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With the green Green Giant on the hillside in the background, Kurt Beckley, left, Randy Mann, center, and drone pilot Mike Evans, right, stand before the DJI Agros T-40 drone, which had just minutes before been spraying a concoction of chemicals on the weed-covered Green Giant in early April. Beckley's company is Altitude Agri Services of Richland.
Compared to the vegetation close by, the hillside Green Giant is sort of brown and yellow looking, and some of the dying weeds are yielding to the green painted bricks beneath in this recent photo.
The spray drone flies a pattern over the Green Giant.
DAYTON–In the Valley of the Jolly – Ho! Ho! Ho! – Green Giant, the weeds were thick and green. See him standing there....
Well, it was getting hard to see the Touchet Valley's iconic Jolly Green Giant, which has stood over the area for decades, due to weeds.
To tackle the problem, Kurt Beckley of Altitude Agri Services of Richland brought his spray drone here April 13 and in about 20 minutes, with pilot Mike Evans at the controls, the weedy vegetation obscuring the Green Giant's green cinder block clothing, was sprayed and on its way to being a thing of the past.
AAS and the Columbia County Weed Board donated some of the chemicals with the goal of eradicating the weeds covering the blocks. The Blue Mountain Heritage Society provided a $1,000 donation for the effort, said Randy Mann, who supervised the project on behalf of the emeritus Green Giant employees who maintain the roadside attraction.
The drone is a DJI Agras T-40 and it is equipped with nozzles that can customize the droplet size as it sprays from its 11 gallon on-board tank. Beckley says his company has sprayed tens of thousands of acres, from large fields to spot spraying. The drone's endurance is about 10-15 minutes but a recharge only takes 10 minutes.
Beckley isn't a stranger to Columbia County. Some of his previous clients include Mead Ranch, Gene Warren (on whose hillside the Giant resides) and Jerry Webster.
