With the holidays in full swing, decorations are popping up all over. If your family gets tired of the same old tinsel and lights, here's a twist for your decorating skills. Even better, your children can help fight against litter throughout the state.
The Missouri Department of Conservation and MoDOT are sponsoring the annual "Yes You CAN Make Missouri Litter Free" trash-can-decorating contest.
The contest encourages school classes and groups to join in the fight against litter by decorating and displaying a large trash can with the No MOre Trash! logo and a litter-prevention message. It's free to enter and teaches students a valuable message about keeping Missouri clean for generations to come.
Seems like a great way to clean up Missouri, and also impress Santa as he puts together that famous list.
They are tiny, tireless, hungry, and environmentally
friendly – except to one invasive weed.
They’re called
seedhead weevils, and the Missouri departments of Transportation and Conservation,
along with the University of Missouri – Extension, are using them to help
control Missouri's newest noxious weed – spotted knapweed.The weevils, Larinus minutus and Larinus obtusus or
"Larrys" as some researchers like to call them, are small, flying,
dark brown or gray bugs with a long snout.They can spread throughout a knapweed patch in a few years.
"Knapweed
infestations occur in poor soils along rock cuts and steep slopes, and the weed
produces an herbicide within its roots that kills nearby plants," explained
MoDOT Roadside Manager Chris Shulse.
This noxious weed
resembles the garden flower called bachelor’s buttons. Although pretty, if
knapweed is not controlled, it can spread onto private lawns and pastures,
where it significantly reduces the available forage. Knapweed is hard to
eliminate with herbicides alone because it grows in difficult to reach areas,
often extending beyond the roadside onto private property.
MoDOT began
to release the weevils on roadsides in southern Missouri in 2008 and in
northeast Missouri in 2009. They are typically released in July when knapweed
is in bloom so the females can lay eggs on the flowers. When the eggs hatch,
the larvae go to work, eating the flower and seeds, reducing the plant’s
ability to reproduce. A single larva can eat every seed in a flower.
A second
knapweed-controlling weevil, the root-boring Cyphocleonus achates, or “Cy” is larger and doesn’t fly well. Its
color helps it blend into rocky ground. These insects are released in August,
when females lay eggs on young knapweed plants. The larvae burrow into the
roots, causing the plant to die within a few years. Researchers documented
reductions as high as 99 percent in knapweed patches where “Cy” took up
residence.
In addition to the
2009 release, MoDOT introduced the hungry bugs to infested areas last month.
“Although it will take a few years for the weevil populations to
increase enough to make a difference, our tiny partners will no doubt play an
important role in suppressing knapweed,” Shulse said.
It was a cold evening on Dec. 23, and my husband, my three small children and I along with our big, red dog, luggage and Christmas gifts were all packed tightly into our minivan and traveling on Interstate 70 to visit relatives. I was enjoying my early Christmas gift of a personal DVD player with the headphones on (have you ever traveled with small kids?), when my husband tapped my shoulder and informed me that our vehicle had um, well, quit working. So with children screaming, and the dog barking, I called roadside assistance for help and when they asked us exactly where we were. The one happy moment in this whole situation was that I was able to look out my window and read the information off the nearest emergency reference marker.
Roadside reference markers originally were installed on 1,200 miles of Missouri interstates in 2006 to replace older markers and to save time, money and most importantly- lives!
The markers provide the road’s name and direction of travel, information that the old mile markers lacked. The signs are installed every 0.2 miles, as opposed to every mile, to provide motorists more accurate location information in emergency situations. The markers also replace the white reflective posts, which were installed every 0.1 mile. The new signs are larger, more durable and reflective and require less maintenance, which will save the department money and improve safety.
Thankfully, ours wasn’t an emergency situation, but as many travelers have found, these markers are a big help in emergencies. Emergency responders have been able to get to incidents more quickly thanks to the information from these markers.
Overall, the new markers also save MoDOT maintenance costs because the department will use only half as many devices, which means fewer obstacles to mow around and less maintenance work needed. In addition, the new signs are expected to last up to 10 years, compared to the average two-year life expectancy of the old signs.
Missouri was one of the first states in the nation to make extensive use of these markers, but other states are now using them in growing numbers.
So while Christmas 2010 will still go down as being one of the most expensive holidays ever in our family’s history (due to vehicle repairs and not gifts), it was still a merry one thanks to getting where we needed to be safely.
The weevils have a job to do in Missouri, and they're working hard to earn their keep.
Over the last couple of years, MoDOT has teamed up with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the University of Missouri-Extension, working towards the best solution for an increase in spotted knapweed along roadsides. Don't let the pretty purple flowers fool you -- left unchecked, the knapweed takes over, creating an herbicide that kills plants around it. Overall, it's not the friendliest of neighbors.
Enter the weevil. Used in other parts of the country for decades and known to focus only on knapweed, these little guys have been put to work. Over the summer, they were released in 75 sites around the state, mostly in southern Missouri.
Rand Swanigan, roadside management specialist, finds it a very positive way to go.
"It's not a cure-all, but it allows mother nature to help us control this weed in an environmentally friendly way," said Swanigan.
As a kid I was always taught to clean up my trash, or hold onto it until I could throw it away. Unfortunately, not everyone waits until they have a trash can handy, and litter can end up along Missouri highways. The great news is that so many volunteers across the state Adopt-A-Highway in order to keep Missouri roadsides clean. More than 4,000 groups in the state take care of more than 5,700 miles.
Now the St. Louis area is using a cool tool this summer to clean up roadsides safely and efficiently. The Litter Picker can remove retreads, papers, cans, cardboard, cups, wood, road kill and litter. It can hold 50 bags of trash at one time and can cover up to eight acres per hour. The model of the Litter Picker that MoDOT has can be completely operated by one person from a towing tractor.
I wish I could get a smaller version to help pick up all the stray toys at my house.
The weevils have a job to do in Missouri, and they're working hard to earn their keep.
