[APWG] BLM buys > ONE MILLION lbs. exotics/year? - EXOTIC-FREE by 2011??

[Bill Stringer]

Hi, Bob and all.  I saw this thread and had to horn in.

"Hi Craig
The reason why exotic seeds have been planted so extensively is because
many have been identified as having some very valuable virtues for humans
and wildlife and many also do serve valuable ecological roles. You seem to
think that all exotic plants are bad and this is simply nonsense, 90% of
our food supply is derived from exotic plants and animals. Most Americans
could not get through a single day without eating or using exotic plants
and animals.
Bob, the contribution of exotic species to our food supply is 
probably more like 97%,
but that point is totally unrelated here.  Have you seen anyone 
advocating converting
the Corn Belt back to tall grass prairies?

20 to 30% off ALL  plant species in the continental United
States are exotic in origin. The overwhelming majority have become
naturalized and are either benign or useful.

Also 86% of the listed weeds (noxious and otherwise) in California 
are introduced.
In Pennsylvania 100% of the listed weeds are introduced, while Ohio lists only
1 native species out of 18 as a weed.

A few are invasive but damning
all exotics based on the negative attributes of a very few is much like
condemning an entire race of people based on the actions of a few. Should
we engage in a campaign to eradicate everything that is exotic simple
because it is not native?

Should we continue a campaign of introducing and seeding exotic 
species willy-nilly?

Should we douse our fields, forest and roadsides with chemical herbicides
simply because we don't like the foreign plants that are growing there?

Bob, if you think that is the message of the vast majority of native 
plant enthusiasts
and organizations, as well as local, state and federal agencies, then 
you may be
prone to major over-interpretation.

Who is going to pay for such an eradication and
what would be the result? Nobody likes invasive plants that may displace
native plants but unless the conditions that led to invasions are
addressed, attempts at eradication of well established exotics are a waste
of time and money. Weed seeds, as defined on seed packages, are simply
seeds that are not of the same species as what is being purchased.

Is that why noxious weed seeds showing up in analyses of crop seed lots
is grounds for taking that entire seed lot off the market?

Weeds are unwanted plants, poison ivy is an unwanted plant that most would
consider a weed whether is it is native or exotic. Do some research on the
exotic plants you mention and you will learn why they have been planted.

We all need to continue doing research and learning.  It might be 
instructive to
investigate something like the salt-cedar 
species:  http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/tama1.htm   ,
or cogongrass:   http://www.cogongrass.org/  .

Alfalfa, for example, is perhaps the most important forage crop for dairy
cattle in the United States.

As for damaging native ecosystems, how do you define damage?

Native ecosystems are communities of native plants, native animals, 
native microbes,
all living together on a landscape (soil).  The composition of those 
communities and
that soil is the result of co-evolution of the organisms and that 
landscape (soil) under
the influence of thousands to millions of years of the climatic 
history of the region.
Drastically disturb (fire, hurricane, plow, etc.) such an ecosystem, 
and within a period of
years, depending on location, that ecosystem, if left alone, will 
self-restore to its original state.

Introducing invasive exotic plants through arrogance or ignorance can 
derail that ability of the
native system to self-restore, or certainly take the self-restoration 
to a different endpoint.
We humans have much to learn at the knee of such ecosystems.

In the broadest sense any and all human activities could be
construed as "damaging" to natural ecosystems in the extent that they alter
"natures" normal pathways.  This is certainly true for virtually all 
agriculture.

What would be the ecological effect of widespread herbicide 
applications to get rid of
exotic plants? Be careful what you wish for!  No court has ever ruled 
in favor of ecosystems as plaintiffs.

Bob, the courts have not been very kind to the thousands of Enron 
employees who had their pension
funds sacked either.  Don't hold up the judicial system as an example 
of fair and wise.

This is a subjective notion and not science.

Another contact for you to consider:

Finger Lakes Native Plant Society of Ithaca
http://www.fingerlakesnativeplantsociety.org/


Bob Beyfuss

Thanx

Bill Stringer




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