Dear Action Line: Can you identify this plant (see attached photos please)? I’m guessing it’s some kind of pampas grass. This grass is so pompous that it’s spreading like crazy along U.S. Highway 550 and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks in the north Animas Valley. It is growing north and south of Trimble Lane (County Road 252) and is now making its way down Hermosa Meadows Road (County Road 255) toward the Animas River. This grass takes over everything in its path – cattails, willows and other native plants. To me, it seems that this is an invasive species. So how come the Colorado Department of Transportation, D&SNG and La Plata County weed management have done nothing to control it? I’ve seen a plant like this on the Platte River in western Nebraska and it takes over the shorelines and islands. – A Growing Concern
Dear Growing: It might look, act, and maybe even smell like a weed, but according to official designations, it is not.
Invasive species are difficult to control, as attested by the abundance of thistles, knapweed and oxeye daisy, to name a few, in La Plata County. No doubt, if you work with soil around here, you’ve had to pull, dig out and weed-eat your share of unwanted plant life.
In this case, if you’re looking to fight a fast-spreading grass, you’ll have to form a posse and do it on your own.
Ben Bain, the La Plata County weed control manager, said that these are phragmites, or phrag, which are similar to pampas grasses, but not the same.
“I know we have been monitoring and mapping this plant for many years now,” he said. “There are both native and invasive subspecies of phragmites in Colorado. They are very much alike and hard to tell apart. Therefore, the state Department of Agriculture actually came out years ago and collected samples to genetically test.”
The tests showed that the plants along U.S. 550 north of Trimble were native, and therefore, the state and county have no authority to manage them, Bain said.
He noted that results of genetic testing done statewide are available online: https://tinyurl.com/msma3bc2. Click on “All items” under “Native Samples,” and scroll to find La Plata County. The map shows the site where the samples were collected across the highway from the Durango Fire and Rescue station in the Animas Valley north of town.
Because noxious weed designations are made at the species level, it is unlikely that phrag will be elevated to required management status, Bain said. For that reason, phrag will remain as a state watchlist species “in perpetuity.” In other words, it won’t rise to the point where efforts will be made to eradicate it.
Action Line thinks that the name itself, “phrag,” is a very good clue that nobody likes these reed-like grasses all that much – sure, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and all that – but you wouldn’t name your daughter “phrag.”
Would you?
Bottom line: This is a battle that the state, and therefore the county, aren’t fighting.
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Dear Action Line: A recent Herald article about the Next Step project mentioned “new trees in expanded sidewalks,” and that got me thinking about the existing trees downtown. What happens to them when the sidewalks are widened? If they remain where they are, they’ll be in the middle of the new sidewalks. Will we have to walk around them? Will they each be dug up and moved a couple of feet toward the street or will they be cut down and replaced by the aforementioned new trees? These all seem like knotty solutions to the problem, so I hope you can get to the root of the matter and provide some releaf. – Tree Hugger
Dear Hugger: Big kudos for the great question, and for upstaging any word play that might be planted like a seed in Action Line’s brain. That would entail some branching out, so any such thoughts that might sprout will be quickly plucked like an apple off a … oops. It’s contagious!
The plan has met with – Action Line will be gentle here – some resistance from downtown business owners. So every piece of it is being scrutinized mightily.
Durango officials vow that existing trees won’t be disturbed, as that is pretty much a capital offense here.
“The current design is not planning on removing existing trees,” said Devin King, multimodal manager with the city’s Transportation Department.
“However, this does mean that any added sidewalk width will be on the other side of the trees. New trees are mainly being proposed in the curb extensions at the intersections.”
Here is a link to a map that shows the preliminary design along Main Avenue from College Drive to Eighth Street. It notes where the existing trees are and where new trees are planned: https://tinyurl.com/23fadr2t.
Well, there’s the answer, and we’ve run out of puns to try, so it’s time to trunkate this column.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Yes, Action Line knows it’s really spelled “truncate.”
