By Pamlico County Landowner
While I was finishing up putting our bird feeders out this morning, I noticed a person with a hardhat and tank strapped to his back, on foot and walking in front of our house and woodlot. He then came across the right-of-way and entered the woodlot. By the time I reached him, he was spraying small pine tree saplings on our property.
I told him to stop spraying and ordered him off the property. We then had a short discussion (although he wasn’t fluent in English) and I spoke briefly with his boss, who he had called.
It turns out they are Duke Energy contractors hired to keep vegetation/trees away from overhead power lines, which they have previously accomplished by cutting and pruning. The supervisor came by and spoke with my wife. She was able to opt out the house and woodlot. And that solved our problem, we hope. I let a few neighbors know so that they, too, would spread the word.
You may recall a few years back when DOT trucks came along the roads and sprayed a potent herbicide on the right-of-way and the edges of privately owned woodland – Florence road comes to mind. It looked terrible! And took years to re-foliate.
Last week I noticed a short stretch along Straight Road with telltale signs of dead vegetation. So, maybe the spraying is starting again.
My questions:
1) Who and what government agencies/local authorities may authorize and sign off on the spraying of dangerous herbicides in order to deal with power lines and underlying foliage (that can be safely dealt with by trimming and pruning)?
2) What kind of notification is required to be given to the public and individual property owners who are affected?
3) What dangers does such spraying pose for humans, pets, and wildlife?
4) What rights do towns, neighborhoods, and property owners have to opt out of spraying to control vegetation?
Editor’s note: We will attempt to answer these question in a future news article.
