[APWG] A place for Aliens--steaming in my compost pile

[Ty Harrison]

I have read the "Place for Aliens" article and couldn't agree more with 
Craig Dremann's concerns.  I have seen an intact Intermountain West sandy 
grasslands of Hesperostipa comata, Poa secunda, Sporobolus cryptandrus. 
Achnatherum hymenoides and Aristida purpurea and various forbs competively 
exclude Bromus tectorum but not Secale cereale.  Exotics belong on the 
compost pile along with some people's hubris.  Ty Harrison
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:55 AM
Subject: [APWG] A place for Aliens--steaming in my compost pile


> Dear All,
>
> The article -- A place for alien species in ecosystem
> restoration -- is written from a Hawaiian US Forest Service perspective,
> where those islands are probably as exotic-infested as we are here in
> California, and it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to start the
> conversion back to a 100% native Hawaiian understory.
>
> When none of the US government agencies, including the ones with the
> biggest budgets like the Federal Highway admin. or the military, provide
> any signicant annual per-acre budgets to manage exotic plants on our
> Federal lands, then perhaps you are going to write articles trying to put
> a positive spin on exotics, if your agency is never going to get any funds
> from Congress to do the right thing.
>
> And at the same time, if Congress is still spending millions of dollars
> annually  to purchase millions of pounds of exotic seeds, to be sown onto
> our Federal lands, like smooth brome, crested wheatgrass, exotic clovers,
> etc., and also along Federal highways, everyone on the List-server should
> expect to see many articles in the future that promote exotic invasive
> plant use, to justify that ecosystem destruction?
>
> The Place for Aliens article can be downloaded for free from Google
> Scholar as a PDF file, and is 7 pages, at
> http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/uploads/files/LiteratureAttachments/20_a-place-for-alien-species-in-ecosystem-restoration.pdf
>
> Yes, I agree that there is a place for alien species--nicely composing
> away at a very high temperature to kill its seeds in my compost pile, to
> feed the native plants in the area, once the composting process is
> completed.
>
> By the way, my test plots on exotic annual grasses in Palo Alto, CA. hills
> are producing some very interesting and unexpected result in terms of
> their nutrient take-up--drawing down the soil nutrient levels to near
> zero, and far below where native seedlings can survive.
>
> The exotics working with the cows and sheep over time, especially in the
> arid West, can draw down the soil nutrients within a few years, below the
> threshold where native seedlings can survive, like what I show at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html.  When the native seedlings do
> not have the necessary levels of nutrients, the seeds germinate and die.
>
> Allelopathy produced by the exotics killing our natives, and the ability
> of the weeds to mine and rob soil nutrients from the native seedlings, may
> be the two strongest cases against allowing ANY exotics within our native
> ecosyetems on public lands, and along our highways?
>
> Shouldn't we stop intentionally sowing those ecosystem-killing weeds onto
> our highways and public lands?
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
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