[APWG] Exotic Mustards getting started in NM--lessons for Cal., Ariz., Nev. and Utah

[Craig Dremann]

{This is a reply to a discussion on a New Mexico Native Plant server
discussion--that there may be lession we must learn immediately about
these exotics mustards in Southern California, southern Arizona, New
Mexico, southern Nevada and Utahm while we can still manage them along
the roadsides, and before they overwhelm our National Parks and other
Public Lands]

Dear David and All,

Thanks for your email.  And thank you for your assurances that NM is
nothing like the Mojave, so won't be eventually over-run from top to
bottom with the same weeds that are solidly colonizing the Mojave---
but that theory, unfortunately, isn't being proven out in reality.

I'm predicting that the roadside infestations of the Sisymbrium in
central NM along I-15 will spread solidly into the Bosque [the Rio
Grande cottonwood riparian forest that stretches the length of
NM]---anyone can drive down to Peralta and see the future of the Bosque
there as a solid mustard stand.  

MUSTARDS AND COTTONWOODS: My sister Karen, just got a degree last
autumn, and her thesis was studying the cottonwoods of the Bosque. 
She's telling me that it is a riparian forest that hasn't seen much
recruitment in 50 years---that it is a dying forest---and nobody yet
knows how to get the cottonwoods to reproduce.  Now, if the Bosque
understory is eventually converted to solid exotic mustards, is that
going to help the germination and survival of cottonwood seedlings? 
That doesn’t sound good for the cottonwoods?

SCHISMUS AT THE MUSEUM; And the Schismus, if not immediately managed,
will probably spread to the rest of the State from Santa Fe south,
solidly, in an unforgiving manner, able to survive in almost sterile
soil.  And unfortunately it will probably spread from that first
infestation around the Natural History Building in Alb.  That would be a
very easy one to stop, if it only occurs around that one building so
far.

And then the entire southern part of the state is going to end up having
its desert ecosystem wiped out by solid Sahara mustard coming in along
the Interstate from Tucson.  

PROVE ME WRONG WITH MAPS: The only was to prove if I'm right or wrong,
is to map the occurrence and extent of those weeds in 2005, and then
monitor them in subsequent years.  The State of NM Highways dept. should
be doing that, just like the State of Utah already maps their roadside
exotic weeds with GIS in Arcview.  

However, if NM Dept. of Highways doesn’t get on the ball immediately in
managing the Sisymbrium in the North and central part of NM, and the
Sahara mustard in the south, you can just kiss your native plants
good-bye.

REASONS FOR FUTURE WEED-TSUNAMI IN NM: The main reason why these exotic
mustards are going to spread, is that during the drought, grazing
pressure on the desert wasn't reduced significantly enough to allow the
desert ecosystem to recover from decades of overgrazing, like what you
see along I-15 from Alb. to Santa Fe.  

You can see that even during a good rainfall year like this year,
there's lots of bare interspaces between the shrubs where the native
bunchgrass have been exterminated, and very few wildflowers exist
because they have also been largely exterminated.

ROADSIDE PETRI-DISHES: What that means, is that the Interstate and other
roadsides provide the perfect area for the exotic mustards to "culture",
which means that like a perti-dish, there's plenty of room, and extra
water from the roadside run-off to grow a "critical-mass" of
vegetation.  

That’s what has been happening for at least three decades east of Deming
with the Peganum harmala infestation--it uses the  roadsides and the
pipeline corridors as its area to “culture” its critical mass, before
moving out into the desert.

MUSTARD TUMBLEWEEDS: Both exotic mustards when they dry, the stalks
break off and act like tumbleweeds.  So once a critical mass is formed
within the Interstate right-of-way, then the weeds start marching out
into the Bosque or out into the desert, rapidly and solidly.   

LOW NUMBERS FOR 50 YEARS DON”T MEAN THAT DISASTER ISN’T COMING:  I'm
talking about weeds that may be present in low numbers here and there
for many decades---like since 1927 for the California infestation of the
Saharan Mustard in the Coachella valley, only being a minor roadside
weed for 60 or 70 years, until three things happened:

1.) The invent of ORV areas, and the seeds spread throughout the desert
on vehicles in the mid-1990s, and,

2.) Overgrazing during droughts, which weakened the desert ecosystem's
ability to repel invaders, the grazing leaving too many bare spots
between the shrubs even during good rainfall years.  

3.) Highway depts. not taking note and managing plants, when plants
started showing up along roadsides.  The mustards then have the perfect
habitat protected from molestation and extra water, to “culture” their
populations

Don't repeat California's mistake in not taking care of these weed when
they were still occasional roadside infestations.  Now we're looking at
having to spend at least $200 million a year for 3-4 years to manage
them so they don't entirely destroy our Mojave desert ecosystem.  

MAPPING, at least as the first start, would be prudent, but if you see
them rapidly getting out of hand, your NM government must have a plan of
action, and a source of funds, to take care of the problem.

PER ACRE COST TO REMOVE: The second most important action to take after
mapping, is to take an acre of each species, and determine what the cost
per acre would be, if you paid everyone a living wage, to remove and
dispose of the plants.  

PER ACRE COST TO RESTORE DESERT ECOSYSTEM: And then the third most
important action would be, once you have determined the cost of removal
and disposal on those test acres, does the desert come back on its own,
or do you have to spend some money on Ecological Restoration, and what
would those costs be, per acre.

THE EXOTIC TSUNAMI IS COMING: What I'm trying to tell you-all in NM, is
that a three-pronged exotic- plant-tsunami is about to hit your state,
and unless you get your NM Highway people to immediately start managing
the infestations that are getting cultured along your roadsides, that
you desert ecosystem is going to get screwed in a major way, just like
our State has in the last 8 years.  

Both California's desert and NM desert's ecosystems are going to get
screwed, we just don't have a clue on how screwed they're going to get,
but my guess is solidly.  

TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR WILDFLOWERS THIS YEAR so you can remember them,
before they get run-over.  When the Sahara mustard hits any southern NM
wildflowers field that you NM residents love, just take some pictures of
them this year so you can remember them, because after the mustards hit,
they'll be gone forever.   

Just look at some of the "Before" and "After" pictures on my web page at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/mustards.html of the Anza Borrego State Park, or
the photos that I show of the Coachella Valley Preserve that was
unfortunately set-aside for 30 Endangered species, including many rare
plants.  

And call the researcher, Robert Meinke at OSU in the Botany & Plant
Pathology Dept. 541-737-2317  who is studying and writing a paper on one
of those rare plants from the Coachella dunes, and find out how screwed
the plants are getting by the mustard.  Or read Dr. Libby Powell's
report of what's going on over at Lake Mead at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/lake.mead.html

I'm just hoping that NM can do a better job, and start a much quicker
reponse to the mustards that we have in California, Ariz., Nevada, or
Utah so far.  

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650) 325-7333