
29 August, 2017
Ottawa County Commissioners
County Courthouse 102 E Central Ave # 104
Miami, OK 74354
Dear Commissioners:
I sent this letter in protest and anger at the wanton, senseless,
indiscriminate killing of
vegetation (plant life in general) under auspices of the Ottawa County Commissioners
along section
line roads in those roadway areas where such “green life” did not
in any way interfere with road
traffic movement or safety as, for instance, blocked views at intersections.
My comments (both
professional and personal) and observations do not apply to intersections or
road berms or the
vegetation in those areas. I refer instead to plants (mostly herbaceous or non-woody)
growing so
far away from traffic flow and vision that they were irrelevant to road travel.
In July 2017 a nonselective, contact herbicide was applied along
certain stretches of section line
roads such as East Road 120 that killed just about all plant tissue with which
it came into
contact. [For whatever reason, endophyte-infected tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea)
was unaffected
(at least visibly) in contrast to other species such as caric-sedge (Carex spp.)
growing beside
it.] Killed plant life included plants growing so far away from the road berm
or ditch that if they
fell over they would still be several feet away from the road surface.
While the Ottawa County commissioners had plenty of money for
killing plants and vegetation that
were irrelevant to traffic flow and safety they did nothing to repair potholes
and loose slabs of
asphalt on roads (eg. western portion of East 120 Road) that are clearly hazardous
for vehicular
traffic.
In this letter, I condemn such irresponsible action—that
was paid for by taxpayers—as
mismanagement. I allege that the senseless killing of vegetation that was irrelevant
to traffic was
careless (or thoughtless) conduct that was disgraceful, wasteful, and aesthetically
pitiful. At the
same time, nothing was done to correct obvious traffic hazards that in somecases
have existed for at least two years (eg. western part
of East 120 Road).
First and for the record I acknowledge the following obvious facts:
1). Roadway flow and safety- Roads have to be maintained. This
includes preventing vegetation from
encroaching on the road or blocking view of traffic, this latter especially
at intersections.
Rotary mowers or shredders, including those mounted on booms or arms, have been
a good tool for
cutting back plant growth that would otherwise eventually block the road and
prevent travel.
2). Property rights- Section line roads (which do not always
follow section lines), such as what is
now designated as East 120 Road, were built out of the survey units of land
along the roads. Hence
it is generally assumed that the owner of the adjoining land as the right to
manage the land up the
road or road right of way. Easement (or whatever the correct term is) could
be widths of, say, two
rods or 33 feet. From one perspective, the landowner in effect pays property
taxes to the middle of
that side of the section line road. In this generally accepted view, the landowner
can do as he
pleases with land outside of 33 feet (or whatever the distance is) from the
middle of the road. In
practice, however, the land owner may actually manage land right up to the berm
of the road. The
common example of this is that of owners with a yard that extends up to the
outer edge of what is
graded or paved. All this is as long as landowner action does not impede travel
or
otherwise threaten road use. Let landowners plant garden on it, kill everything
on it, pave it and
paint it green. I reaffirm such as being part of the landowner’s “bundle
of property rights”.
3). Proper use of accepted science and technology for management
of vegetation, including
mechanical, fire, and chemical methods- As a range and animal scientist I support
fully all
scientifically based, agriculturally sound, safe means of vegetation management.
This clearly
includes herbicides which have generally been the most widely used and economically
useful means of
controlling unwanted (by humans) plants. These are noxious plants generally
known as weeds and
brush.
More than 50 years ago I applied Brushkiller (a formulation
of 2,4,5- trichloroacetic acid and
2,4-dichloroacetic acid that is selective in killing only docotyledons and harmless
to monocots
like grasses) to brush growing up in the fence along part of what is now designated
East 120 Road.
I teach Range Management and Agronomy students about herbicide formulations,
acid equivalents,
mixtures, sprayer calibration, application rates, spray nozzles, and so on.
I support the proper, correct use of herbicides, and I find
it abhorrent when they are misused. My emphatic complaint pertains only to your
killing of plants that were irrelevant to traffic flow
or safety and, again, not to those that could arguably touch a vehicle or block
the view. Instead
my complaint is against your pointless (from a scientific management standpoint)
and wasteful (from
a financial basis) killing of plants that were beneficial from perspectives
of soil stability,
wildlife habitat, and natural beauty (at least they were not as ugly as the
plants you left
standing dead along the road corridors).
Plants that you killed included native species that are major
ones in tallgrass prairie and
tree-grass savannas. These included big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii),
the dominant or major grass
of Oklahoma prairies and State Grass of Kansas and Missouri; Indiangrass (Sorgastrum
nutans),
another dominant and the State Grass of Oklahoma; switchgrass (Panicum virgatum),
another of the
major prairie grasses; tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper); and numerous
other native grasses.
Numerous native forbs (broadleafed, non-woody plants called “wild flowers”
by some) were also
needlessly killed. Species in this category included ashy sunflower (Helianthus
mollis), evening
primrose (Oenothra biennis), beebalm (Monarda fistulosa), rosinweed
(Silphium integrifolium), and
tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum).
The main reason that all of the abovenamed species are more
common in outside fencerows, power line
corridors, and hay meadows is that they are so palatable to livestock as to
be readily grazed out
of typically heavily grazed tame pastures. (These palatable species are replaced
by less palatable
plants which are then often controlled by mowing or spraying.)
There is no way that any of these native species in the locations
they were growing in can be
regarded as weeds, not by any stretch of the imagination or word-play on the
term. Weed, a plant
growing out of place or where it is doing more harm than good, has a rational,
scientific meaning
in agronomic, ecological, and economic perspectives (and, for that matter, from
a medical or
public health standpoint). Native plants such as ashy sunflower, evening primrose,
tall thistle,
beebalm, big bluestem, Indiangrass, switchgrass, etc. that reach a maximum height
of four to eight
feet and that are growing far enough away from the road or road intersection
that they could never
come into contact with the road or block the view of motorists are not weeds.
No amount of
argument, word- smithing, or invoking of public servant or self-appointed “official”
authority can
make them weeds.
In fact, even the most aggressive native species that grow on
disturbed roadsides are not weeds
unless 1) they impede traffic and safety, 2) interfere with growth/establishment
of plant species
specifically planted on roadways or 3) are mandated for control by state weed
laws. Otherwise, even
large natives like giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) are beneficial.
They produce oxygen, hold the soil from eroding onto the road surface, provide
shade off to the
side of a summertime road, furnish cover and feed for wildlife, and encourage
establishment of the
final major species like big bluestem, Indiangrass, and rosinweed. Even their
dead winter stalks
block wind and reduce snow drifts across the road.
As far as the agricultural term, weed, goes even nonnative,
naturalized plant species such as
Johnsongrass (Sorgum halapense), bermudagrass (Cynodon dactyledon),
tall fescue, white sweet-clover
(Melilotus albus), and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cunneata) can be either
important forage crops
or weeds depending on rational management goals. All of these species are weeds—by
strict
scientific definition—where only native plants are the agricultural goal,
the desired crop (eg.
prairie hay meadows). Likewise, all native species are weeds in field crops.
From roadway management standpoints (as always, scientific management)
when such naturalized plant
species are growing in fencerows and not interfering with traffic flow and safety
they cannot be
regarded as weeds unless relevant state weed laws require their control. For
instance, in Kansas,
Johnsongrass and sericea lespedeza are legally designated noxious weeds with
the option of control
typically left up to the Board of County Commissioners which can petition the
Kansas Secretary of
Agriculture to declare a weed (like sericea lespedeza) disaster area where a
species is deemed a
serious problem.
In an admittedly short search, I could find only three plant
species designated as noxious weeds in
Oklahoma according to the Oklahoma Noxious Weed Law. All of these are nonnative
“thistles” and none
of these three was growing on the land I am discussing at this time. One of
these three species is
musk thistle (Carduus nutans). In past years I have seen growing some
musk thistle growing along
East 120 Road and intersecting section line roads. None of these musk thistles
were ever sprayed,
grubbed, etc. by Ottawa County workers as best that I could tell.
Even the non-native (introduced) forage species can be beneficial
when growing on roadsides where
they do not impede traffic flow or pose safety problems. This includes red clover
(Trifolium
pretense) and white clover (T. repens) which fix atmospheric nitrogen
in soils and serve as
valuable bee plants as well as stabilizing sides of roadways. Your spray job
even killed these
species which, by the way, I have never seen grow more than two feet tall in
this area and seem
unlikely to pose travel problems (i.e. not weeds). Even
with the wildest attempt at justification (punny excise) for removal of such
plants, just about anyone could see that their impact on road travel would be
miniscule compared to
potholes and loose chunks of asphalt.
Again, I acknowledge the obvious need for vegetation management
along roads, especially for safety
reasons. The “green life” (individual plants and vegetation) I make
reference to had nothing
whatsoever to do with road travel per se.
Instead my anger is directed at the thoughtless, senseless,
wasteful, indiscriminate killing of
plants growing where they could never interfere with traffic flow and, instead,
were helping
stabilize roadsides and bringing some degree of beauty to what for decades has
been billed by the
state of Oklahoma and chambers of commerce as “Green Country” (from
the state line to the Arkansas
River along the Osage County line).
Personally, I find it abhorrent when public servants “trash”
Green Country. Yes, it is deplorable
when trash like aluminum cans or plastic bottles is illegally tossed out by
motorists, but it is
also despicable when public officials and employees acting in official capacity
(or invoking it)
kill plants that are not weeds, that do not threaten public safety but instead
reduce soil erosion
(including retaining rocks that otherwise flow onto the road), provide habitat
for wildlife, and
generally bring some beauty to our outdoors. The yellow flowers of an ashy sunflower
or evening
primrose may not be “pretty” to everybody, but I dare say that most
travelers find the chemically
burnt, darkened, dead shoots of those you killed even less attractive—all
paid for by taxpayers.
Professionally, I find all this disgusting. I regard it as “hatchet-happy”,
wasteful, and
thoughtless action by elected officials and public workers who are supported
by the tax-paying
public. In my opinion, it was failed stewardship and inappropriate conduct by
public servants.
In fact, the more I cogitate on this matter the more it settles
out as downright stupid as well as
being disrespectful of taxpayers.
It is generally recognized that the people who cherish things
(tools, toys, or otherwise) are the
same folks who are most adamant in condemning others who abuse those same things.
For example, the
people most apt to demand harsher punishment for those who misuse firearms are
those who love guns
such as members of the National Rifle Association. It is in this context that
I find so obnoxious
and repugnant your irresponsible killing—at taxpayer expense—of plants
that were irrelevant to road
travel (other than having some benefits as I mentioned).
I am an ardent supporter of the safe, responsible application
(i.e. the proper use) of herbicides.
Hence, I am appalled at your abuse of chemical plant control such as that along
East 120 Road. Your
mismanagement gives legitimate use and responsible users of chemical control
a “blackeye” (about as
black as the plants you killed). Your stupid action and mismanagement disgraced
the managerially
legitimate use of chemical plant control. I find your conduct shameful.
Your action was—in my professional judgment and in my opinion
as a landowner along East 120
Road—much worse than amateurish. It was childish. It was as if a school
kid got a spray rig (and a
good chemical arsenal) for Christmas and was playing with the toy up and down
the roads. In fact,
from my view this was exactly the case—with taxpayers buying the toy and
being stuck with the
ugliness.
I imagine that some landowners appreciated the control of brush
in their fences. For example, you
killed or, at least, top-killed some multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) growing
directly in the
fence of land owned by the Eastern Shawnee Nation along East 120 Road. I also
imagine that other
property tax-payers did not approve of this subsidy. There is no way that multiflora
rose in this
fence line at that distance from the road ditch or berm was impinging on road
travel or safety. If
the Eastern Shawnee (or any other landowners) want to keep multiflora rose out
of their fences let
them do it with their own funds and labor.
On our little quarter mile frontage of East 120 Road we have
controlled multiflora rose (along with
other woody species) for decades by a combination of spraying and root-grubbing
with a spade (this
latter method is a wintertime job). In recent times Empire District Electric
Company has taken to
using selective (for woody plants only in this instance) herbicides to keep
plants out of their
power lines, but in prior decades we did it on our own (besides Empire misses
some).
Two weeks ago I drove Interstate 44 from the Afton exit to its
end at the Red River. I saw no
evidence of herbicide use, at least no chemically burned plants. This included
Johnsongrass that
grew right beside and stood two feet above guard rails on the non-traffic side.
Perhaps the
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is on a tighter budget than the Ottawa County, Oklahoma
commissioners’
office. Or perhaps the Authority feels that it has better things than herbicides
to spend its
revenue on. Or, still yet, it might be that a greater proportion of turnpike
motorists are
sensitive to such sights of death and prefer a green Oklahoma in the summertime.
Apparently
herbicide sales is a lucrative enterprise in Ottawa County, though I suspect
it still lags turnpike
tolls and Indian casino takes.
I have an idea that most travelers on section line roads that
are paved (or are paved-at, once were
paved, used-to-be paved) would prefer that county commissioners allocated public
funds for purchase
and application of asphalt rather than of herbicides. For instance, that idea
is a pretty sure bet
(better odds than in aforementioned casinos) for the west end of East 120 Road.
Some of us regard foot-deep potholes and chunks of loose asphalt
(what used to be pavement) as more
of a safety issue than a four-foot rosinweed or a six-foot big bluestem plant
that was growing ten
feet from the road berm and not near an intersection.
I point out the fact that three weeks before your spray job,
vegetation at the edge of some roads
such as East 120 Road had been cut by rotary shredders one to two shredder widths
outward from the
berm or borrow ditch.
Put it in perspective. There are chunks of broken asphalt ranging
in size from my fist to the crown
of my hat laying in the middle of the road. (When walking I throw them over
to the roadside.) There
are areas of loose or missing asphalt five foot to a side (eg. west end of East
120). Somehow you
commissioners do not have the wherewithal to correct these safety hazards, but
instead spend time
and money (paid for in tax dollars) to squirt herbicide on a clump of the Oklahoma
State Grass, a
four-foot beebalm, and a one-foot red clover plant all so far away that they
could not touch the
road surface unless they became tumbleweeds!
Come to think of it this goofy mismanagement of public resources
comes closer to idiocy than
stupidity. I reiterate the word, stupid; no, idiotic.
Furthermore regarding road safety, it is my understanding that
the maximum speed limit—on stretches
where the maximum is safe—on section line roads is 45mph regardless of
the road surface. Whether
the road surface is pavement (more-or-less) or “dirt” is irrelevant.
Any of us who travel “paved”
section line roads in Ottawa County, Oklahoma can testify that many—perhaps
most—motorists exceed
this maximum 45 mph considerably. For example, on East 120 Road I have witnessed
motorists driving
at what I estimate as speeds of over 60 or, even, 70 mph.
If taller plant growth such as that of Johnsongrass slowed the
speed of drivers it would,
ironically, improve road safety. I point out that even the tallest, non-woody
plant growth (eg.
Johnsongrass) is less of a safety hazard than the row of rocks pulled from bar
ditches along “dirt”
surface roads (as well as parts of paved East 120 Road) or yard-wide potholes
and asphalt chunks on
“paved” roads. Again, it is my understanding that, regardless of road
surface materials, the
maximum speed limit is 45 mph.
Finally in this regard I note the ultimate irony that your killing
of plants (using a nonselective
contact herbicide) did not generally result in any change that would impact
travelers because the
dead plants remained standing. The only impact you had was to convert green,
blooming plants into
dead ones. Most of these dead plants had already reached their maximum size
(or where approaching
it) and remained upright to continue to have the same effects (if any) on road
traffic as they had
before you killed them. It was only in a few areas (eg. an intersection along
East 120 Road) where
a machine knocked down plant growth that any change was made, other than to
change standing green
into standing dead plants—at taxpayer expense.
In essence, your expenditure of tax money for this public “uglification”
project did not affect
traffic flow or safety in any substantive way.
Whatever impact “uglification” might have had on traffic was certainly
much less than if you had
used tax dollars to patch the road instead of turning strips of “Green
Country” dead. Stupid!
Idiotic!
In other words, any attempt to divert or discredit my points
by invoking traffic flow or safety is
nonsense.
In like fashion, I will not be swayed by any attempted flimsy
argument to the tune of something
like, “Yeah, but road surfacing and herbicide spraying come out of two
different funds”. Any such
rationalizations are hogwash, balderdash, a smokescreen. Knowledgeable citizens
know that officials
of public schools, universities, and county governments never will have “enough
money” yet they
always seem to have plenty of money for what they choose to spend it on.
Plus, all this money—regardless of book-keeping funding
source—is public money, money collected one
way or the other through taxation of the governed people.
That is my point, my considered opinion. You wastefully, destructively
expended tax funds. In my
view, you misused the people’s money.
Nor will I be diverted by claims of easement of such and such
a distance (say, 33 or 66 feet). This
is a mute point because nobody is going to bring a lawsuit against the Ottawa
County commissioners
for killing vegetation growing on the outside fencerow. Thus, y’all have
carte blanche to do as you
choose in this regard—and you know it full well as shown by your action,
stupid idiotic action.
No, this is a political issue and not a legal one. It is something
to be fought at the ballot box
and not in the court room. One thing for certain: the US Constitution via the
First Amendment
grants me the right to use my knowledge to publicly express
my views regarding foolish expenditure of public funds and to use whatever influence
I might have to help elect officials who have respect for “green life”.
Some of
us “know we belong to the land” and we enjoy whatever beauty and vitality
“green life” brings to “Green Country”.
Of course it makes no difference who sits in a county commissioner’s
chair as long as those on road
crews can engage in child’s play with herbicide- loaded squirtguns—and,
again, supplied by
taxpayers. Taxpayers were the biggest thing that got squirted.
From my standpoint the people of Ottawa County, Oklahoma were
ill- served by your perverted
priorities and misguided action that had almost no impact on travel while at
the same time
senselessly damaging the rural beauty of “Green Country” Oklahoma—at
taxpayer expense.
To add insult to injury, all this was done by those who apparently
have little regard for what
could be termed “country life”. “Country” is like “home”.
It is “where the heart is” regardless of
where one resides. “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t
take the country out of
the boy.” The senseless, wholesale, stupid idiotic killing of plant life
along section line roads,
such East 1-20, was in my view reckless disregard for “native Oklahoma”
and “Green Country”. It
showed little respect for “green life” or a reverence for rural living
and country culture that has
always been built on the gifts of Mother Nature.
This disregard for ruralists’ enjoyment of Nature added
to wasteful, wanton killing of Oklahoma
vegetation moved this little landowner to take his own action. I do not presume
that you will read
this detailed analysis or, for that matter, thay you will even open the envelope
it came in.
Perhaps I wasted my time sending it to the Ottawa County, Oklahoma commissioners
(certainly was too
late for this year’s “green life”).
Still, with modern communication like the World Wide Web it
is possible for one to extend his
lessons beyond the county line. I am making this message available to a worldwide
audience. I feel
confident that some in my global classroom will read and, hopefully, learn from
it.
Display of this matter-of-public-concern letter along with photographs
of your senseless, stupid,
idiotic killing of plant life and squandering of public money in Ottawa County,
Oklahoma can be a
graphic editorial and an effective lesson in my web publication, Range Types
of North America.
I’ll show y’all on-line.
Sincerely,
Randy E. Rosiere, Ph. D, Animal and Range Sciences
Professor of Range Management Certified Professional in Rangeland Management, CP0031
Following is a set of photographs and explanatory captions showing the senseless killing of plant life along East 120 Road--at taxpayer expense--by county employees in spring-summer 2017. Mr. Chad Masterson was commissioner for district 2 and chairman of the Ottawa Count (Oklahoma) Commisssioners Board.
Commissioners' road kills: lack of respect for Green Life and tax-payers.
1. County commisioners welcome you to Green Burnt Brown
Country Oklahoma- Northeast Oklahoma has long-been designated as Green Country,
Oklahoma by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. It is one of
the six official travel destination regions of the Sooner State as designated
by the Travel Promotion Division of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation.
According to Wikipedia, the on-line free encyclopedia the Green Country
Region "... is the most historically significant" and oldest of the
six promotional regions of Oklahoma. Wikipedia explained that, "The
region is noted for its mild rainy climate and beautiful scenery".
So how did the county commissioners (Chad Masterson, board chairman and commissioner for district 2) of Ottawa County, Oklahoma (the most northeastern county in Green Country) respond to this historic promotion? Answer: they killed green, lush plant life along section line roads with a non-selective contact herbicide in early summer plant and turned the road-side "beautiful scenery" of Green Country into various color shades of ranging from brown through grey to black.
The dead foliage seen here included switchgrass, Johnsongrass, and big bluestem. Note that all the county commissioners did was to needlessly kill and then leave standing the grass shoots. The shoots did not fall down (they weere still standing seven months later as shown later in this section) and most were never mowed. All that was accomplished was convert this part of Green Country into Brown Country. There was virtually no impact on road clearance, visibility, or safety.
This senseless, make-work effort was a shameless waste of tax dollars as well as an undeniable disrespect and complete disregard, for the living green of Green County, Oklahoma. You think this looked bad just advance the slide projector...
South 670 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
2. Black goldenrod; Black Country Oklahoma, courtesy of county commissioners- Six foot shoots of giant or late goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) in a fenceline along East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma that were killed by a county road crew (under direcdtion by the county commissioners) using a non-selective, contact herbicide. The dead shoots were still standing into the following winter. Visibility along the road was thus unaffected by the spraying--at ta payer expense--with the only visual impact being to convert the lush green and soon-to-have-been bright yellow blooms into this standing charcoal.
The view is parallel to the section line road looking out into a hay field. Thus visibility, especially as related to safety, and traffic flow was completely unaffected by the goldenrod plants, either living or dead (= county commissioner-killed). The only difference was that the county commissioners--using tax money--left this disgraceful marred view on Green Country.
Giant golderrod is a climax, native dominant of the tallgrass prairie, the potential natural vegetation for this site in the western Springfield (Ozark) Plateau.
Note also the dead grass in foreground from berm of road outward. Grass had already been mowed down (using rotary shredder) prior to killing by the non-selective herbicide. Even if goldenrod shoot had fallen over they would have been about two feet away from the berm of the road and farther yet from the road surface.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
3. County commissioners appreciation of God's art- Large clump of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi= A. furcatus) killed along East 120 Road under direction of the county commissioners of Ottawa County, Oklahoma. This particular plant (on the author's home place) is (was) over 50 years old.
The first slide presented the specimen growing next to the fence and the second slide showed dead shoots (mostly leaves) of the plant at closer camera distance.
It was obvious from the first slide that this plant was having zero impact of road travel and safety. Rather, it was simply wantonly killed by herbicide-happy public employees under auspices of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of commissioners.
Big bluestem is overall the most abundant, dominant climax prairie grass of tallgrass prairie and the prairie-oak/hickory savanna in the vast interior of North America/. Big bluestem is the State Grass of Missouri, the Oklahoma-Missouri state line being three-fourths of mile east of this chemical desicration. Indiangrass is the State Grass of Oklahoma, but big bluestem is considerably more common and generally dominant over a larger area than Indiangrass in the human zone of Green Country Oklahoma. In fact, big bluestem is the single most abundant climax grass in well-managed tallgrass prairies throughout Oklahoma's Green Country Region as well as adjacent portions of Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.
The Okies who killed the specimen presented here obviously--at least to this nature-loving Okie--were oblivious to Mother Nature's native grasses and grasslands or did not care for Mother Nature, period. They certainly showed no respect for her green life. From the perspective of this prairieman, a hayseed college professor of Range Management, the jaspers responsible for this desecration were herbicide-happy hicks. Not even half good enough to be real hillbillies.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
4. Bluestem leaves of a living plant- Shoots (primarily still at low-stem, young-leaf stage) of big bluesem. The generic common name of "bluestem" for the various species of Andropogon (and, depending on classification, those of related genera) is a aptly descriptive title because the leaves, especially when young, have a bluish to purplish tinge. This was shown at closer camera-distance in the next slide-caption set.
These plants were growing in the same fencerow--but the previous year--as the specimen killed (at least shoot-killed) by county commissioners that was presented immediately above.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June.
5. Blue details- Young, actively growing leaves of big bluestem showing their often characteristic blueish or purplish color tone. More often than not leaves of big bluestem do not have quite as pronounced a blue coloration, but bluestem color is usually not the chlorophyll green more typical of most plant leaves.
These leaves were on plants of big bluestem that were growing in the same fencerow as the specimen whose shoots were killed by Ottawa County, Oklahoma road crew shown above.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June.
6. Hatchet herbicide-happy county commissioners- A robust--and
now dead-- specimen of velvet panicgrass (Panicum scoparium [Kucera,
1963, 1998]= Dichanthelium scoparium [Barkworth et al., 2007])--a
native, cool-season, rosette perennial--that was killed by road crew workers
using a non-selective contact herbicides (paid for by tax-payers; authorized
by Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of commissioners, Chad Masterson, chairman).
This plant was growing under and on both sides of a fence along East 120 Road.
It was at its maximum height of about two and a half feet and was not in any
way interfering with traffic flow, driver visibility, or any aspect of road
safety. Most importantly, the dead plant did not fall down, crumple, or anything
else. It just continued standing as before, except dead and brown instead of
alive and green.
All that was accomplished was the simple, senseless killing of a native plant by herbicide-happy public employees and turning dead brown a natural part of Green Country Oklahoma--and, again, at public expense. It was quite obvious--at least to this country boy--that none of those involved in this ecological, agronomic misadventure had any respect for Green Life or appreciation of natural beauty of "native Oklahoma".
Velvet panicgrass is the largest rosette panicgrass growing in this area of the westen Springfield Plateau. It was definitely not a weed in this context and it has no noxious status under Oklahoma weed laws.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
7. One that was alive- Numerous shoots of one plant of velvet panicgrass that was growing in a rocky fencerow along a section line road. Velvet panicgrass is one of the larger species in the Dichanthelium group of the Panicum genus (the C3, cool-season rosette panicgrasses). This species was discusses in several places in this publication, including in the Tallgrass Savanna chapter. This view of shoots of velvet panicgrass that were alive were presented here to compare their beauty to the dead ones that were senselessly killed by harbicide-happy county road workers (under direction of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of county commissioners).
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Early July.
8. Spraying for the sake of spraying (paid for by tax-payers)- Upper bank at intersection of two section line roads where county road employees killed almost all the vegetation using a non-selective, contact herbicide. These two photographs presented a one week period of progression of dying plants. The first photograph showed on-set of plant death and the second photograph taken seven days later presented final death of essentially all plant life within the spray zone.
The most common or locally dominant plant species big bluestem (more easily distinguished in foreground of the second or closer camera- distance photograph). Other plant species varied condiderably and included the trailing shoots of northern dewberry (Rubus flagellaris), Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis), native and perennial legume, eastern or annual daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuus), pokeberry (Phytolaca americana), native and perennial forb, the Eurasian (now naturalized) weeedy flannel mullein (Verbaxcum thapsus), introduced forage legume, sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) declared a noxious weed in nieghboring Kansas.
In a cruel irony--at least from a rangeman's perspective--the paid-for-by-taxes spray treatment killed all shoots of big bluestem, State Grass of Missouri (a neighboring state), and those of the native prairie legume Illinois bundleflower while leaving most of the introduced sericea lespedeza unaffected and achieving a roughly three-quarters kill on the weedy flannel mullein. Part of this area had been shredded two or three weeks prior to herbicide spraying so that some plants of flannel mullein received both mechanical and chemical treatment. In various instances, regrowth shoots with their dense (= flannel-like) pubescence arising from bases of the shredded (broken off) mullein repellled the herbicide solution such that even a one-two punch (combination of mechanical and chemical) treatment did not kill plants when went on to produce some seed.
This busybody, make-work at tax-payer expense was in the view of this professional range scientist and amature nature lover failed stewardship of elected officials. It was not only wasteful show-and-tell, political "bread and circuses" but mismanagement of roadside vegetation. To begin with, none of the killed plant were blocking the view so as to be able to impact highway safety. These plants did not in any way impair road visibility or interfere with movement of traffic because 1) they were so high up on the road bank they were not in line with driver visibility of the road surface or of the road intersection and 2) they were not tall enough to come into contact with the road given that shoots that were of such height had been shredded off two or three weeks earlier.
Secondly, it was a waste of tax money as it accomplished nothing except to, thirdly, add the scene of death all along the by-way so as to constitute an "uglification project" at tax-payer expense.
This mis-adventure was mismanagement all the way around. Squandered natural, financial, and human resources. Total waste of tax money and converted this piece of Green Country Oklahoma from a live, chlorophyll-green to a dead brown. Seen here (throughout this entire sectin) was foolish mismanagement of roadside vegetation, even if word-smithing was strained to imply that this was "weed control".
Tax dollars were misapplied to roadside vegetation (even if "weed management" was invoked). The native climax prairie grass and legume were killed off while numerous plants of two exotic weedy species remained alive and replinished the soil seed bed. Yes, some of all plant species were killed, but the exotic plants (often recognized and declared as weeds) were killed at a much lower proportion than the native Oklahoma prairie plants.
In fact, disturbances brought about by the county commissioners (commissioners not just-doing-as-they-were-told road workers are the responsible party) resulted in planting next year's crop of flannel mullein. Don't believe me? Next slides, please...
This view was of the south end of South 689 Road where it intersects East 120 Road. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
9. Sprayed, but not dead enough- Two second-growing season plants of the biennial Eurasian species, flannel mullein that were sprayed by a county road crew (authorized by county commissioners), but whose younger, interior leaves and enclosed flower shoot were not killed. Older, outer leaves were killed by some contact, non-selective herbicide, but plant organs, including the still-embryonic sexual shoot (=flower stalk) survived. Although these organs were severely injured the sexual organs survived long enough to produce and disperse seed for the next generation.
Flannel mullein is a very aptly named. It has a unique pubesencence of long, dense, velvet-like hairs which shed liquid away from its tissues and organs. Even the obviously "extra-lethal" chemical mixture used by the Ottawa County, Oklahoma road crew failed to stick to enough of the leaves to kill all of the young, actively growing plant tissue. Instead, enough of the tightly arranged leaves (and the sexual shoot that they surrounded) survived long enough to produce a small, short flower cluster that in turn set fruit from which several hundred viable seed were dispersed to insure the next generation (crop) of this Eurasian invasive species.
This forth-coming generation of this exotic biennial will almost assurredly live long enough to also produce seed given continuded road-side disturbances by the same road crew that attempted to kill an alien invader species.
You think these specimens were tough just wait nutil you see the next specimen ...
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
10. One tough character; cut off, sprayed, and still comin'- Regrowth of one plant of flannel mullein that had been broken off with a rotary shredder and then sprayed two or three weeks later with a contact, non-selective herbicide. The first slide showed this plant just above the ditch of East 120 Road (Ottawa County, Oklahoma) surrounded on three sides by what was left of a stand of big bluestem some of which had been shredded and all of it sprayed. The second slide presented a closer-in view of this individual plant showing regrowth leaves and an emerging sexu;al (flower) shoot. This specimen eventually produced a small (tiny was more like it) infloresecence (flower cluster) which bloomed, formed fruit, and sent out a few seeds!
Like the two example plants shown and described immediately above, this plant produced some seed to insure production of some progeny and the next generation of flannel mullein.
Shredding and spraying of these plants of flannel mullein was by a county road crew as authorized by the board of county commissioners. The lesson for students of Range Management, Weed Science, Agronomy, and so on is that this busyness--busybody make work for county employees--on the part of local officials and at tax payer expense did nothing to control an invasive exotic plant species that is basically a weed. In fact, the county commissioners planted flannel mullein andpepared a seedbed for it. Facatual statemen. Killing out of big bluestem, the climax dominant grass for this site, reduced competition for mullein seedlings while the disturbance of close shredding helped produce a seedbed for the next crop of flannel mullein.
Oh, you doubt the author's bold assertion? You assert hat this author is as stupid as the county commissioners? Well, next slides, please...
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
11, Wintering through (and "I told you so"!)- Winter rosettes of several plants (first slide) and a closer view of one plant (second slide) of flannel mullein growing on the berm of East 120 Road (Ottawa County, Oklahoma) that had been scraped down to bare soil with a rotary shredder driven by a member of the county road crew. Herbaceous material immediately to rear of these plants was a combination of dead stalks of annual Bromus species, big bluestem, and bermudagrass and new live growth of tall fescue (the few long green leaves). The perennial big bluestem and bermudagrass were killed by the road crew back in July using a contact, non-selective herbiide so that herbage of these species was not naturally died warm-season shoots. It was an extremely dry autumn-early winter period and there were no Bromus seedlings. Although tall fescue still had green shoots at time of herbicide application, this cool-season, introduced perennial showed almost no impact from the chemical compound, plus tall fescue had made some new cool-season growth.
Plants seen here on the road berm were right across the section line road from the plants presented in the immediately preceding two slide/caption sets (less than 50 feet away). Road side disturbance by shredding and scrapping down to bare mineral soil produced an ideal seedbed for the invasive, exotic weed. The county road crew was the direct cause of the mullein invasion. The road crew inadvertantly planted it. Now they can come back shred and spray these plants and they, too, will produce some seed (as did those plants seen in the two preceding slide/caption units) and, with continued disturbance by the road crew, next year there will be flannel mullein for the road crew to continue to shred, spray, etc--all at tax-payer expense--for the foreseeable future. Make-work for job security. (By the way, this author/photographer personally paid for the film used in presenting these images to his students.)
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January.
12. Killing just to be killing- Portion of a fencerow on which switchgrass and ashy sunflower were killed by senseless (though not "centless") spraying of a non-selective, contact herbicide by county road workers under authorization of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma county commissioners (Chad Masterson, board chairman and commissioner for district 2).
This view is parallel to a section road with killed plants from four to eleven away from the berm of the such that they were neither blocking motorists' view nor able to come into contact with the road surface. These plants were at the fully mature adult size when they wer senselessly killed at tax-payer expense.
Even more relevant was the fact that these killed plants continued to stand into the following winter (ssee below). They only stood dead and brown instead of green and alive. Even if these plant had in some way impeded traffic flow or posed a safety hazare--which they did not, but for sake of argument "if they had"-- killing them had absolutely no influence on travel because the dead herbage was still standing where county commissioners killed the plants.
Both switchgrass and ashy sunflower are native species that are important--often dominant--plants in tallgrass prairie. Both species are major plants of "native Oklahoma", important plant species in natural Green Country Oklahoa. These two species were certainly not weeds under this situation and they have no status as noxious plants under Oklahoma weed laws.
County employees (including both road crew workers and county commissioners) obviously held little, if any, respect for green life, the "native beauty" of Green Country Oklahoma, or tax-payers.
Are you looking Ottawa County voters? "Your tax dollars at work."
South 670 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
13. And this proved what?- That public employees (of Ottawa County, Oklahoma) could lay and leave waste of native prairie grass and squander tax dollars. A large plant of switchgrass growing at the edge of a section line road that was killed by county road workers using a non-selective, contact herbicide in mid-summer (first slide) and the same plant that was still standing six months later into early winter (second slide).
Yes, of course, this specimen of a native, perennial, warm-season grass would have dead shoots in winter (as in the background hay field). Do not confuse natural winter dormancy with human-caused summer death. The relevant point is that public money wwas used by elected, paid county officials to kill plants (= vegetation, plant life, whatever you choose to call it) that were (was) immaterial to road travel (safety, visibility, etc.).
This financial (and environmental) fiasco was failed public stewardship. It was a foolish waste of native plants, public funds, human effort, (and everything else) because the plants were not removed so that there was nothing accomplished. Nothing achieved that is except senseless killing of native plants, "blowing" public money, and turning Green Country Oklahoma a dead brown in the green growing season. Of course plant material will be brown in the dead of winter. That is why we--most of us anyway (apparently not county commissioners)--want visible plant life to stay green in the green seasons.
South 670 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (first slide) and early January (second slide).
14. Killing for the sake of killing, at tax-payer expense- Two local, small colonies of ashy sunflower that had been growing in a fence row and where killed by county road employees under direction of the county commissioners using a non-selective, contact herbicide. The smaller colony (first slide) was shown at greater camera-dstance from the berm of a section line road. The larger of the small colonies (second slide) was growing on both sides of a barbed wire fence. Herbicide had been applied to sunflower shoots on both sides of the fence. That county workers sprayed across and/or through the fence was an incontrovertible fact because the applied chemical compound was a contact and not a transloactable herbicide. Any dead plant tissue had been killed by direct contact with herbicide spray droplets because the chemical could not be moved (= could not be translocated) throughout the plant .
All sunflower shoots shoots were at their maximum height. (They had reached their adult size and were at immediate pre-bloom stage of phenology.) It can be readily seen that it was a physical impossibility for any of these shoots of either plant to come into contact with even the berm let alone the surface of the section line road.
Furthermore, it was an undeniable fact that none of this plant material--dead or alive--could have blocked or in any way impaired view of the road by motorists or pedestrians traveling down the road. Views presented here were parallel to the road and verified this visual fact. Also, the plants were about 90 to 100 yards away from any road intersection.
Finally, even if ashy sunflower (and associated plant species) had blocked travelers' views or had in any hypothetical manner influenced road travel and safety--which they did not--killing them, at tax-payer expense would still have accomplished nothing because the plants remained standing. The only diffence after killing by public employees using public funds was that the native prairie plants which were visually delightful and aesthetically pleasing --at least to nature lovers in Green Country Oklahoma--were now standing dead instead of standing alive. In fact, six months later in early winter this dead plant material was still standing right where it was when public employees had killed them--using tax money
In effect, the tax dollar-funded herbicidal killing of these climax prairie forbs had absolutely no impact on road travel.
The fact that dead shoots of these ashy sunflower plants (and associated plants like switchgrass) were still standing six months later exactly where they had been killed was shown in the next slide ...
Mr. Chad Masterson was chairman of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of commissioners and commissioner for this county road district (#2).
South 670 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
15. Still standing where they killed it- The same colony of ashy sunflower that was presented in the immediately preceding slide as it appeared six months later in early winter. This photograph was taken from a farther camera distance and a slightly different than the preceding photograph so that this view did not include the steel, studded T fence post that was included in the former slide. This wider field of view permitted inclusion of switchgrass that grew beside the ashy sunflower. Viewers can see that the killed switchgrass was also still staniding exactly where county road workers killed it--using tax money--six months earlier.
It was explained in the immediately preceding caption that killing of plants--with tax-payer money--accomplished abslutely nothing in regards to movement down the road or safety and visibility along the road. It was simply senseles--though certanly not "centless"-- killing that did nothing other than kill green life in Green Country Oklahoma.
In the opinion of this author, results from actions by public employees presented in this and above photographs provided examples of failed public stewardship. From the ethical point of view of this writer/photographer those people responsible for this wasteful, senseless killing had no respect for green life or the natural beauty of Green Country Oklahoma. Likewise, in the opinion of this author the same public servants squandered tax money which they used to commit this heinous act against Mother Nature.
Mr. Chad Masterson was chairman of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of commissioners and commissioner for this county road district (#2).
South 670 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January.
16. Reference point- A large colony of ashy sunflower growing on the virgin sod of a remnant tallgrass prairie that was used as a hay meadow for over a century was shown in the first of these three slides. Presence of this native composite as part of the vegetation of a climax plant community in the Springfield Plateau demonstrated that ashy sunflower is not a weed, but a decreaser range forb. Ashy sunflower is so palatable to livestock, including cattle and horses, that it is typically absent from overgrazed pastures characteristic of this part of the Ozark Mountains.
The second and third slide showed upper shoots and a closer view of the heads, respectively, of ashy sunflower just across the fence from the local colony of ashy sunflower presented in the immediately preceding three-slide/caption unit that that had been killed by county employees using a contact, non-selective herbicide.
These images provided benchmark views of a climax tallgrass prairie forb that stood in stark contrast and as a counterpoint reference to the scenes shown immediately above. The sight of these native forbs--usually dubbed "wild flowers'' (scientifically speaking, they were not "weeds")--contrasted sharply with the wanton, wasteful, ignorant killing of plants that were irrelevant to road travel while using tax money to "uglify" a natural part of Green Country Oklahoma.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
17. County commissioners' drift (on private property)- Flowering shoot of ashy sunflower with "ashy colored" areas of dead plant tissue created by spray drift from an unknown (to this author) non-selective, contact herbicide applied by county road crews. If this herbicide had been a translocated (versus a contact) formulation, the entire shoot might have been killed or, conversely, the dosage received by the sunflower plant might have so sligh as to have little or no effect on its tissue. As it was, only local spots of plant tissue were killed, but these were proof that it was a contact or non-translocated herbicide.
Ashy sunflower is a dominant, climax range forb--a decreaser--that is so palatable to range animals, including cattle, that it is typically absent from heavily grazed pastures in this western portion of the Springfield Plateau. It is not weed under these conditions and has no weed status under Oklahoma weed laws.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
18. Ashy and and clouded- Head of ashy sunflower being visited by a clouded sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) feeding and, in the process, pollinating flowers in the head of ashy sunflower. This sunflower was across the fence from Road and although this plant sustained some localized killed tissue from drift of a contact, non-seletive herbicide applied by a county road crew, most of it survived to host this mid-sized lepidopteran of the family Pieridae (subfamily, Coliadinae).
The senseless, wasteful (including of tax money) killing of ashy sunflower in the fencerow that was shown above provided a good example of destruction of wildlife habitat that gained nothing for anybody.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
19. Native Okies- A clouded sulphur butterfly feeding on flowers in the head of a plant of ashy sunflower behind the secondary branches of a panicle of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). These three species are native to the tallgrass prairie and tallgrass-oak/hickory savanna of the North American heartland, including the highly publicized Green Country of northeastern Oklahoma.
The sunflower and switchgrass plants seen here were just across the fence from plants of both species that were "not so lucky" and instead were killed by county road crews (working under direction of the board of county commissioners) using a non-selective, contact herbicide.Nature's beauty like that presented in this scene was contrasted to the mindless killing--at tax-payer expense--of large colonies of ashy sunflower.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
Historical Note (and subsequent author's comment): During the 1960s there was a nationwide trend in the recognition and promotion of America's natural beauty. One outcome of what was eventually known as the Envoronmental Movement, the third major wave of conservation in the United States, was a number of activities that protected and promoted the less economically important native plants, especially those known in everyday language as "wild flowers". Interest in these plantss was largely due to their aesthetic value and importance as part of our "national treasure".
First Lady Lady Bird Johnson was a major political player in her husband's Great Society administrtion. "Bird" assumed the national leadership role in what developed into federal sponsorship of "beautification" and preservation of our nation's "natural treasures". One of the major piecces of federal legislation in this regard was the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 commonly known as "Lady Bird's Bill". Thirty years later in 1995 Lady Bird Johnson co-founded (with Helen Hayes) the National Wildflower Research Center near Austin, Texas. This facility was later renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope" was one of the more memorable statements made by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.
Although a Democrat in a partisian time period, Lady Bird Johnson was admired and recognized by members of both major parties for her many advocacy roles in making a better United States of America. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald R. Ford (Republican). A portion of the citation on her Medal of Freedom read: "Her leadership transformed the American landscape and preserved its natural beauty as a national treasure."
Put in a larger historic contest, First Lady Lady Bird "tapped into" an already developing conservation trend that was beginning to respect and save native plants, the most obvious value of which was "beauty", "attractiveness", or even "rarity". Other people--perhaps especially women in so-called "garden clubs"--became involved in this recognition and protection of "wild flowers". One of the more spectaclar achievements in this regard was publication, begining in 1966, of the six volume (a total of fourteen books) encyclopedic set, Wild Flowers of North America edited by H.W. Rickett of the New York Botanical Garden and published by the textbook giant, McGraw-Hill Book Company (New York).
During this same period there was a proliferation of "wild flower" field guides such as those in the Roger Torey Peterson field guide series. Alongside "wild flower" books were those devoted to mushrooms and other fungi all of which took their place beside field guides to trees and grasses. This expanded interest in plants was accompanied by initiation of numerous projects, led by state universities and various agencies, to assemble floras and manuals of vascular plants for states such as Texas or even large geographic regions including the Great Plains.
Interest in "wild flowers" gradually expanded to include all native plant species running the gamut from commercially important forest trees and range grasses that are the mainstay of the ranching industry to unique endemic species that had no apparent economic value. The ultimate result of this expanded interest in all native plant species was founding of Native Plant Societies on par with older scientific, professional societies like the Society of American Foresters and Society for Range Management.
People delighting in plant life are as diverse as foresters, rangemen, farmers, weed scientists, plant pathologists, plant taxonomists, and "nature lovers" that are as varied as the proverbial "little ole ladies in tennis shoes" to politically powerful, fifth-generation ranching barons. For instance, David and Peggy Rockefeller (of the famed dynasty "sired" by John D.) provided essential backing for publication of Wild Flowers of North America.
Author's comment: Action of the the Ottawa County, Oklahoma board of county commissioners in the wholesale "uglification" of county roads was obviously counter to the examples of beautification and native plant preservation shown by prominent national leaders all the way down to local "garden clubs". Based on the central role that Lady Bird Johnson and other exceptional women like Peggy Rockefeller played in the nationwide trend to appreciate native plans (especially"wild flowers") and their beauty, it is likely that the board of commissioners, Ottawa County, Oklahoma would be viewed for exactly what they were: herbicide-happy employees using tax money to kill everything they saw that was green while ignoring locally hazardous road surfaces. County commissioners failed even the simplest, most obvious of thing which was just leaving the plant life alone.
Unfortunately, Ottawa County, Oklahoma commissioners were not content to simply refrain from killing roadside "wild flowers" and native prairie grasses that adorn Green Country Oklahoma. Instead, the commissioners (and county employees serving under them) went out of their way to do exactly the opposite. These public servants used tax money to conduct wholesale destruction of roadside vegetation that was irrelevent to road travel and safety. This tax-supported killing fulfilled no obligatory action to state weed laws. Contrary to examples of roadside beautification and appreciation of "native treasures" set a half century ago by prominent political leaders, Ottawa County, Oklahoma commissioners did just the opposite. They used tax money to have their own self-styled "uglification" project.
In this author's opinion, Ottawa County, Oklahoma commissioners and road workers showed no respect for green life, appreciation of a Oklahoma's natural beauty, or even a basic demonstration of "good taste". The range scientist and college professor who assembled this report awarded these public employees the letter grade of F. No, they did not deserve an F, but that is the lowerst grade that can be given.
Continuing on down the road.
Travelers take your choice. Do you prefer:
THIS
20. Tax dollars at work, but would it meet the criteria of First Lady Lady Bird?- Small local colony of common evening-primrose (Oenothera biennis) growing in the fencerow that was killed by Ottawa County County road crew workers using a contct, non-selective herbicide. Shoots of these plants were about two to three feet tall. They were killed at their maximum height just prior to bloom stage. The plants were approximately ten feet from berm of a section line road (East 120 Road) and could not have come into contact with the road surface.
This view is parallel to the road. Viewers can see that the plants were irrelevant to road travel, visibility, and other aspects of safety.
In other words, this was another example of senseless (but not centless) killing by county workers (hence, authorized by or under authority of the county commissioners)--and paid for by tax dollars. Tax payers paid for this example of converting the Green of Green County Oklahoma into Dead Brown. Tax-supported "uglification".
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
OR THIS
21, Along the road when it was not sprayed- Upper shoot and flowers of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) on the edge of wet prairie along East 120 Road (Ottawa County, Oklahoma) in mid-summer in a year when county employees (under authorization and/or direction of county commissioners) did not indescriminately spray roadside vegetation killing (at least for the rest of that growing season) almost all plants.
Foliage and flowers of this attractive native forb can be contrasted with the dead shoots of the same species presented in the immediately preceding photograph. This author would venture the guess that most folks traveling along this section line road would prefer the natural summer color of this native "wild flower" to the blasted-dead color of plants killed under authority of the county commissioners. Undoubtedly some motorists, especially those exceeding by 30 miles an hour the legal speed limit, did not notice (and could care less), but others prefer the natural summer color of Green Country Oklahoma as provided by Mother Nature rather than the view of wholesale plant death delivered by county officials and employees as paid for by tax payers.
Fence row, East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August; peak bloom phenological stage.
22. More views along the road when it was not sprayed-- Views of anothertother plant of common (biennial) evening-primrose from another year growing in the fencerow along East 120 Road (Ottawa County, Oklahoma). These views presented an additional example of the attractiveness of this native prairie forb at closer camera distance to show details of its flowers.
It obviously, it contrasted dramatically with those plants of the same species shown above that were killed by county road workers who obviously had little if any respect for green life and the beauty produced by "native Oklahoma.
Fence row, East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August; peak bloom phenological stage.
IS THERE REALLY A CHOICE? YES, AT LEAST FOR SOME, ON ELECTION DAY.
23. Even a non-selective herbicide can be selective- Plants of Kentuky 31 tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) still healthy (green and having some growth) after being sprayed by some non-selective, contact herbicide while other grasses, including common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactyledon); forbs, such as common or sorrel (Oxalis stricta), and caric-sedge (Carex) were killed or dying from chemical application. The conspicuous clumps adjacent to tall fescue that were yellowing were caric-sedge.
Aside from the ethical lesson taught here, a secondary or sidebar lesson was the selective nature even of an otherwise non-selective herbicide or, stated from another perspective, what can only be described as the remarkable resistance of one species to a herbicide that was lethal to all other treated plant species. Without knowing otherwise, the range scientist or agronomist must assume that the fungal endophyte, Neotyphodium coenophialum, that is responsible for the tolerance of endophyte-infected cultivars of tall fescue, like Kentucky 31, to stresses--including close gazing or other forms of severe defoliation, high temperatures (for a cool-season species), short-term drought, and, perhaps, waterlogged soils--was also the primary factor that permitted these tall fescue plants to survive a chemical treatment that was lethal to all neighboring plant species.
Note: approximately half of the dead herbage seen in the background of these two "photoplots" was straw (= dead shoots) of naturalized, Eurasian, cool-season annual grasses--notably Japanese chess or Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus) that had already died upon completing their life cycle prior to herbicide application. In other words, that approximate half of the dead herbage seen here had existed prior to killing of neighboring plant tissue by herbicide spraying. It is essential that photographs be interpreted correctly and not used as propaganda or "yellow photo-journalism" (and no pun intended). Afterall, the case for wasted, senseless killing of irrelevant plants using tax dollars was overwhelming without weakening the argument by resorting to misleading, sensational "yellow journalism".
In fact, this dead herbage of exotic plant species strengthens the case against senseless, expensive (= wasteful) killing of roadside plants in what has long-been billed as Green Country Oklahoma. The cool-season brown-coloration of non-native, naturalized plants adds more than enough off-color to summer hue--along with frequent dry spells and drought--to Green Country Oklahoma as it is without being "aided and abetted" by tax-squandering, herbicide-happy county commissioners.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July.
24. Perverted priorities- Condition of "paved" surface of East 120 Road, a section line road, in Ottawa County Oklahoma six months after this author sent the above letter to the County Commissioners complaining of wasting tax-payer money to sensely kill (with contact, non-selective herbicide) native plants growing alongside this road while at the same time doing nothing to improve the obviously hazardous state of the road surface.
County commissioners were responsible for use of tax monies for "uglification" of the road by turning the green of summer plant life into the black of death when these plants could not have possibly impacted traffic flow or safety in any form or fashion. At the same time county commissioners did nothing--zero, natta,zip--to repair the crumbling, dangerously rough road surface.
These views in early winter when taken in conjuction with the killing--at tax-payer expense--of road-irrelevant "green life" presented conclusively the perverse priorities of the county commissioners. In the view of this author-- who speaks for himself only in a private citizen capacity--these misplaced priorities showed the incompetence and political unfitness of the elected county officials to serve another term.
Residents and voters of Ottawa County, Oklahoma study well this contrast, this set of perverted priorities. It is your road in a hazardous condition and your tax dollars at waste.
East 120 Road, Ottawa County, Oklahom. Early January.
Epilogue: The above exposé of an example of incompetence and failed public service--in the opinion of this author--in one regard by county commissioners was in one comparatively small county in one state, but it served as a textbook lesson in Political Science. It was a picturesque--pictures more ugly than pretty--example of the famous (and wise) adage: "All politics is local". This is phrase is most commonly associated with former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Tip O'Neill. (Mr. O'neill, Democrat, represented a district of northern Boston, Massachusetts from 1953 to 1987. He was the only speaker to serve for five complete consecutive United States Congresses.)
The lesson taught by Speaker O'Neill's popularized political wisdom is a universal one.
The sad example of failed public stewardship that was shown and described above was local politics involving relatively few people, but unfortunately it is the type of failed resource (natural, financial, human resources) management that is all too common. It often seems to be more common in the proverbial "out-of-the-way" places like the small rural, ex urban Ottawa County, Oklahoma than in more populated and/or prominently visible ones.
For example, the author's letter to the Ottawa County, Oklahoma county commissioners noted that the conspicuous blasting--the prominent wholesale killing of roadside vegetation--by chemical means had not been done (certainly not noticably) along Interstate Highway 44 in Oklahoma. Much of Interstate 44 right of way had been mowed (technically, shredded) as had easement along East 120 Road two or three weeks prior to indiscriminate killing of vegetation by use of non-selective, contact herbicide. It seemed probable to this author that there would be more complaints from toll-paying motorists regarding killing of plant life along an intetstate highway than from motorists traveling a section line road lined with ded plant life.
The political reality is, however, that it does not take a lot of complaints--especially valid, documented ones--to raise awareness of the people (at least those who make a difference) to failed public service.
The sad situation documented above might serve as a lesson to some citizens who have yet to fully develop a respect for green life or to appreciate the reality that public officials can be held acccountable in public opinion. and and at the ballot box.
Disclaimer: this author grew up in Ottawa County, Oklahoma and got his first 14 years of education (first grade through junior college) in Ottawa County Oklahoma through public education funded by tax monies. This public education began with eight years in the one-room, yellow brick school house, Stony Point, North Number Seven, which still stands, decrepitly, along the section line road now designated as East 120 Road. This country boy has walked the roads, the wayside vegetation of which he shared here, over a span of more than 60 years. He still shares in ownership of his "home place" along East 120 Road.
Post script: Mr. Chad Masterson, who was the commissioner for this district (district 2) of Ottawa County,Oklahoma, was defeated in his re-election bid in the general election of November 2020. This election outcome resulted even though commissioner Masterson arranged to have a new bridge constructed over Modoc Creek on East 120 Road in the election year of 2020. Unfortunately, residents who live in road district 2, especially those with property along East 120 Road, had enough voter savy to know that the replacement commissioner is even less capable than one he replaced. "Better the devil you know..." He, too, in turn was voted out of office after one term.