Glen Creek / Candler Lake Watersheds

Kudzu Removal, January 13, 2001

Thanks to Francine Greiner, Natalie and J.R. Gibson of Emory Woods Apartments, Kim and Ethan Sawyer of Clairmont Circle, Valerie Boss and Paul Burkley of the Clairmont Heights Civic Association board, Nick Davenport and Duane Reed of North Superior Ave., Catherine Larson of Stone Mountain, and John White of Densley Drive for the great work last Saturday saving trees from kudzu and other ivies. Thanks also to Ethan for the signs, Dave Butler of the South Peachtree Nature Preserve for the loan of tools and gloves, to Catherine Larson for finding Kudzu recipes and printing them out, and to Tony Sawyer of Ace Hardware for donating yard waste bags. See photos below.

J.R., the Emory Woods manager, agreed to remove the vines we cut and piled up. Paul suggested that we meet again before spring arrives in order to complete our goal of reaching N. Decatur Road--say in late Feb/early March.

As we removed vines, we found some junk that had been dumped in the area which could pose a hazard to kids as well as being unsightly and the tires being a breeding ground for mosquitoes (and everything probably a violation of the junking ordinance). J.R. indicated that he planned to have it cleaned out. If we have a stream cleanup in this area, we could no doubt facilitate this by carting the junk over to a convenient pickup spot.

John White asked why the property owners at Emory Woods didn't hire someone to clean out the kudzu and junk. J.R. said that the owners, who live in California, aren't interested. I'm grateful that J.R. has decided to add it to his own overflowing plate. My hope is that all stream-abutting property owners will be motivated by our actions to act on their own; in any case, with their permission, our actions can save some trees or at least buy them some time. I hope we can expand our campaign to include properties on the other side of the stream and downstream as well.

Click on thumbnails for full screen view.

Ethan's Sign, Side One	Ethan's Sign, Side Two
J. R. and Tim Bryson	Kim Sawyer
Natalie, Kim, and Ethan	Paul Burkley
Paul Burkley and Catherine Larson	Ethan and Natalie
J.R. Gibson	J. R.
Francine Greiner	Tim Bryson
Valerie Boss