[APWG] Microstegium in West Virginia--get a truckload of money together!

[Bill Stringer]

One of our first priorities should be to develop economically viable 
sources of seed of most native species (locally (read regionally) adapted) 
sources of all but the most commonly used native species.  This will take 
away the need to buy seeds! -any seeds! by government agencies.

Bill

At 06:52 PM 5/17/2004 Monday, Craig Dremann wrote:
>Dear Patricia and Russ,
>
>Stiltgrass in West Virginia is becoming a tiny, little problem?
>
>Unfortunately, everyone who is watching the Stiltgrass starting to get a
>root-hold in WV in 2004,  is like the unfortunate Californians in
>1769-1820 watching the annual European grasses smother about 100 million
>acres of native perennial grasslands here.
>
>And after 150 years, we're Californian's are barely making any headway
>in figuring out how to manage any of these 1,000 exotic plant that are
>now "naturalized", nor has there been any substantial economic interest
>so far in making any serious investments in managing the exotics in the
>California or the rest of the USA (with the exception of Rook's project
>in Florida).
>
>Plus, the Federal government is still developing (ARS, NRCS, etc.) and
>releasing new invasive exotics every decade, and BLM and the USFS still
>purchasing exotic invasive plant seeds by the millions of pounds
>annually, and sowing them onto public lands.  You can read about that at
>http://www.ecoseeds.com/juicy.gossip.six.html
>
>We must start making the investment necessary to invent the processes
>and technologies that can successfully convert each exotic
>species-infestations back to local native ecosystems.
>
>Otherwise,  I'm afraid that each State in the USA should pull up their
>chairs, grab a box of popcorn and watch a rerun of the horror-film that
>Californians saw 150 years ago---when our state (outside of the Mojave
>desert) from sea level to 3,000 feet elevation was 99.99% carpeted by
>about 1,000 exotics.
>
>I gave a talk last year on this issue in Monterey at a BLM conference on
>Weeds, that you can read about at http://www.ecoseeds.com/talk.html
>
>Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, The Reveg Edge (650) 325-7333
>Box 609, Redwood City, CA 94064
>
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>


William C. Stringer
Forage Agronomist &
Native Plant Enthusiast
Clemson University

Entomology, Soils and Plant Science
279 P&AS Bldg
PO Box 0315
Clemson, SC  29634

864 656 3527  Voice
864 656 3443  FAX