Hitch 10

Chapter 10: Chattahoochee

Down by the Chattahoochee…

This week the crew was down by the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, not too far from Atlanta. They were engaged in a battle against the South’s most feared invasive, KUDZU. When we arrived to the site, the crew could decipher where the Fall EPMT had previously treated by the presence of a carpet of dead kudzu vines that blanketed the forest floor. There were survivors among the fallen and they proved a potent force after all, as the crew worked hard for five days cut-stumping and foliar spraying their Asian adversary. Other pests abounded as well, poison ivy was everywhere, privet ranged from adolescent to adult form, and the kudzu was swarmed by an interesting insect that looked like a fuzzy brown lady bug but packed a mean bite when they caught you on the neck. We discovered when we arrived back in Congaree that they are known as kudzu bugs, and have become a pest in Georgia.