Day #262 Poison Ivy Info'

Some excerpts from Day #309.
It seems that the higher CO2 levels are the perfect environment for Poison Ivy. There are fields of it in Prince Edward County. It abounds in Sandbanks Provincial Park, Pt. Petre, The Millenium Trail, roadsides, conservation areas.
Not only that, the toxin it now produces, thanks to global warming, is said to be stronger, more toxic than ever.
For those of you, like myself, who are sensitive, or super-sensitive, here are words of caution: as soon as you come back from hiking where poison ivy may have brushed against you, take the Sunlight dish soap with you into the shower. Lather yourself with it first, and then rinse off in cool water.
Launder your clothes right away in cool water, and, yes, you can effectively use the same soap.
Rinse off your shoes/boots in tepid or cool water, and wipe with a cloth dipped in the same - Sunlight dish soap.
Perhaps even rub down your bike.
Be sure to shampoo the dog in cool water afterward, too, and no harm to using some of the same soap treatment.
You might even want to rub down the car seats and steering wheel and your keys.
Some people I know walked through it on the trail to the dunes at Sandbanks, realized it, and then washed off in West Lake. Poison Ivy seems to be water soluble. They never got it.
Whenever I get poison ivy, it's like having the flue for 2 weeks with 3rd degree burns - as though I'd lain my hand, or whatever, flat on a hot stove. My face, when effected, blows up like a balloon, and I am no longer recognizable.
So you can understand my concern.
Even getting close enough to take that picture you see on Day #263 was extremely difficult and worrisome for me.
In spring, the leaves start out very red but by summer they are as green as any plant. The leaves always look wilted, though, and the cluster of 3 hangs down, droopy, like a plant needing water.
On most trees, their leaves are such that if you fold them in half, the edges of the two halves are identical. Think of the Canadian flag.
With poison ivy, you will see that one leaf may be smooth on one side or have one notch, while the other side of the leaf may have one, two or three nibs/points. The leaves are never concentric.
Ontario Parks are deemed natural parks so when you go swimming at places like Sandbanks, in some areas like the north end parking lot customers are actually wading through poison ivy growing perhaps a foot high or more on the sandy pathways. I've seen it growing as high as 5 feet in one ditch on private land.
Now, when you swim, it washes off in the cool water for some people, but when you head for home again ... well, you're walking through it again. There are no signs 'Warning: Poison Ivy' because there is simply acres of the stuff. In some areas, it has covered woodland trails, especially among and under pines.
The next time you hear a politician complain about the high cost of health care, remind them of poison ivy in Ontario parks and how very much it costs us, untold millions of tourists using emergency services at hospitals all through the summer every year.
Children crying in pain, and adults losing time at work.
The skin makes bubbles of poison which turns a ghastly mustard yellow and drips down your legs and arms. In the 1980's, one emergency doctor at the Picton hosp. told me he had seen at least 10,000 cases of poison ivy reactions. Multiply that one doctor by the number of Ontario doctors times the number of years since times the cost of one visit and you can see the money that has flown out the political windows.
Poison ivy, as a problem, is almost entirely avoidable.
Teachers and parents can teach children to recognize it.
Ads could be put on TV with warnings and pictures of the plant from different angles.
Politicians could eradicate it from public (hiking/swimming) areas of their provincial parks.
Let's ask all Ontario MPP's to walk through the poison ivy patches. Think that might get some action?
I sent the ministers involved (tourism, health, parks) a letter 3 or 4 years ago, and received double talk back for my time, together with all the reasons why they couldn't address the problem.
I also put the letter in the local newspapers. They, at least, co-operated.
Politicians consider one letter the equivalent of 1000 voter-voices. Perhaps you all could help and send a letter, too, or sign a copy of this one from me and mail it in.
Still, I don't suggest you stay inside this summer. Get out and enjoy Mother Nature. It's not her fault that the world is out of balance right now.
Poison ivy is a deceptively attractive plant, and often hides among other plants. It's very hard for me to get a good photo of it as it psyches me out!
Karen