A Devilish Grass Invades the West
By: Virginia Morell
This new weed is taking over the grazing lands in the west and had become a big problem. Livestock passes through will not eat the weeds so they accumulate. Since the weeds have no natural predators they are spreading and turning grazing lands into fields of medusahead which have no use. Although they mow and spray pesticides on the weeds it doesn’t help. Their seeds are in the grown so the only way they could get rid of it would be to pull it out. This has became a huge problem to livestock owners that need to have their animals fed. This could just hurt the economy in the long run since livestock owners will have to pay out of their pocket to fix this problem.
This is not a biased article but more of an informal article. The author is just trying to inform us about this problem.
IV. Land and Water Use
A. Agriculture
2. Controlling Pets
I do agree that the overgrowing of this weed is a very large upcoming problem. It affects crops and livestock which will cause a great dent in our economy, as well to the land and agriculture.If it keeps going at this constant rate, i believe it could get out of control and take over the land. Since there is no chemicals that can kill the weed, I believe that farmers should move their livestock and uproot and plow through all of the weeds until gone to keep the weed from spreading. Or keep looking for a weed killer that can prevent the spread of it.
ReplyDeleteLee Younger
I believe that we need to find something that can kill this weed or else we will be faced with a lot of problems in the near future. I think that this weed is going to be hard to stop if we let it get out of control. We need to think quickly in order to stop this fast growing weed that could potentially affect the growth of livestock and crops which then in turn affects us humans.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe that the weed does not have any natural predators. This makes me think that the weed must be non-native to the U.S or else it would have some type of natural predator. I think that scientist should discover where this weed comes from so that they can find its natural predators and control it. Other wise this weed can cause harmful affects to animals and other plants living in the area, since it just continues to spread.
ReplyDeleteI want to know how this plant got to the U.S. all the way from the Mediterranean, and if it arrived here in 1880 why is it just becoming a problem now? I think that this plant wasn't out competing native plants earlier, and perhaps this problem could be linked to the overgrazing of native grasses by livestock.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is interesting that this weed seems to have no common predators and they dont mention how it has appeared. This non-native plant must have something that can kill it off and weaken the population. Perhaps because of all the pesticides it has come into contact with it might have become immune to them and has grown stronger. This is a huge problem that will start happening if we aren't careful. This problem could get out of hand and ruin the environment as well as the agricultural business of the land. They could always introduce a predator but that will effect the rest of the environment. Whatever answer they decide on will most likely have long lasting effects on the earth.
ReplyDelete