Invasive grass spreads on O'ahu: you won't believe what it's called!

[KamaAina]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jul/26/ln/507260311.html

A hardy invasive grass that has grown out of control on Kaua'i and the Big Island has taken root on O'ahu, threatening one of the island's most pristine valleys and an urban Windward neighborhood.

Bush Beardgrass (Schizachryium condensatum) is a drought-tolerant grass that grows in dense clumps, displaces native plants and increases the risk of brushfires.

State authorities feel they can thwart the plants' growth on O'ahu, but first they have to get the help of Island residents — something they've been struggling with since the eradication started three years ago.

I can assure you that a majority of Island residents support Bush eradication 100 percent!! Here are some public-spirited citizens taking a wheelbarrow load of Bush to the trash heap where it belongs:

[DS1]

1. That is my most favorite stretch of highway in the world.

.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Yeah...that piece of road looks familiar to me, too.

(Of course I left HI in 1980...)

[DS1]

3. windward side of H1

heading uphill in that picture - bad camera angle

around the corner is where you start to drive through the cool mist - a most excellent drive if you have a convertible. which I did. :D

[GOPisEvil]

5. I left when I was 12.

I thought that was the H1. There's a Boy Scout camp up there in the hills that I attended a couple of times. They still had old pill boxes from WWII up there, along with the mist.

Damn...I want to go back now.

[DS1]

7. I left when I was 23, and it was one of -the- greatest days of my life

( getting out Marine Corps )

but I'd like to go back and visit :-)

They'd ( the man ) would ALWAYS try to discourage us from hiking up there because they knew how much weed was growing up there.

[GOPisEvil]

9. My parents actually went back to our old house on Hickam a couple

years back.

I'd love to be back as an adult and, um, explore the flora and fauna. ;)

[taught_me_patience]

10. It looks like the H-3

completed in the late 1990's and the most expensive interstate -mile for mile- in America.

[DS1]

11. Doh!

H3 it is, however I can tell you it made it all the way from Kbay to Honolulu area when I left in '95

Dunno what else was added

[GOPisEvil]

13. Ack! There was no H3 when I lived there.

And I was 12, hence the confusion. :P

[taught_me_patience]

12. Its the H-3

completed in the late 90's.

[Lilyhoney]

4. I thought you were going to say marijuana.

and that would have been funny. This is not so funny, but funny still. :hi:

[Felix Mala]

6. I recommend they import 10,000 nutria to eat all that grass

[KamaAina]

8. Bush Beardgrass grows in *dense* clumps

I can't believe I missed that one! We have now established that Bush is dense, as well as being bad for the ecosystem generally.

Meanwhile on Kaua'i, where they've been dealing with Bush for some time, the truth is out:

Kaua'i rancher and agricultural extension agent Lincoln Ching said ranchers from the north to the southern parts of the island are looking for ways to control it, because their animals won't eat it.

"For us, it's a problem because it's a fire-promoting species," he said. "No animals graze on it. Goats have been tried, cattle don't eat it, and horses don't touch it."

Not even the Pet Goat? Or the (male) horse he tried to milk?! :P

[Tummler]

14. The colloquial name is "Lauragrass"

:evilgrin: