Bug zappers

[Cris Guppy or Aud Fischer]

I believe that in agricultural areas farmers put a lot of pressure on the
highways departments to mow the entire width of the right-of-way to reduce
the number of weed seeds that move into the fields.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Cherubini" <cherubini at mindspring.com>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: Bug zappers


> Norbert  Klonda wrote:
>
> > Maybe we can get the anti-collectors
> > and anti-releasers to spend some energy on criticizing something that
really
> > may be a serious issue for insect conservation.
>
> Another insect conservation issue the anti-collectors & anti-releasers
seem
> loathe to tackle is roadside mowing. I think we can all agree that for
auto safety
> and road maintenance reasons a small band of roadside soil needs to be
> maintained free of excessive weed growth, but I was downright shocked
> by what I observed along Iowa roadsides this past September.
>
> Iowa is a state where 80% of the land mass is covered with corn and
soybeans,
> plus a few other minor crops. Roadsides therefore account for a fair
> portion of the left over 20% that isn¹t cultivated. But in Iowa the
highway
> department regularly mows down not just a small band of weeds next to
roads, but
> everything right up to the edge of crops and fencelines. This makes
> for a very tidy appearance, but gosh there is practically no ground left
undisturbed
> for plants and animals along Iowa roadsides. We are not talking about just
> one mowing a year, but multiple mowings during the warmer months - all
> (apparently) for the purpose of ³beautification².
>
> On NABA¹s home page http://www.naba.org/ one can find a list of
> ³hot [conservation] topics² that include mosquito spraying, butterfly
> releases at weddings, butterflying with binoculars instead of nets,
> a project to raise $500,000 for a ³premier butterfly garden²
> etc, but no mention of roadside mowing or bug zappers as conservation
> issues.
>
> Paul Cherubini
>
>
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