09/11/2026
Joe Balog: "Last month’s primary elections brought to light numerous issues important to Floridians. While development, dirty politics and rising costs took center stage, some candidates attached themselves to environmental topics in order to gain voter support. Aquatic herbicide use — spraying, as it’s often termed — became a calling card for one political hopeful looking to make change.
If you dove into the state races, you likely came across Matt Taylor — aka Matt, The Welder — the nosy influencer-turned-politician determined to stop the status quo. Instead, Taylor’s progress was stopped by a sizable loss of his own. In the process, however, Taylor gained hundreds of thousands of followers and tremendous attention for the topic of herbicide spraying.
Our river communities, of course, live and breathe this issue. Here, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sprays massive amounts of herbicides on area water bodies annually in an attempt to control invasive plants."
Read more here: https://www.beacononlinenews.com/articles/news/outdoors-with-joe-can-we-stop-the-spray/
Photo courtesy Mighty River Recovery
