Invasives + Kindness. (continued).
This year we’re beginning a deep exploration into healthy land restoration after invasives have devastated a site. The problem is real and gross. For example, in Saratoga Springs, NY the beautiful public park on High Rock Rd is haunted by invasive Japanese Knotweed. Behind the park to the west side, there’s an estimated square half mile that’s just wall-to-wall Knotweed. The area exists on a steep slope and the invasion expands every year.
How on earth would a municipality manage such a problem? Each year the Knotweed expands, leaving a bigger and bigger future eco-headache for each new administration to inherit. Using toxic chemicals on public land never seems in the best interest of the people or the land. The slope provides other logistical hurdles. For example, using heavy machinery would likely be impossible. Even if it was feasible to get a backhoe or excavator to the problem area, then soil erosion would be the next concern.
It would seem a site like this may be a prime candidate for a “killing with kindness” paradigm shift approach. Permaculture principles of land management supply some revolutionary organic management tools. Soil health, quality, mineral content and understanding the plants incentives are everything. If we are willing to see environmental problems with new eyes, affordable and safe solutions can become accessible.
Confidential to any local public land decision makers. The management team at Jessecology would love to explore organic solutions for public land with you. Let’s write a grant together! Let’s do public access habitat restoration together.
