[APWG] Ecosystem management and restoration planning Plants Alienspecies component Re: NEWS: Removing species fromsub-Antarctic island 'causeddisaster'

Wayne Tyson landrest at cox.net
Wed Jan 14 21:31:34 CST 2009 

KA and PC:

Of course I agree; however, I have seen many cases where individuals' and 
organizations' actions in alien-bashing have left me with the impression 
that their knowledge and skills were more limited than would be necessary 
for the error avoidance procedures you mention, and were not only not 
followed, they were strenuous objections. On one occasion, for example, when 
it was suggested in a statewide alien plant orginazation's seminar that 
optimal allocations of scarce resources be a consideration according to a 
priority list based upon the procedures mentioned, including feasibility and 
infeasibility as well as net effectiveness (I'm trying to make a long story 
short here), there was outraged objection based on the "logic" that "we know 
they are invasives, and that's all we need to know, etc., so forget all that 
bs and just get on with the work. The seminar leaders apparently agreed and 
emphasized technique "effectiveness" such as which herbicides to use, how to 
use mechanical methods, etc. Suggestion that improving ecosystem "health" or 
any kind of integrated analysis and proof of restoration of ecosystem 
equilibrium was consider an obstacle to action rather than a necessary or 
even useful part of a comprehensive and integrated program that would result 
in true long-term effectiveness. The emphasis seemed to be on gaining 
satisfaction only by the removal or killing of aliens in the short-term. 
"Nature" was supposed to "take care of everything else." The general 
impression given was that if one was not a true-believer in the 
organization's precepts that vilification or worse would be in store for the 
offenders.

I don't know the case to which you allude, but it would seem that the 
California case might be indicative of something along the lines just 
mentioned. Someone with even the most casual knowledge of ecological 
processes should know--for starters-- that weeds "like" light. The effects 
of the eradication efforts on such simple concepts and soil water, 
nutrients, and nutrient sequestration might have been in the realm of 
"needless" complexity.

Nonetheless, I am reassured that somewhere all who are working on invasives 
do "understand that they are working in ecosystems and what that means."

WT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karen Adair" <kadair at TNC.ORG>
To: "Wayne Tyson" <landrest at cox.net>; "Olivia Kwong" 
<plant at plantconservation.org>; <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:15 PM
Subject: RE: [APWG] Ecosystem management and restoration planning Plants 
Alienspecies component Re: NEWS: Removing species fromsub-Antarctic island 
'causeddisaster'


I say a more correct title would have been "Flawed thinking 'caused 
disaster' on sub-Antarctic island"

I don't remember the specifics, but I know of at least one scenario where 
this has happened with plants. I think an invasive tree species was 
successfully eradicated somewhere in California only to promote the massive 
and swift invasion of some herbaceous understory plant that was just waiting 
for such an event. And these were highly intelligent people working on this.

I don't know anyone working on invasives who doesn't understand that they 
are working in ecosystems and what that means. This gets me to the opinion 
I've formed from constant analysis of my own mistakes (fortunately never 
described as "disasters") and successes which is that the "root of the root" 
in all mistakes comes from our lack of understanding and acceptance that 
there will always be flaws in how people think and decide. The human thought 
process is imperfect and intellectual limitations are constant. We can't 
change those facts, but knowing and thinking of it whenever we have to make 
a decision should remind us to push away our assumptions and instead rely on 
and stick to sound, strategic planning principles and the questions and 
information that come as a result. That is the only way to mitigate the 
effects of our emotions, perceptions, and ignorance in our thought 
processes. I can directly link every mistake I've ever made to at least one 
of those three. I can link every success to the fact that I kept my goal 
front and center at all times.

"The lessons for conservation agencies globally is that interventions should 
be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and 
plan for indirect effects, or face substantial subsequent costs."

This quote is very logical and you would think that everyone working to 
protect the environment would know this and do it automatically especially 
with a project of this importance, scale, and nature. To me, why they did 
not do it is the key component in this story and what would be most helpful 
to know and learn from.


Thanks. Karen


________________________________

From: apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org 
[mailto:apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:46 PM
To: Olivia Kwong; apwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [APWG] Ecosystem management and restoration planning Plants 
Alienspecies component Re: NEWS: Removing species fromsub-Antarctic island 
'causeddisaster'


APWG:

While we don't usually think of predator-prey relationships with plants, 
there can be situations where alien plant removal procedures are detrimental 
to ecosystem health. And the lesson here of understanding interspecies 
connections and making predictions that are testable as theory, then test 
plots, then useful procedures, beats the "find 'em, whack 'em, and forget 
'em" approach that is far too widely used (sometimes with good results,* but 
too often with negative or neutral results). While consideration of the 
whole ecosystem context may take more time, it can minimize error, expense, 
and wasted or counterproductive effort.

WT

*Ecosystems are resilient--that is, "forgiving." But correlations are not 
always reflective of causation, and a shift in context can mean success in 
one case, failure in another.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org 
<mailto:plant at plantconservation.org> >
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org 
<mailto:apwg at lists.plantconservation.org> >
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:33 AM
Subject: [APWG] NEWS: Removing species from sub-Antarctic island 
'causeddisaster'


> About animal species, but it did affect plants on the island.
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090112/sc_afp/environmentbiodiversityinvasiveaustralia_newsmlmmd 
> <http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090112/sc_afp/environmentbiodiversityinvasiveaustralia_newsmlmmd>
>
> Removing species from sub-Antarctic island 'caused disaster'
> Mon Jan 12, 12:34 pm ET
>
> PARIS (AFP) -- Efforts to remove an invasive species from a sub-Antarctic
> island that has been named a World Heritage site accidentally triggered an
> environmental catastrophe, a study to be published on Tuesday says.
>
> The eradication programme on Macquarie Island, lying halfway between
> Australia and Antarctica, is a cautionary tale about the complex web of
> ecosystems, its authors say.
>
> See the link above for the full article text.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PCA's Alien Plant Working Group mailing list
> APWG at lists.plantconservation.org <mailto:APWG at lists.plantconservation.org>
> http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/apwg_lists.plantconservation.org 
> <http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/apwg_lists.plantconservation.org>
>
> Disclaimer
> Any requests, advice or opinions posted to this list reflect ONLY the 
> opinion of the individual posting the message.

________________________________


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