Re: [Cz-L]The Czernowitz cemetery residents about to be "generously," sprayed with herbicides.

Dear Czernowitzers,

I would like to clarify the reasons for using herbicides in the Jewish
cemetery of Czernowitz, to respond to Aizic Sechter, who believes that
spraying herbicides on a Jewish cemetery is a particularly indignity to
those interred in it and to thank all those who have come to my defense
about the use of herbicides.
Thank you Bruce, Hardy and Cornel.
Thank you Aizic for praising me for the work done at the cemetery, but these
thanks should go to the board of CJCRO, Christian Hermann, Julia of SVIT
Ukraine, the volunteers who have worked so hard during the work-camps and
all who have contributed to CJCRO, so that we could hire the workers to
clear the cemetery.

The size of the cemetery is 11.6 hectares, or 116000 square meter.
Before we started clearing the weedy vegetation, the whole cemetery
including most paths, was overgrown with annual weeds, sapling trees,
bushes and vines.
The annual weeds included stinging nettles, which, as anyone who has ever
had skin contact with them knows, cause a severe painful rash, but these
weeds did not present a major problem, in the sense that they were not a
threat to the gravestones or the graves, just to the visitors.
On the other hand, the trees, bushes and vines which grow all over the
cemetery, are considered invasive plants. By this are meant plants which are
not native to the area and which grow like weeds, in the sense that they
spread much faster and in greater profusion than other plants.
The sapling trees are all Norway maples (acer platanoides). These trees
produce thousands of seeds each spring, which once they fall to the ground
readily germinate to produce a new crop of trees each year. The seeds often
fall between the graves and when a tree starts to grow in a such a location,
it displaces the gravestones, rather than protects it from soil movement and
erosion. (Aizic, I will send you photographs)
The bushes in the cemetery are Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) which produces
berries which stain the gravestones and produces shade on the lower
tombstones, thereby causing algae, moss and fungi to grow on them.
The vines are mostly Periwinkle (Vinca minor) and English Ivy, which as they
climb on the tombstones with their tendrils damage the stone and as they
climb up from stone to stone and tree to bush, create the impenetrable
jungle we have all seen.
The best way to prevent erosion is by means of planting grass and keeping it
mown. This is what I will suggest be done on all the path, except for the
two main ones. These I believe should be paved, because they may be used for
vehicle traffic.

In the areas of the graves, it is not possible to mow. If vegetation is to
be kept under control by hand weeding, consider the following:
The size of the cemetery is 11.6 hectares, deduct from this the area taken
up by the paths, which I estimate to be 10% of the total area and there are
10.44 hectares left. I estimate that the gravestones occupy 90% of the area,
not occupied by the paths. It follows that there are 1.044 hectares or
10 440 square meter of exposed ground between the gravestones.

If the weeding is done regularly once a month during the spring and summer
it needs to be done 5 times each year. New small trees, bushes and vines,
need to be removed before they grow and develop extensive root system.
One person can weed 5 square meters of exposed ground per hour.
It follows that each monthly weeding will require 2088 man-hours.
At $2per hour pay, each monthly weeding will cost $4176. Weeding the
cemetery by hand will cost $20 880 per year.

Spraying with herbicides will likely cost $250 per hectare and $2900 per
year for the whole cemetery.
 
This year, I will test the pH of the herbicides to make sure the solution is
not acid.

I am having great difficulty raising $25 000 for a one time clearing of the
cemetery of weedy vegetation and old trees. There is no way I could raise
$20880 each year.

Also:
In clearing the cemetery of sapling trees bushes and vines, we are only
having the above ground parts of these plants removed. The roots remain live
in the ground. It is far too costly to dig them up and digging might also
cause considerable damage to the gravestones. The herbicides we propose to
use, are taken up by the foliage or the cambium in the stems of these plants
transmitted to the roots and kill the plant, something we cannot do
otherwise.

Mimi

On 6/21/10 3:08 AM, "YASO" <goaizicgo_at_013.net> wrote:

> Shalom to all,
>
> First I want to congratulate with a hearty "Yeshar Koah" to Mimi
> for her work concerning the Czernowitz Jewish Cemetery and wish
> there were more like her for all the other Jewish cemeteries in
> the Ukraine and other European countries.
>
[snip]
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Received on 2010-06-21 16:56:27