[APWG] Eradication needs conversion back to 100% natives?

[Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company]

Dear All,

I would add to the discussion, that you have to take this concept one step
further.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to walk the 74 acres of the Shaw
property near Santa Cruz, California, that in 1992 was 99% covered with
106 species of exotics, and as of last week, the exotics are gone, and the
74 acres is now 99.99% covered with 154 species of natives.

You can see the weed and native list for the Shaw property at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/shaw_plantlist.XLS.  There are two new species of
natives on the property, that still have to be described by science, which
is quite amazing, since new native species are only found in California
rarely now.

We wrote about this project in the June 2002 issue of ECOLOGICAL
RESTORATION (Univ. of Wisc. Press).

Also, some native plants popped out of the seedbank, that are so rare,
that they have only been collected six times in the last 100 years in
Santa Cruz County, like the Bottlebrush grass (Elymus californicus).

What I am suggesting, is that while you are managing weeds in wildland
situations, knowing the cause of the the eoxitc plant infestation is very
important.  However, unless your goal is 100% native understory in the
place of the weeds, then your work may also be futile.

We know exactly what the cause, why lower elevation California is 99.9999%
covered with over 1,000 species of exotic weeds---because  sheep and cows
grazing everything to the dust from sea level to 5,000 feet, including the
mountain tops, during several droughts, between 1860 and 1940.

John Muir wrote about this in his book on California, with the frontspiece
an engraving of a sheep that he labels---The Hooved Locusts.

The sheep and cows catastrophically removed the native understory, making
the ground bare, and in effect, put up a huge vacancy sign for every weed
to try and find a home here.

California is probably the largest area that is solidly weeds, on the
planet.  If anyone knows of a largest area on the planet that is 99.99%
exotic understory, I would be interested.

What we need to know at this point, is how to convert those exotic areas,
back to 100% native plant cover, with the right percentage of native
species, so that the North American native ecosystems can hang together as
a unit, for perpetuity.

We could start along our highway roadside, like the Iowa DOT has done over
the last decade or so?

Because most new non-riparian exotics get spread into the environment,
traveling along roadsides, like veins in the body, maybe fixing those
areas first with Federal Highway funds, could be done, with new
construction

New highway construction could be the economic incentive to pay for the R
& D necessary to do the work of <100% conversion back to natives>
correctly.

Yellowstone Park did this in 1995-2000, where the FHWA was doing a lot of
road work through the park, and the Park Service had the agency pay for
local native seed collection, to replant along the roadsides, once the
construction was finished.

I have a saying that I live by--If you do not ask, you will not get.  We
cannot be satisfied with just eradication of exotic plants in wildland
situations, but should have as the goal, 100% conversion back to natives!

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333