I know with all the real problems in the world this may seem to some, trivial but am I the only one out hear noticeably saddened by the way those road crews mangle and shred the trees and bushes that grow alongside our country roads? All I can feel when I pass by a stretch of that destruction is a deeply felt ouch. I realize the growth needs to be cut back periodically or it would soon close over the roads but couldn't crews of people otherwise out of work in these times and maybe screened for having a little sensitivity to our green brethren be hired to do so in a less brutal manner?
Also, while I'm at it, the animal carnage on the roads these days seems a lot more escalated than years past... every day I see several newly killed animals... Deer, fox, raccoons, skunks, birds, house pets... I wonder if anyone is counting just how many we lose per week? Seems like more animals are being squeezed into ever smaller green corridors by development... people building houses where none were before. The loss seems very high to me, anyone else feel this way?
"Mad" Miles
05-07-2010, 03:07 PM
Yes, Pterosapiens, I feel your concerns and have similar ones.
But I suspect the explanation for the foliage butchering is a lack of funds. Running a buzz saw cutter along the side of the road is probably the most financially and labor efficient way to do the clearing. With all of the cutbacks in public services lately, and more to come, I doubt we'll see legions of unemployed pruners put to work.
Which brings me to the dead animals. It was announced in the news last fall (I believe) that the county would no longer remove animal carcasses from the roadways, no more money for that either. So I suspect you're seeing the results, not an increase in deaths. It's just that the carnage is no longer swept away.
This cutback also applies to the trash from littering and illegal garbage dumping. I've noticed an increase in that, and that's been in the news as well.
The only solution, other than bringing back public funding, that has been hinted at, is for local communities to try and pick up the slack with volunteers. A nice idea, but with all of the other social needs being left to fester (home health care aids for the disabled and elderly, battered womens shelters, homeless services, disabled services such as jobs for the developmentally disabled, everybody see the article about the demo at the state building in yesterday's PD?, correctional education and rehabilitation, public education, to name just a few) I wonder about who is going to take care of the problem, for free.
I hesitate suggesting communities hire day laborers, left unemployed by the economic plummet in construction and other industries, for fear of being called unpatriotic and a scofflaw here in waccolandia. Plus they want/need to get paid just like everybody else!?
LenInSebastopol
05-07-2010, 06:33 PM
So if one sees stuff on the road, pick it up. Put in in a black, green, or blue can. Wrap in plastic to keep the smell down.
Gadz, not real complicated.
tarasun
05-08-2010, 07:19 AM
I know with all the real problems in the world this may seem to some, trivial but am I the only one out hear noticeably saddened by the way those road crews mangle and shred the trees and bushes that grow alongside our country roads? All I can feel when I pass by a stretch of that destruction is a deeply felt ouch. I realize the growth needs to be cut back periodically or it would soon close over the roads but couldn't crews of people otherwise out of work in these times and maybe screened for having a little sensitivity to our green brethren be hired to do so in a less brutal manner?
Also, while I'm at it, the animal carnage on the roads these days seems a lot more escalated than years past... every day I see several newly killed animals... Deer, fox, raccoons, skunks, birds, house pets... I wonder if anyone is counting just how many we lose per week? Seems like more animals are being squeezed into ever smaller green corridors by development... people building houses where none were before. The loss seems very high to me, anyone else feel this way?
I must agree with all you say. It is very sad how arrogant and cruel we humans can be.
We humans are not the only species who matter. The animals share our world and are not only subject to exteme loss of habitat (their homes) by our inconsiderate destruction, we have poisoned their water, their land and their air (as well as our own) so a few can make a profit. Trying to breathe in the outdoors over the past several weeks with the toxic sprays being poured over "crops" poisons the air, earth and water. Regardless of what the chemical companies state, these chemicals don't just kill pests!
The poisoned air leaves a disgusting taste in our mouths, then settles in our cells to haunt our own bodies in the future with cancer or other environmental disease. Imagine what it does to the precious beings who have no where else to go?
And, what I find the most frustrating is that we take all of it for granted and have convinced ourselves we are better than all the rest. We drive like maniacs down beautiful old country roads,,,giving little respect to each other and no respect or compassion to those innocents following generations of trails who have no understanding that roadways mean suffering and death.
It is really heartbreaking!
cosmiccorn
05-08-2010, 09:14 AM
Overpopulation of humans is not a very popular discussion, but one that needs to be addressed. Here's a link to a quiz on the effects of such:
https://populationinstitute.org/external/files/PI_Population_Quiz.pdf
(I know with all the real problems in the world this may seem to some, trivial but am I the only one out hear noticeably saddened by the way those road crews mangle and shred the trees and bushes that grow alongside our country roads? All I can feel when I pass by a stretch of that destruction is a deeply felt ouch. I realize the growth needs to be cut back periodically or it would soon close over the roads but couldn't crews of people otherwise out of work in these times and maybe screened for having a little sensitivity to our green brethren be hired to do so in a less brutal manner?
Also, while I'm at it, the animal carnage on the roads these days seems a lot more escalated than years past... every day I see several newly killed animals... Deer, fox, raccoons, skunks, birds, house pets... I wonder if anyone is counting just how many we lose per week? Seems like more animals are being squeezed into ever smaller green corridors by development... people building houses where none were before. The loss seems very high to me, anyone else feel this way?)
Barton Stone
05-08-2010, 01:48 PM
Thanks for bringing this up.
There is nothing trivial about concern for the beauty and well being of the earth and all her forms of life. Let us foster that concern and bring it more into public policy.
I am hurt by the carnage along Highway 101. This is not a case of funding cutbacks. They (we) would save money by not cutting those redwood trees and by not paving over more of the county.
I don't think our future includes the "happy motoring" we've gotten accustomed to over the past few decades. I think it is clear that the future will be much better served by forests than by highways.
Our common welfare is being strangled by the power of greed.
Let us have this conversation and rediscover the people's remedy.
Claire
05-09-2010, 10:26 AM
Yup, the Redwood-less Highway.
As to the animals killed on the roadsides there's a book, Apologia, written by Barry Lopez and illustrated by our local Robin Eschner that tells of his traveling by car and seeing all the various animals killed along the roadsides.
It's a delicate tale of his giving the carcasses some due dignity by burying them or at least placing them further into the countryside (as I remember it).
It sounds awful but it's a good little read and the woodcuts were perfect for it.
BancheroTreeService
05-09-2010, 10:28 AM
I've noticed the same thing. Those mowing machines make allot of sense for clearing willow and broom efficiently, but I saw crews trying to prune branches on beautiful mature oak trees over on Occidental Rd. That's like using a sledge hammer to perform brain surgery. Can't really blame the crew though. It is the responsibility of the home owner to manage the vegetation on their property and you get what you pay for.
The redwoods over at 116 and 101 have me stumped (pun intended). I can't figure out why they would cut those trees down and then leave them for months. Are they planning to put in another lane?
edie
05-09-2010, 11:02 AM
So if one sees stuff on the road, pick it up. Put in in a black, green, or blue can. Wrap in plastic to keep the smell down.
Gadz, not real complicated.
Should it be a larger animal try to call the county road service. I saw them very early in the morning- before traffic time- picking up dead dear.
"Butschering" the roadside landscape by machine is, I guess, cheaper for the tax payers than "beautyfied" by hand. When I cut my lawn, I realize there goes some grasshopper or ladybug... can't watch them all, sorry... I just hope no car will get my foot!
podfish
05-10-2010, 09:41 AM
sorry if this feels like hijacking the thread, but the problem I have with the more and more frequent calls for volunteers to take over government services is that it's really a way to impose taxation in-kind, and it lets those who should pay off the hook. Kind of sad, really, because volunteerism has its own rewards and is more satisfying than paying taxes. But the virtue of using straight-forward taxation is that it exploits the nature of money - it dis-individualizes the contributions people make and allows us as a society to support the things that should be available to all, and share the burden of maintenance among us all. It's much harder for anything to happen if first you have to find all those who benefit most directly and get them to pay for it directly.
...With all of the cutbacks in public services lately, and more to come, I doubt we'll see legions of unemployed pruners put to work.... The only solution, other than bringing back public funding, that has been hinted at, is for local communities to try and pick up the slack with volunteers.
tomcat
05-10-2010, 12:38 PM
As for the redwood trees on Hwy 101, they were planted as 'Landscaping' along the freeway long ago and we will all miss them. Yes, they are widening the freeway (adding an HOV lane) and making changes to on & off ramps and overpasses in the RP area & south a ways to more safely handle the growing traffic. It will be a mess for awhile and look ugly, but traffic will flow more smoothly when it's done... for awhile. There will be new 'Landscaping' planted and in a few years it will look nice again, maybe.
As for picking up trash and dead animals on roadways, I would be VERY careful about that. It is very dangerous to be near the roadway on foot even with the proper safety equipment; bright reflective vest, cones, orange warning signs, orange truck... etc. Just ask any Cal Trans worker.
Tom
:2cents:
Dynamique
05-10-2010, 01:03 PM
There may be two other contributing factors: it's mating season and animals are trying to find each other to do their thing, and the county is not picking up roadkill any more due to budget cuts.
It makes me wince to see creatures splatted on the road too. You're right about the loss of habitat and safe passageways being an increasing problem.
... Also, while I'm at it, the animal carnage on the roads these days seems a lot more escalated than years past... every day I see several newly killed animals... Deer, fox, raccoons, skunks, birds, house pets... I wonder if anyone is counting just how many we lose per week? Seems like more animals are being squeezed into ever smaller green corridors by development... people building houses where none were before. The loss seems very high to me, anyone else feel this way?
BancheroTreeService
05-10-2010, 01:21 PM
Well...this has morphed from a vegetation management thread to a road kill discussion. I just had a funny thought.
Does anyone else think it is weird that their are more big dumb turkeys running around than just about anything else in Sonoma County and yet I don't think I have ever seen Turkey flavored road pizza. Comparatively raccoons are brilliant compared to turkeys and they get done in every day. Maybe it's a nocturnal verses ummm....day-turnal thing?
The Owl
05-10-2010, 01:26 PM
There may be two other contributing factors: it's mating season and animals are trying to find each other to do their thing, and the county is not picking up roadkill any more due to budget cuts.
It makes me wince to see creatures splatted on the road too. You're right about the loss of habitat and safe passageways being an increasing problem.
Several people have suggested it is because road crews aren't picking up dead animals as before and I'm aware of that, but I am referring to fresh kills each day... the vultures, crows and ravens and mammalian scavengers at night make short work of the older kills.
Thank you to all who expressed gratitude and were moved to respond to this thread. It is heartening indeed.
decterlove
05-10-2010, 02:32 PM
I know with all the real problems in the world this may seem to some, trivial but am I the only one out hear noticeably saddened by the way those road crews mangle and shred the trees and bushes that grow alongside our country roads?
Might you be referring to the mess they left along 101 from Cotati to RP? Really mangled tangle along there. I have a friend who is a "conservative/republican" in Marin....and no, I don't buy that evading responsibiity about "I'm not a Republican! I'm a Conservative!" that everyone on the right is spewing since GW almost singlehandedly dismantled the entire Republic in a mere 8 years of record-setting incompetent leadership BUT the funny thing is that he and I are not that far apart of most of the real issues. I'm just aghast at the political figures he admires.....
Anyways..........we were driving up past the afore mentioned mess a few weeks ago.....and he got all bent out of shape about it too which was amusing. Joked about doing some serious tree sitting! If he did, he might be the FIRST REPUBLICAN TO EVER CLIMB A LIVING TREE for the purpose of not cutting it down!
I do think that as a species, or at least as a culture....we are learning but yesterday I was driving down Stony Point and I found two beautiful amber colored gopher snakes that had probably been mating....and were probably run over deliberately as they were in the bike lane and had been hit not very long ago. I tossed them over into the brush so they could rest in dignity...hopefully some hawk might find them and return them to the food chain.
Just glad I didn't see it happen. And glad that I'm blessed with a way of turning it all around with kids anyway.
ps...........saw a program about the Dust Bowl last week on tv. Man, was that some communist/liberal/socialist plot or WHAT? Dirt flying all over in the sky....Al Gore probably made the whole thing UP!