The town of Tisbury is struggling to say sayonara to Japanese knotweed at the Tashmoo Overlook. The invasive plant has flourished in the area after being accidentally shipped in by the state Department of Transportation a decade ago.
At the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, board chairman Tristan Israel, who lives in the area, outlined the town’s struggles with the foreign invader. Mr. Israel said that the state built a drainage ditch at the corner of Snake Hollow and State Road about a decade ago.
“At the time it was a state of the art drainage ditch, we were told. They had put up a fence and we were going to have pretty vines,” Mr. Israel said. “What we got in the fill that the state brought in, though, was Japanese knotweed, which has taken over the whole area . . . What happened was it went under the road and started cropping up on the hill where the Overlook is. The knotweeed at certain times of the year blocks the view more than the trees do.”
Since its introduction a decade ago, the town water department has spent $2,000 to $3,000 a year to have a landscape contractor cut down the plant, known as itadori in its native Japan.
“If you think about it, it’s been like thirty grand the water department has had to spend on a problem that was brought to us by the state of Massachusetts,” said Mr. Israel.
At their April town meeting Tisbury voters appropriated $5,000 to control invasive species. Mr. Israel said the money would be used by the conservation commission, which was looking into treating the area with an herbicide, though he said he would continue to press the state to remedy the problem.
In the past, though, Mr. Israel said, the state has been unresponsive to the town’s concerns.
“They said it’s not my job, not my problem,” said Mr. Israel.
“Not my knotweed,” added selectman Jeffrey Kristal.
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