Jim Brady has noticed something new along the roads near his home in Sparta: more state trucks spraying vegetation. For this week’s Carolina Curious, he asked what they’re spraying and why.
Kevin Clemmer, with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Roadside Environmental Unit, says they’re using Triclopyr, an herbicide that kills brushy vegetation and invasive weeds. This year, they’re spraying a lot more of it for one big reason:
“We are inundated with sight-distance complaints,” he says. “It’s the quickest way to contain the vegetation.”
He’s referring to complaints about plants getting in the way of drivers’ sightlines. And he says they’ve doubled in the past year, with issues especially common in the High Country.
“In the western part of the state, vegetation just tends to grow more rapidly,” he says. “It seems to be cooler, higher elevation, generally more rain, and a lot more curves in the roads, if you will. With curves, there's more sight distance issues.”
Clemmer attributes the problem to Senate Bill 391, which was signed last summer. It prohibits crews from mowing roadsides in the month of May and reduces mowing frequency throughout the year. Audubon North Carolina was among the groups that championed the bill.
“It's just giving the plants a chance to grow,” says Audubon North Carolina Policy Director Zach Wallace. “It provides nesting ground, cover on the ground, lets them sprout all the way up so that the insects that birds eat are on those plants. And I think the idea was that this would be a cost-saving measure too.”
The bill also promotes the planting of native vegetation. All of these measures support pollinators, which are critical to the overall ecosystem. Wallace says the extra herbicide use goes against the spirit of the bill, but he understands NCDOT has limited options.
“I think having a year's worth of experience that DOT now has, that's information that they could take back to the General Assembly and see what kind of changes could be made while continuing to make roadways as bird-friendly as possible,” he says.
The backstory came as a surprise to listener Jim Brady.
“I would never have thought it would have been based upon a law,” he says. “I will now, when I see these things, think 'Well there is a benefit there, but at the same time there's a cost.'”
Brady says he hopes lawmakers revisit the issue and can come up with a solution that benefits all sides.