Victoria is a beautiful city, lots to see and do all the time. I haven't lived there in years now, but I have heard from people I know that still live there that housing prices have skyrocketed, and the crime rate is quite high. When I lived there it was very much a small town atmosphere, not the case these days. In today's Victoria newspaper, a 1-2 bedroom apt will run you $700-$900 a month. Rent a house for $1500 and up, or buy a house for $400,000 and up. Farmer's markets in two locations Wednesdays and Saturdays. Lots of outdoor flea markets and the like in the warmer weather. When I lived there, I found the endless rain from November through March was a bit much, felt like I was never going to dry out. Coming from Puget Sound that wouldn't be anything new to you. The coolest thing about Victoria is the annual 'Be a Tourist in Your Own Home Tome' promotion which allows residents to visit any of the touristy attractions at half the admission price normally charged. The Empress Hotel turns 100 this year and there's a big celebration planned to promote that. If you are a reader, the book Michelle Remembers is an interesting read, not sure if I believe its' premise, but to each his/her own. Anything else I can tell ya? Suzan J

David, I’ve been looking at my pics from last fall, and I can’t tell what’s tamarisk in the pics and what’s not! I wasn’t actually paying attention to “what” was growing there when I was there, was just looking for “pretty” pictures, but from what I remember, there were no “wide dead patches” as shown it the pic you posted. Here are a couple of the pics along the Colorado River just west of Rt 191 at Moab. Can you tell what’s what? There IS a row of something that looks like it’s “in distress” just above the vegetation that’s closest to the river. [You can magnify by clicking on the magnifying glass, and then clicking the "+" in the top left of the picture] https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eHU3L5M6VbXSS1PqiwRNPWVY7bTWTqbxp-YJkmJRdpU?feat=directlink This one is from behind Jug handle Arch—which is right by the river! That looks kind of like tamarisk to me—possibly half dead??? https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0BUL5Tu2bH6KDD6W_7nbf2VY7bTWTqbxp-YJkmJRdpU?feat=directlink This looks like half-dead tamarisk that I was shooting thru—trying to get a pic of the blue water, but it didn’t turn out anywhere near as good as in Real Life! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4_S_wbcbskbAWRhkI0Q_Z2VY7bTWTqbxp-YJkmJRdpU?feat=directlink And across the river in this one you can see two different kinds of vegetation, and one of them looks half-dead, and maybe that’s tamarisk—on its way out! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/k6hlfx4mI-p0fKh_V8PtmWVY7bTWTqbxp-YJkmJRdpU?feat=directlink If the beetles do actually work, that would be really good news! [But, then, I always worry that “introducing” ANOTHER species just could have some other far-reaching ramifications that nobody will know about till far, far down the road!] Zach, I’m insanely busy trying to get ready for my “spring trip,” so I won’t have time to do any extensive research or posts here till I come home from that trip, but I would very much appreciate any info you may have access to about mitigation/eradication of the tamarisk, and especially if you have anything about the effectiveness of the beetles. Just bring anything you might have to the swap—that’ll be an easy way for you to get it to me! “The Mancos” at Towaoc/Cortez is where I’m heading again when I go, and I’ll be doing another tour on the Tribal Park—the road into the Park runs right along the Mancos, and if we have time going in or out, I’ll ask if we can stop and walk down to the “river,”—it might even actually have water in it in spring!—and I’ll get some pics and try to check out the “state of the tamarisk!” I know (from something I found last fall when I started the research) that they have released beetles in that area, but from what I remember seeing last fall, it sure didn’t look to me like they had done any damage. It’ll be interesting to see what I find when I’m paying more attention! When I’m doing the tours it’s not usually the tamarisk I’m thinking about! But thanks again for doing what you can to help! I really appreciate it! Skybird P.S. If you’re wondering where I’m talking about, this is it! The road follows the Mancos River into the Park most of the way up to the “campground,” and then it goes UP! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/h_P6iXucSPtCimQfNKIKMAPPcO__tq0XI6jlKd1A8Lg?feat=directlink

Since the discovery of persistent herbicides in commercial compost going on 15 years ago, the use of these particular pesticides has been severely curtailed. At least in the US. One was removed from the marker entirely. The others are either highly regulated or a restricted use product. And the regulations even extend to waste material treated with these products - golf courses and sports fields treated with any of these products must compost their waste onsite and reuse it. It is not allowed into commercial composting operations. Most of the contamination that still exists is coming from agricultural operations. Treated grasses and grains - like hay - are often transported and sold far from their origin and consumed by livestock which then produces contaminated manures. Or the pesticides are used to maintain local feedlots and pastures and the same thing occurs. There are restrictions on these compost inputs as well but ignorance, lack of ability to test for the herbicide at the very low but still damaging levels these products contain and lack of attention to or ignoring restrictions and requirements persist. As do the herbicides. The only way we can effectively expect this contamination to stop is to remove these herbicides from the market. btw, bioassys are the standard method for testing for these contaminates. Tomatoes and other Solanaceae crops are particularly sensitive but beans tend to produce the fastest results.

Oh my gosh! You got it! Thank you!!! It used to be called baccharis emoryi (here in Zion) , and it got reclassified as baccharis salicina. What threw me off when I looked at your link were the toothed, and wider leaves. But when I typed in baccharis with zion national park, this is what I got! zion/white_wildflowers/baccharis_emoryi_i93.html That's it to a "T"! Tiny flowers with no discernable petals, and elongated, more lanceolate leaves! I can't thank you guys enough! Apparently it's one of the riparian plants here. It must have mistaken my gutter drainage for a wash LOL! Woo hoo!