Getting water stargrass under control
The increasing amount of water stargrass is a problem the Benton Conservation District has been working on for decades, said Marcella Appel, district manager.
At first, the district noticed this new grass building up. Then, they realized it was native. The district didn’t want to eradicate it, just get it under control, Appel said.
“ We began working 20 years ago on just (hand) pulling this grass out, and we saw returns,” she said. “Then, it became, ‘OK, how can we start to scale up?’”
The district asked Washington state lawmakers for funds to buy a harvester, which looks like an aquatic backhoe with a claw attached to the front. But even with the harvester, progress has been slow in controlling the stargrass.