Stephen Enloe Auburn University

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Stephen Enloe Auburn University"

Brian Brown
5 years ago
Views:

1 Mitigation of Soil Contamination and Landscape Restoration after Misapplication of a Persistent, Root Active Herbicide by an Over-zealous Athletic Supporter Stephen Enloe Auburn University

2 A Spike in the Heart of Auburn University: The Poisoning of Toomer's Oaks Stephen Enloe Auburn University

3 Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) Candler oak, Savannah, GA

4 Angel oak, Johns Island, SC

6 Toomer s Corner, Auburn AL, circa 1890 s

13 College pranks are a tradition!

14 When it all went wrong January 27, 2011

15 Parts per million February 10, 2011 Soil Test Results Tebuthiuron Concentration Found in the Soil Around Toomer s Oaks Low High Lethal

16 Toomer s Oaks Task Force Created Department of Horticulture Department of Agronomy and Soils School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Department of Chemistry Department of Civil Engineering Landscape Services Dow AgroSciences

17 February 11, Expanded soil sampling area

18 Limited herbicide found beyond the tree beds

19 February 16, Liquid activated carbon applied

20 February 17, Antitranspirant applied

22 Al from Dadeville Harvey Updyke, father of Crimson and Bear

23 Indictments Felony criminal mischief 2 counts criminal mischief 2 counts desecrating a venerable object 2 counts rel. to damage, vandal, or steal any property on or from an animal or crop facility

24 Immediate Reaction: Roll the Trees

25 Well-wishers

26 Public and Environmental Health Concerns with Spike 80DF? Human health effects? Effects on wildlife? Effects on other plants? Groundwater contamination?

27 Human and Animal Health? Not a serious issue Non-carcinogenic Non-mutagenic Non-teratogenic No reproductive effects Minimal to no dermal toxicity Non-allergenic Eye irritant if left in eyes A 150 pound male would need to eat about 2 oz of product for serious negative health impacts

28 Environmental effects? Non-volatile Long soil persistence month half-life High water solubility Leaching is a problem in highly permeable soils Highly toxic to many plants

29 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works

30 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works Tebuthiuron applied to soil surface

31 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works Tebuthiuron moves with preciptiation into the root zone

32 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works Tebuthiuron absorbed by roots with water and moves upward in the xylem

33 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works Tebuthiuron moves to the leaves and begins to work

34 How Spike 80DF Works Blocks photosynthesis

37 How Spike 80DF (Tebuthiuron) Works As long as tebuthiuron remains in the soil, all new growth will be affected

38 Further Complicating the Situation Repeated celebrations may have helped move herbicide

39 What happened after the announcement

40 What to do with all the offers of help? Tree healers Miracle cure products Oil spill remediation products Fertility products Microbial stimulants Groundwater remediation strategies

41 Task force criteria Require evidence that the proposed product or technique 1. Removes or degrades tebuthiuron 2. Won t harm the trees No offered solutions met these criteria

42 Task Force Approach Inactivate as much herbicide as possible Stop all water movement into the contaminated zone Remove as much soil as possible Maintain water and nutrient status of trees Continue exploring other options

43 February 18, 2011

44 February 21, Soil removal plan initiated

49 February 24, 2011

50 February 24, Liquid activated carbon applied to plaza

51 More bad news Additional soil sampling following the first soil removal indicated very high levels of tebuthiuron at inches Average: 4.9 ppm Maximum: 14.1 ppm

52 March 18-22, Second soil removal

56 March 22, 2011

57 Finally some good news Soil sampling below the second excavation depth found very low to non-detectable amounts of tebuthiuron 98.8% reduction from levels found following first soil removal

58 April 19, Groundwater sampling wells show minimal contamination

59 February 17, 2011

60 March 25, 2011

61 March 25, 2011

62 March 25, 2011

63 April 1, 2011

64 Foliar Samples Taken 4/19/11 And some bad news (6/15/11): 160 ppb (College) and 730 ppb (Magnolia)

65 June 19, 2011

66 June 19, 2011

67 June 19, 2011

68 July 11, 2011

69 July 11, 2011

70 Tebuthiuron levels in leaves: ppb

71 July 11, 2011

72 July 11, 2011

74 September 3, 2011

75 What s next? Task force will continue monitoring The trees continue to defoliate/refoliate Rolling is allowed Toilet paper is hand removed No damage to trees observed following rolling and cleanup

76 Will the trees live?

77 The Treaty Oak Poisoning A live oak in Austin, Texas, is the last surviving member of the Council Oaks ~500 years old Deliberately poisoned with hexazinone in 1989 Intensive efforts saved part of the tree (2/3 of it died)

Treaty Oak Remediation Injection of activated charcoal and active microbes to digest poison Replacement of soil, fertilizer, aeration Injection of sugar into trunk Mist system of spring water

78 Treaty Oak Remediation Injection of activated charcoal and active microbes to digest poison Replacement of soil, fertilizer, aeration Injection of sugar into trunk Mist system of spring water Shade (plastic coated nylon screen) Injection of KCl into root flare to force poison out Almost 2/3 of the tree died In 1997, the tree produced acorns Today, the tree is thriving, although lopsided

80 What can we learn from this situation? When these things happen, vegetation management gets a black eye It is critical to maintain professionalism at all times When you get asked, What can I use to kill my neighbors tree on my fenceline It is also critical to educate the public on what vegetation management is all about

81 Questions?

82 Questions?

87 How Spike 80DF Works

Sustainable Agriculture of Cocoa

Sustainable Agriculture of Cocoa No.1 Productivity You can get more cocoa by improving the productivity of your existing farms. Let us not burn down more forest to make more cocoa farms. Let us save the