Posted: Feb 6, 2010 9:37 PM
Updated: Feb 6, 2010 9:37 PM
For the third year in a row volunteers all over Southern Arizona unite for Beat Back Buffelgrass Day.
Licensed to kill the invasive species is Boy Scout Troop 007, with a 15 year old aspiring Eagle Scout leading the way.
The name's Huelsman. Eric Huelsman, "The real goal is to get the awareness out and get the help to do this. When I heard about buffelgrass it was just one of those things I went, well wait a second, that's a problem."
Intelligence shows buffelgrass, along with its evil twin fountain grass, are in position to take over.
Huelsman commands Saturday's buffelgrass eradication operation near the foothills.
Other times he's out educating residents about the extreme fire dangers of buffelgrass, "It can kill off things I like seeing. You know Palo Verdes, Saguaros, Barrel Cactus, all that sort of stuff. "
"He's one of the people in the troop everyone looks up to," says Troop 007's Max Kowalcek. "He wants to get stuff done for the community to make things better for other people."
Huelsman says his arch enemy buffelgrass will live and let die, "Not only will it kill the plants around, but it will stop anything from growing back but the buffelgrass."
Huelsman predicts the mission to eradicate buffelgrass completely will take at least ten years, "Just chip away at this a little bit at a time because that's what it's really going to take. It's going to take that constant effort."
For more information visit.... http://www.buffelgrass.org/
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