[pct-l] Dogs and Poison Oak

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Treerings,

I rather like the Wikipedia definition of “weed”:

“A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered *by the user of
the term* to be a nuisance. The word is normally applied to unwanted plants
in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also
lawns, parks, woods, and other areas.”

Emphasis is  mine; and I consider the immediate proximity of the PCT to
qualify as a human-controlled setting; else why do trail crews try to
eradicate poison oak?

I don’t care what it does or what is called outside my range of contact,
but when it is potentially damaging to me it is -- and shall ever be -- a
weed.  Further, it’s a noxious weed.

I have similar low regard for vermin which chew into my food sacks, and
parasites which fly or craw onto my hide to suck blood.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 11:23 AM, <treerings at gmail.com> wrote:

> Poison oak is a California native plant. A weed, by definition, is a plant
> that's growing where it is unwanted, and the usual context is that it's not
> native to the area of concern. Poison oak is native and is an important
> part natural ecosystems that we enjoy and appreciate. Like cold nights,
> high streams, bad bugs, and of course Big Foot, take the good with the bad
> and hike on.
>
>
>