VEGETATION MANAGEMENT — EGLER 



301 



of these strips have been indiscriminately sprayed, with a consequent 

 loss of almost all these wildflowers. 



It is the unmowed strip that offers excellent opportunities for ra- 

 tional management techniques. Basically, it must satisfy the needs 

 of the highway departments. The needs involve the elements of 

 trafJiG safety^ mainly visibility along the line of travel, especially 

 around curves and at intersections. Locally there is the problem of 

 snow fences^ for which shrubs are valuable in some places but un- 

 wanted in others. Not of minor importance is the matter of fire 

 hazard^ especially since Americans have developed the habit of fling- 

 ing lighted cigarettes from their cars. All plant life is flammable 

 in times of extreme drought; at other times fire hazards depend 



Figure 1. — Generalized view of roadside vegetation, showing the shrub border at the left 

 with plants of ornamental and wildlife values. These are the plants that are needlessly 

 destroyed by Indiscriminate spraying. (Drawn by W. Thayer Chase.) 



on the relative flammability of the different plant communities. In 

 general, grasslands have a far greater flammability than other types 

 of vegetation. Unnecessary spraying, which produces these very 

 grasslands, should therefore not be permitted along highways where 

 the fire hazard is great. In addition to these primary factors in 

 roadside management, there are others which are significant in their 

 public-relations values. Both noxious loeeds and insect pests present 

 local problems that must be solved independently, either by the ad- 

 jacent landowner or the highway agency. Herbicides are of value 

 in removing such plants as ragweed (though if the soil is left bare, 

 ragweed will probably return, to make more business for the sprayer) . 



