[APWG] Six New Concepts about Exotic plant management

[Cleary, Ruark]

Speaking as a non-botanist/weed-bureaucrat, I wonder how people in other
programs view Craig's Concepts.  I haven't seen any discussion of them on
APWG as yet, so for my own benefit I will pose a question on each that
hopefully others can answer.

1.) The "Four-Times" Rule on Exotic Plants: Your exotic plant management
technologies should be robust enough to convert weed infested areas four
times faster than they became infested.  Otherwise, you'll never be able to
catch up with exotic plant infestations.
*****

For each known invasive plant species there must be a rate of spread
(acres/year) that can be measured.  This would not include the pre-invasive
stage, or "lag time," of the species.  I have seen modeling for one plant,
Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum), which indicated a horrific
rate of spread (airborne spores, you know).  Wouldn't the species' mode(s) of
reproduction bear heavily on its rate of spread?  Is anyone doing research on
infestation rates, such as the modeling example above (watch me get a
response from one of our colleagues saying -we- are)?  Does anyone factor
this 'infestation rate' into their species management plans or control
priorities?  As a rule, shouldn't newly detected invasives have a priority
for control (i.e., intervention before they spread) over invasives that have
been spreading for decades or more (at a determinable rate)?  Also, if you
can halt the spread of an old invasive into new areas (outlier populations),
would not the rate of control of 'old growth' populations then become
resource based (people and funding), rather than time based?  

As an example, the 100-year melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) infestation
of the Everglades has been halted.  Over the previous 10 years, our control
efforts have reversed the trend and now each year melaleuca acres are
declining.  If Florida had to choose tomorrow (which luckily we don't)
between Lygodium and melaleuca as a priority, it would appear wiser to shift
initial control efforts to Lygodium and do only maintenance control on
melaleuca until we could return to removing it.  We know melaleuca is on the
way out; it's just a matter of maintaining the resources currently devoted to
its removal.

It's only common sense that you need to remove more acres than are being
infested to make any progress (although holding the rate to 0 is better than
nothing), but can there be, or is there even a need for, some set rate
applied to all species that determines whether or not your program is
successful?

-next-
2.) Get solid local native ecosystems at the end of the exotic plant control
process.
3.) Begin using your local native soil seedbank immediately, before you lose
it.
4.) Ask for Licensed Technologies for exotic plant management.
5.) Ask for Performance Standards for any technologies used to manage
exotics.
6.) End the "War on Weeds"

-Rook


Ruark L. "Rook" Cleary
Upland Weeds Program
Bureau of Invasive Plant Management
3900 Commonwealth Blvd, MS 705
Tallahassee, Florida  32399-3000
ruark.cleary at dep.state.fl.us
Office: 850-245-2809 x4828
SunCom 205-2809, Fax 850-245-2835
<http://www.dep.state.fl.us/lands/invaspec/index.htm>

"Worldwide, the four horsemen of environmental ruin - habitat destruction,
invasive species, pollution, and unsustainable logging - have increased the
rate of extinction by as much as one thousand-fold, thereby shortening the
average lifespan of species by the same amount."
-E.O. Wilson, Endangered Forests, 2003

"Florida is in a state of cannibalism, eating itself to increase its
infrastructure."
-Phil Cloues, National Park Service

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