Johnson Grass - Wilderness Weed of the Week

Johnson Grass (Sorghum halepense) is one of the most beautiful grasses with a white pin stripped leaf. The seed head is ornate but the real story is what you do not see. The root system is full of tubers or rhizomes. It's been around since the early 1800s imported from Mediterranean for a forage crop. I selected this plant because while cutting hay I found a small circle of these very tall garasses in my hay field. This plant was custom designed for wilderness. In fact most roads in the Smokey Mountains have Johnson Grass growing thick on the sides of the roads. The Tennessee department of transportation uses special mowers to handle this tough guy.

I wonder how those fragile little pristine cactus would fair in a patch of Johnson Grass? Climate Change would have very little effect on Johnson Grass. Anyone wishing to check out Johnson Grass would not have very far to go. It's just a matter of knowing what one is looking over. The tubers are best for planting but the seeds are large and hardy. look out wilderness Johnson is moving in!

Wilderness designation equals worthless designation

More wilderness equals more worthless public land. Invasive species are the number one concern for managers of wilderness areas. Why would anyone expect anything different for that is the only activity going on in a wilderness designated area! I see more and more bulletins about this forest or that desert or river being overrun by agent invasive species this or that. Seems the modern world is over filled with things that do not belong there. Has anyone ever heard of the survival of the fittest? Pristine wilderness is one big joke! Even the very oldest of the designated wilderness areas are overrun with some type of species that clouds the "pristine" view. Come on, wake up, it's not going to stay the same way Columbus, Clark and Powell found it! Nor will an act of Congress make Mother Nature change her ways. The only result of the wilderness designation is to deny millions the joy of access and management assistance for these areas. Once a wilderness designated, forever a worthless area. Why do the wilderness activist not tell all about the currently designated wilderness? Is it because most of these areas have burned or changed into something none of us would prefer. Just remember Wilderness equals Worthless!