Someone once told me that they are more concerned about the lint in their belly button than kudzu. Well, put that person’s opinion aside for a moment, and instead try to think for a moment about how kudzu could significantly alter the natural beauty of western NC?
Now think about the significant economic costs associated with the continuing spread of kudzu (property values depreciating, tourism dollars lost, etc.) and the related changes to western NC’s landscape of hardwood trees, rivers, waterfalls, etc. to a kudzu monolith. This kudzu monolith will lead to the loss of scenic areas central to why people want to visit and live here.
It would seem a start to the solution, especially being lucky enough to live in North Carolina with a large and prestigious state university system with experts in the field of biology, chemistry, etc., is coordination at a large scale. Coordinating that team of experts with state, local, and federal government to start research on some form of selective herbicide targeting kudzu. Yes, there are significant downsides to selective herbicides, but doing nothing wreaks more negatives to the health of the natural environment.
To the lint in their belly button crowd: no, it won’t work to try to solve this problem by individuals pulling up kudzu by themselves, but it is important to do our part and not let it climb power poles, trees, or streams where it can then can expand to new areas. That’s doable for a start. But getting rid of kudzu needs large-scale coordination.
Undoubtedly, people will be economically affected when every road and scenic area in western NC is kudzu-covered and that time is fast approaching. Now, here comes the tough part for the belly button lint crowd. Do me a favor and take a minute and use Zillow, Trulia, or realtor.com and look at two comparable properties. One kudzu covered and one not. Yup, the kudzu-covered property is worth significantly less. Now multiply that loss to an individual property value across vast sections of areas of western NC.
Kudzu will indeed hit people’s pocketbooks at some point and maybe, just maybe, the person gazing at their belly button might finally say we need to do something.
Tim Holloran, Cullowhee