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Health & Fitness

Plant of the Week: Spikegrass

Spikegrass needs human fans. Join the feathered and furry.


Spikegrass is not just found in athletic field end zones. But it does make many birds and their brother waterfowl feel like winners. Listen closely and you will hear them quacking Distichlis spicata.

Alongwith its frequent neighbor Spartina patens in salty areas and largely with
others ‘round inland waterways and bodies billions of birds, butterflies and
waterfowl have home and food. In addition to filling and ditching marshes
especially along the New England Coast the decline of farming and non-managed
“conservation land” few areas promote the increase in resident and flyway
users. This can be done at many scales.

Consider planting spike grass. Many grasses are a bit more dramatic and have visual appeal that outdoes Spikey. In the right place they will provide satisfaction
at many levels. A slender planting parallel to a stream or along a pond side
without tree canopy nearby will thrive with little care. The benefits include
attracting beautiful visitors but also filter sediment. Additionally, they stabilize
fragile banks and promote retention, detention and filtration of runoff. Tall
tides and occasionally flooding of their area that can be many vertical feet
above tide and flood lines provide happy spikes.  

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Ducks Unlimited has for 75 years promoted sensible, purposeful conservation and
protection of wetlands. The combination of their efforts in Canada and the
United States has had a profound effect on making life better for humans by
making life better for animals. 50 years of “Regional Planning” has in many
ways done the opposite. The results are in and it is time for us to appreciate
Spikey as the comeback kid. Development as evil with “Conservation” saint like
promotes a situation where everyone loses real planning.  50 years has seen the increasing effect of Trout Unlimited. Their efforts promote one mission “cold, clear fishable water”.  Since 1984 the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation has effectively exercised practical solutions through D.C. operations. Relying on these fine efforts to learn, visit and note the effectiveness of some of their projects can put your efforts in perspective.

Dramatic increase in paved roads and ineffective storm and sewer water treatment has created a situation that provides a vast opportunity to unleash the
revitalization of our coastal areas. By concentrating the runoff speed and
direction of storm water coastal revitalization can turn flood creating
institutional incompetence into easy mining of silt.

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Testing silt for presence of toxins and their relative concentrations has become
remarkably accurate. Combining various silt deposits with mitigating additions,
dewatering them and enhancing their bio matter can literally take hundreds of
years off the “natural process” of marsh formation. Spike grass spreads from
horizontal root stock.  Know that an area as small as the length and width of a ski or skateboard to hundreds of acres.The ability to attract a variety of species for nesting and food source can be thought of as an organic version of your back yard bird house and bird feeder.

Add in private/public partnerships and neighbor cooperation and Spikegrass can
create a spike in human happiness and a biodiversity symphony. Wildlife
corridors start with small roots.

Help Spikegrass with a touchdown of it in your back yard.

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