Aloha Maui County Council Members,
Years ago I was an active environmentalist working to save Makena. Today I write you with a public works proposal that will make our environment healthier and more beautiful. Back story: I left Maui to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in Massachusetts. There I observed that grasses were left to grow on roadsides and medians - it was beautiful.
Grasses absorb carbon dioxide. Grasses produce oxygen: A 25-square-foot area of healthy lawn grasses produces enough oxygen each day to meet all the oxygen needs of one adult. Grass helps clean the air, trap carbon dioxide, reduce erosion from stormwater runoff, improve soil, decrease noise pollution, and reduce temperatures. Leaving the grasses reduces pesticide use. From the British Ecological Society: "The researchers combined data across North America and Europe using a meta-analysis, a way of aggregating results from multiple studies to increase statistical strength. They found strong evidence that increased mowing intensity of urban lawns -- which included parks, roundabouts and road verges -- had negative ecological effects, particularly on invertebrate and plant diversity. Pest species, on the other hand, benefitted from intense lawn management...To understand the economic costs of intensely mowed lawns the researchers used a case study of the city of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. By using data on mowing contractor costs they estimated a 36% reduction of public maintenance costs when mowing frequency was reduced from 15 to 10 times per year in high use lawn areas and 3 times to once a year in low use areas." (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191219074744.htm)
Perhaps Maui's most dramatic illustration of the beauty of roadside grasses is Haleakala Highway. (While I understand this road is not specifically in your purview, I posit that County and State could work together to create new policy on roadside grasses.), A few weeks ago, grass behind a traffic barrier at the Haili'imaile intersection had been sprayed with an herbicide. It lay dead and dark, giving nothing but poison to the air and ocean. When the grasses are long (they only grow to about 2 1/2 feet so they are not a traffic hazard), they are "amber waves of grain" catching the light in myriad gorgeous, inspiring ways. Please take a ride and observe them for yourselves.
Mahalo nui loa. Take care and may God grant you wisdom.
Cathryn Kelley Smith
Kihei
Aloha Maui County Council Members,
Years ago I was an active environmentalist working to save Makena. Today I write you with a public works proposal that will make our environment healthier and more beautiful. Back story: I left Maui to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in Massachusetts. There I observed that grasses were left to grow on roadsides and medians - it was beautiful.
Grasses absorb carbon dioxide. Grasses produce oxygen: A 25-square-foot area of healthy lawn grasses produces enough oxygen each day to meet all the oxygen needs of one adult. Grass helps clean the air, trap carbon dioxide, reduce erosion from stormwater runoff, improve soil, decrease noise pollution, and reduce temperatures. Leaving the grasses reduces pesticide use. From the British Ecological Society: "The researchers combined data across North America and Europe using a meta-analysis, a way of aggregating results from multiple studies to increase statistical strength. They found strong evidence that increased mowing intensity of urban lawns -- which included parks, roundabouts and road verges -- had negative ecological effects, particularly on invertebrate and plant diversity. Pest species, on the other hand, benefitted from intense lawn management...To understand the economic costs of intensely mowed lawns the researchers used a case study of the city of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. By using data on mowing contractor costs they estimated a 36% reduction of public maintenance costs when mowing frequency was reduced from 15 to 10 times per year in high use lawn areas and 3 times to once a year in low use areas." (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191219074744.htm)
Perhaps Maui's most dramatic illustration of the beauty of roadside grasses is Haleakala Highway. (While I understand this road is not specifically in your purview, I posit that County and State could work together to create new policy on roadside grasses.), A few weeks ago, grass behind a traffic barrier at the Haili'imaile intersection had been sprayed with an herbicide. It lay dead and dark, giving nothing but poison to the air and ocean. When the grasses are long (they only grow to about 2 1/2 feet so they are not a traffic hazard), they are "amber waves of grain" catching the light in myriad gorgeous, inspiring ways. Please take a ride and observe them for yourselves.
Mahalo nui loa. Take care and may God grant you wisdom.
Cathryn Kelley Smith
Kihei