[APWG] Results of the weekly questions

[Craig Dremann]

RE: The SERIES OF WEEKLY QUESTIONS, OCT 1-DEC. 5 is completed 
about Exotic Management and Ecological Restoration: 
Do the answers indicate that a new “Land-Doctoring” culture exists?

Dear All,

I’ve been asking a lot of questions over the last couple of months about
people’s relationships to Exotic Plant Management and Ecological
Restoration---Do you know of any Jokes, Song, Arts & Crafts, Festivals,
etc. related to Weed Management or Ecological Restoration?   

I received over 120 comments and responses, and the answers that I’ve
received seem to indicate that we are watching a new human society in
the process of formation---one based on "Land Doctoring".   

We can clearly see this new human culture emerging, if we look at this
newly emerging culture as a Cultural Anthropologist would.   Here’s some
of the examples I received: 

1.) I got 15 JOKES based on cartoons that Gary Larson did about exotics.
 
2.) My request for SONGS,  a person working for the National Park
Service sent in:  "a little jingle...based on the song "To Everything,
Turn, Turn, Turn"... the Weed Buster's Theme Song..."To every weed, cut,
spray, burn".
 
3.) Regarding ARTS & CRAFTS, from Hawaii, local lei makers are starting
to utilize some of the state's worst weeds such as ginger and schefflera
to get rid of them, and have an economic incentive to do so.

4.) And also for other ARTS & CRAFTS, from the little southern Arizona
town of Patagonia...one of the artists there was selling paper that had
been made out of Johnson Grass.  Her name is Susan Corl, P.O. Box 898,
Patagonia, AZ 85624.  What if we could find an economic use for star
thistle or pampas grass in California?

5.) Also in ARTS & CRAFTS, from Maryland "We made tye-dye shirts with
garlic mustard. It is an excellent dye. The girl scouts removed garlic
mustard from a large area and then  dyed their shirts in large buckets.
Simmer cut plants one hour,  pre-mordant one hour with aluminum
potassium sulfate, dye one  hour (simmer)...

6.) Regarding CHILDREN'S STORIES, from the Pacific Islands I heard about
a "Hawaiian play with a superhero saving the forest from miss evil
banana poka, "good guy/bad guy" cards (like baseball cards) also from
Hawaii, puzzle and other things from NZ's "Forest and Bird Society"
magazine for kids which regularly deals with IAS [Invasive Alien
Species], projects that aim to get school kids involved in IAS issues
etc."

7.) When asking about "ELDERS", here's two suggestions that were sent
in:

"ALDO LEOPOLD is the author of A Sand County Almanac, among many others
including scholarly essays on wildlife management, predator management,
and ecosystem restoration.  He was born in Iowa in 1887 and did most of
his professional work for the Forest Service in the Southwest until
breaking away on his own, eventually becoming a Professor of Game
Management at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and working
throughout the nation.  Leopold was among the first to formulate what is
now called a land ethic, a way of stewarding land and its resources for
the benefit of future generations.  He also was one of the first to
speak out against the practice predator eradication in the West.  He
died of a heart attack in 1947 while fighting a grass fire on a
neighbor's farm.  There is much more on the Aldo Leopold Foundation
website at http://www.aldoleopold.org/, including this quote: "A thing
is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty
of the biotic community."

"SIGURD OLSON (1899-1982) was one of a group of influential nature
writers who had an impact on the dawning of the environmental protection
movement early in the 20th century.   He also was an influential
conservationist, playing a role in the preservation of a number of
natural areas that became national parks, seashores, and wilderness
areas, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  He was born
in Chicago, but spent much of his childhood in northern Wisconsin.  He
later became Dean of Ely Junior College in Ely, Minnesota, later
resigning to be a full-time writer and environmental activist.  During
the fight to save the Quetico-Superior as wilderness, he played a role
in the passing of the Wilderness Act.  More on the website at:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/JMC/Olson/profile.htm." 

8.) Regarding FESTIVALS:  From Australia, "The fifth Big Scrub
Rainforest Day was held last September
http://www.rainforestrescue.org.au/bigscrub.html

“...it was a fabulous day  with big crowds.  Follow some links and you
might find reports of previous  days. "Welcome to Country" is an
important part of any major event here, and was  followed by an
Aboriginal dance.”

9.) Regarding a DISTINCTIVE CULTURE (from the Taos Pueblo in New
Mexico):

“There is a Taos weed committee that is developing strategies for benign
methods of exotic weed control on the roadsides of New Mexico. They are
considering seeding with land imprinters to displace the weeds with
later successional natives. This same approach can be used for reducing
the dust hazard along I-10 in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California.

“This approach kills two birds with one stone: Elimination of exotics by
introducing natives with all the fringe benefits of native ecosystems
included--erosion control, etc.”

10.) And finally, when I asked if anyone had any IMPORTANT DREAMS, I
received dreams having to do with weed management from two countries
outside of the USA---interestingly both people were having dreams about
exotic shrub management: Rhamnus cathartica and Celastrus orbiculatus.

It seems that the more we engage in Weed Management and Ecological
Restoration processes, and for a longer period of time, these activities
are becoming more and more evident in Arts & Crafts, in Children
stories, in the concepts of who are the Elders, in festivals, and in our
dreams.  

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, The Reveg Edge (650) 325-7333