Arming themselves to fight back roadside vegetation under Island County’s new policy of no chemical spray, the public works department has purchased four new Ford tractors with mounted shoulder mowers at about $46,000 a piece.

If anyone is wondering, the bill for all four tractors — $184,062.35 — is equivalent to the cost of about 5,595 gallons of Round-up Pro, one of the glysophate-based herbicides the county will no longer be using by law.

In April, the Island County Commissioners voted unanimously to discontinue the use of chemical herbicides in the maintenance of county roadways. The no-spray policy does not apply to highways 20 or 525, which are maintained by the state.

Island County Engineer Dick Snyder said the new 2002 Ford New Holland Tractors, outfitted with heavy-duty, mid-mount flail mowers, are similar to what other agencies currently are using to maintain vegetation on road shoulders. He said they are a step up from the shoulder-mowers the county has used in years past, which he likened to kind of Rube Goldberg contraption.

Flail mowers are more effective and efficient than the backslope rotary mowers the county has been using, and allow crews to cut weeds without the risk of discharging object out the side.

The county will now have a total of 16 mowers in its fleet, or four for each road shop.