For the better part of the last 25 years I have been working with foresters and others for whom the land is sacred, providing the best care possible to protect the tree landscape for which Maine is known. That includes, but is not limited to, aerial spraying of herbicides to help protect weeds from decimating our trees.
When people hear the words ” aerial spraying,” they typically have a negative reaction without taking the time to understand it.
So let me try and explain it.
Many of us have vegetable gardens in our backyards. Home gardeners take great pride in their yields but it takes a lot of work to make those tomato plants, beans, potatoes, carrots and more come to maturity. Sometimes we end up using weed control to stop them from strangling your produce.
The same logic applies to forestry. Foresters plant trees but without weed control, our spruce and fir trees would get choked, out-competed for nutrients, water and sunlight. It’s not good for business obviously, but it’s also not good for native species. In addition, if the forester can’t grow the trees he or she will end up having to sell the land, running the risk of development. We should all agree that the more land we protect, the better, especially when it comes to carbon sequestration.
It’s important to understand how targeted and precise we are, from start to finish, so that drift is not a factor.
Read more on this story at the Bangor Daily News
