[APWG] BLM wants to aerial spray herbicides--any alternatives?

[Craig Dremann]

Dear All,

The BLM has issued an EIS on reducing unwanted vegetation and hazardous
fuels. 

Part of this document is wide spread use of aerial spraying of
herbicides in 14 states. The public comment period expires January 9,
2006. BLM's proposal can be found at 
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/spotlight/VegEIS/.

My comments that I submitted, were that spraying for certain weeds like
cheatgrass, will do absolutely nothing for recovery of the Great Basin
ecosystem.

That's because the native shrub understory (grasses and forbs) has been
extinct for so long (>100 years), over such a large area (>80%) of the
Great Basin, that the only way to get the ecosystem to recover is by
sowing local native seeds in the areas of "Native understory
extermination".

However, there also exists an interesting paradox in the Great Basin in
2006---that even if the plants of the native understory plants still
exist, and they are producing as much as 200 pounds of seeds per acre
per year on the site, you can end up with zero seedling survival!  

You can see test plots result photos from one of my classes that I
taught on native ecosystem restoration at 
http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333