Crews fight tireless enemy to save only Everglades we've got
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The slashing of a machete through underbrush — a distinct metallic ting as regular as a metronome — marked the battleground in South Florida's fight against a tireless enemy whose only needs are sunshine and soil.
Deep in the last remaining intact portion of the northern Everglades workers hired under a new land management agreement hacked at an invasive fern that kills native swamp bay, wax myrtle and dahoon holly trees with a smothering blanket of lime green leaves.
In what is called a "poodle cut", the stalks of the lygodium plant — also known as Old World climbing fern — are sliced about two feet off the ground and then sprayed with a low toxicity-herbicide.