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"It's essentially just hot water with only 0.04 percent organic surfactant to create the insulating foam," says Eric Cramer, owner of Green Life, organic weed control contractor and the sole proprietor of the Waipuna hot foam product in the northwest. "It's particularly ideal when the site is near a river, other waterway or a catch basin." The way the method works is by using very hot water, 205 degrees to be exact. The hot water mixes with air and creates a foam that insulates and literally cooks the weed down to its roots. The system attacks the plant on the cellular level; the cell walls burst because the temperature outside the plant is hotter than inside the cell. Follow -up is only necessary on flat surfaces, requiring that the dead plant debris be swept away the day after the application. On a slope, the dead material just sloughs away. The hot foam has been successfully used on ivy and other weeds at Washington - Jefferson Park, Scobert Park, Hays Tree Garden, and Cuthbert, and so far, has significantly squelched regrowth as well. For more information about this and other pesticide -free methods at work in Eugene's parks and open space system, contact Turf and Grounds Supervisor Rob Hallett at 682 -4935 or Landscape & Medians Supervisor Chris Girard at 682 -4824. Research in West Eugene Wetlands Studies the Impact of Restoration Techniques on Soil and Vegetation Parks and Open Space Natural Resources staff applied infrared weed burning and solarization on experimental plots of land in the West Eugene Wetlands in the last two weeks, as part of a research project staff is participating in with the University of Oregon (UO), Lane Council of Governments and other West Eugene Wetlands partners. Funded by a $200,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the project involves studying the impact of various site preparation techniques for wetlands restoration efforts over a five to seven -year period. Specifically, four techniques — tilling, solarizing, Sunburst infrared weed burning, and herbicide —will be applied in various combinations to 50 experimental plots of land, and data will be collected to document the effects of these techniques on plant productivity, the number and relative abundance of each species, and many functional aspects of the soil, such as carbon and nutrient cycling. "The results of this research will provide important information about how the West Eugene Wetlands Program can improve its restoration efforts," says Wetlands Program Supervisor Eric Wold. "We look forward to the results of these studies and are pleased that the UO team is collaborating on this project and lending its expertise to the collection and analysis of the data." The treated plots will be planted in the fall. For more information about the project, call Eric Wold in the Parks and Open Space Division at 682 -4888. # ## POS STAFF WEED HUNDREDS OF ACRES IN WETLAND RESTORATION SITES