Town's Ban on Herbicides in Squibnocket Pond Upheld in Legal Action
Jane Seagrave

A two-year effort by a group of Chilmark landowners to use herbicides to combat phragmites in Squibnocket Pond came to an end this week. The Hon. Gordon H. Piper on Monday vacated his own ruling from last January that had found a Chilmark bylaw banning herbicides on the pond was not valid.

Read More

Risky Business of Herbicides

Beyond the monarchs and the milkweed a broad discussion has been unfolding on the Vineyard in recent months and weeks about the use of herbicides.

Read More

Chilmark Will Press Case in Supreme Court Over Herbicides Near Pond
Remy Tumin

Chilmark will go to the state’s highest court to block a group of riparian owners from using herbicideson Squibnocket Pond.

Read More

Chilmark Appeals to State Supreme Court in Case Over Use of Herbicides
Remy Tumin

Six riparian owners want to use herbicides to control phragmites in Squibnocket Pond. The town wants to block them, citing rules that prohibit pesticides around the pond. On advice of counsel, selectmen will ask the Supreme Judicial Court to decide the dispute.

Read More

Comment Period Extended on NStar Spraying Program
Olivia Hull

The state Department of Agricultural Resources will allow comment until Feb. 18 on utility's plan to use herbicides to control vegetation under power lines.

Read More

NStar Arborists Defend Vegetation Spraying at Town Meeting
Olivia Hull

Amidst public scrutiny of NStar’s vegetation management practices, senior arborists from the utility company addressed concerns of Tisbury residents at a meeting on Tuesday of the board of health.

Read More

NStar Says Use of Herbicides Is Essential
Olivia Hull

The power company resumed an herbicide spraying program last month, reigniting a debate about threats to the environment on the Cape and Vineyard.

Read More

Not Buying NStar's Promise That Chemical Spraying Is Safe
V. Jaime Hamlin

I have lived on Lake Street in Vineyard Haven for 25 years. A few years ago, I went to pick up my mail at the cluster box under the power lines and saw a crew of workers with chainsaws taking down a lovely grove of small trees that shaded the boxes. I called NStar and was told that they have a mandate from the federal government to keep the rights of way free from vegetation lest something fall on the power lines. Since the power lines are at least 50 feet off the ground, this scenario seemed very unlikely, insofar as the trees were no taller than 12 feet.

Read More

Board Backs Ban on Herbicides Around Squibnocket Pond
Ivy Ashe

A group of riparian owners on Squibnocket Pond pressing for permission to use herbicides to control phragmites found no relief from the Chilmark zoning board of appeals this week.

The board of appeals voted unanimously to uphold a cease and desist order that bars the Squibnocket Pond Organization from using the herbicide Rodeo on the invasive plants.

Read More

In the Reeds: Venture to Kill Invasive Plants Proceeds Warily
Ian Fein

Walking along the shore of Black Point Pond in Chilmark, Richard
Johnson of Sheriff's Meadow Foundation is nearly dwarfed by a
thick stand of 12-foot high reeds.

Also called phragmites, the reeds are an invasive species that have
formed a dense monoculture over what was once an open diverse habitat of
native pondshore plants. Dead reeds crunch beneath his boots, covering
the ground so virtually nothing else can grow through.

Read More

Pages