[APWG] ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION Percent distribution and trends of indigenous and non-indigenous plant species Re: Funding a 70-acre weed-back-to-native project with donations--99.99% natives

[craig at astreet.com]

Dear Wayne,
Thanks for your email and the correction with my
spelling.  
I had a hard time coming up with a new word for
this idea of Spatial Extinction, so that we can start a conversation about
it.  The point is, every square meter that an exotic plant grows, has
caused the spatial extinction of the individual native plants that used to
grow there.
When you get the awesome privilege to see
99.5% weed-free areas like Mark VandePol's 14 acres, or ever catch a
glimpse the 99.99% that I am attempting to achieve, perhaps you can use
the Bob Dylan method of running transects--"You don't need a weather
man to know which way the wind blow" or essentially, you do not see
any weeds.  
It is like getting into a time machine and going
back 300 years into the past.
I have 1,000 poppy plants in place
already planted as seedlings last winter, and am growing another 6,000 of
various species for next spring. 
Next spring when everything
is planted and blooming, I invite everyone to come and view and bring your
huhu hoops or whatever transect devices you use, and see how close to
99.99% weed-free I got.  
Usually when a grassland restoration
project has been done in the past in California, people cordon off the
area and post signs for everyone to Keep Out!  I am doing just the
opposite, everyone come and smell the flowers and take home lots of
pictures for your family albums, of you and your relatives enjoying the
beauty.
If we do not have pictures of the native plants in our
family albums, they will never become part of our families.  
Personally, I am also doing paintings on canvas of the project as it
proceeds at http://www.ecoseeds.com/art.html, and done four so
far.
I have been recently collecting California wildflower post
cards on Ebay, if you search California wild flower post card, and the
ones from Kern County that advertised the Arvin Wild Flower Festival from
the 1920-1940s are staggering.  
On the back of one of those
post cards I bought, a note is written by the observer at the time, "
All the yellow color are poppies, the blue and lavender are lupin and
beside there are 105 other varieties of flowers. I nearly lost my mind
over so much beauty all at once."
I guess that could be another
way to do a native vegetation transect--If you lose your mind over so much
beauty at once, you might be getting getting close to 99.99%?
I am
hoping that other readers struggling with annual weeds, like sites
elsewhere in California and the Great Basin, might try my
killing-the-weeds-using-5X-their-own-straw method, and get the 99% kill
rate in 60 days, like I did here in Palo Alto.
And if you think this
project is worth supporting, toss me a bone
at http://www.gofundme.com/3yiq8s
Sincerely,  Craig
Dremann (650)
325-7333
 
=============================================
>
Craig et y'all:

>

> Naw, I'd say it was more like 4.4 (actually 4.39956) square feet--if
I

> wanted to be ridiculously consistent.

>

> But cover is not an accurate enough measure. Individual plants vary
too

> much in their "coverage," so to get really narrow-nosed
about it, basal

> area would probably be closer to it--expressed as a ratio of the
basal

> area of the entire acre. Otherwise, we would have to generalize,
right?

>

> First, I'd want to know what sampling procedure produces the data,
and how

> many replications have been done by other researchers over what
period of

> time. It's not science if the data come only from one sampling at
one

> point in time. Ecosystem dynamics are about trends, not absolutes.

>

> Maybe I'll get a chance to see this miracle one of these days.

>

> I agree with Dremann about the creeping extinction idea, and am proud
of

> him for thrusting himself forward in any attempt to flatten the
slippery

> slopes of gradual reduction in populations of species, or
"spacial [sic]

> extinction," as Dremann terms it--in fact, I am so insanely
particular

> that I am concerned about the erosion/decline of intra-specific
variation

> that biological and anthropogenic disruptions in ecosystems almost

> certainly must cause. I appreciate his appreciation of the beauty of
the

> earth, including the odor of tarweeds. I wish him well, even if I
am

> skeptical, even disbelieving of, his 99.99 percent calculations. I
hope

> that such extravagant notions don't undermine the areas in which he
is

> more credible than incredible. I hope that he hangs in there for a
long,

> long time. Craig and me, we're in the same quadrant, if not always in
the

> same corner.

>

> WT

>

> PS: I gave a talk (my first in a decade or so) at the Native Seed

> Conference in Santa Fe last April--all about just a few of the
major

> mistakes I've made in the several decades I've messed around with
seeds

> and ecosystem restoration.

> ----- Original Message -----

>

From: craig at astreet.com

> To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org ; craig at ecoseeds.com

> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 11:34 AM

> Subject: Re: [APWG] Funding a 70-acre weed-back-to-native project
with

> donations--99.99% natives

>

>

> > What, exactly, does "99.99% weed-infested" mean?

> >

> > What, excatly, does "99.99% weed-free" mean?

> >

> > WT

>

> Dear Wayne,

>

> Glad to hear from you again. 99.99% weed-infested acre of land=If
you

> looked at each square foot of that acre, you would only find about
4-5

> square feet still occupied by some native plants.

>

> Conversely, if you measured another acre and determined that it
was

> 99.99% weed-free, that means that there was solid local native
plant

> cover on the entire acre, except for 4-5 square feet that were
still

> occupied by some weeds.

>

> This goes to the heart of my idea of spacial extinction of local
native

> plants.

>

> We usually look at the term extinction to mean the death of an
entire

> species, like the Passenger pigeon, for example.

>

> But perhaps what we should be more concerned about, is the creeping
road

> to extinction, which is what I call spacial extinction, where a
local

> native species is extinct on a single square foot for whatever

> reason--weeds, plowing, plopping a building on top of that square
foot

> of land, planting a corn field, etc.

>

> In California, spatial extinction is a very serious issue, especially
if

> we want to preserve some of our native grassland and wildflower
fields

> for the future--considering that the native grasses and wildflower

> fields are already spatially extinct over 99.99% of the lower
elevations

> of the State.

>

> What I am trying to do with this 70 acres in Palo Alto, is to see
how

> this problem of spatial extinction can be corrected, so that this
site

> could possibly become an in situ source of local native genetic
material

> for other restoration projects where the natives have become
spatially

> extinct.

>

> I have set 99.99% local native cover as a goal, and it is not

> unreasonable after I saw Mark VandePol's 14 acres only 25 miles
away,

> with his entire property restored to 99.5% native cover, after
starting

> with a huge weed patch similar to the 70 acres here in Palo Alto.

>

> I am looking for donations through GoFundMe to get the bales of
native

> grass straw I want to use to kill the weeds this winter. Anyone in
the

> area is welcome to visit--the site is only about a mile from the
Page

> Mill Road exit from I-280.

>

> And that stretch of I-280 between San Jose and San Francisco is one
of

> the most beautiful drives in the country because the valley was

> preserved without any development in the 1920s as one of San
Francisco's

> water supply reservoirs.

>

> In spring you pass by the I-280 Redwood City/Edgewood Road exit you
see

> serpentine wildflower fields, and if you drive past this time of
year,

> open your windows to smell the native white flowered hayfield
tarweeds

> in bloom, with their stems and branches emitting their lemony
scent.

>

> Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333

>

> ========================================

>

> > ----- Original Message -----

> >

>

From: craig at astreet.com

> > To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org

> > Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:12 PM

> > Subject: [APWG] Funding a 70-acre weed-back-to-native project
with

> > donations

> >

> >

> > Dear All,

> >

> > 'Phase one of the Poppy Project is completed in Palo Alto,
California,

> > with very good results, using the weed straw to kill the annual
weed

> > seedlings within 60 days of the seedlings sprouting. It is so
very

> nice

> > to be able to kill the weeds with their own straw.

> >

> > The whole 70 acre project is going to be done with donations,
and I am

> > trying GoFundMe as one way to fund this weeds-back-to-native

> conversion

> > project,, as you can see at http://www.gofundme.com/3yiq8s.

> >

> > I have been waiting over four decades for the local
government

> agencies

> > or public land managers to get the funding together to do a
project

> like

> > this in my area, and since I will turn 60 in a few months,
decided to

> > see if the public might support the project directly, so we can
get

> > something going during my lifetime.

> >

> > As far as I know, this will be only the fourth project in
California,

> to

> > take a 100% weed infested grassland ecosystem >10 acres, and
try and

> > convert it back to the original local wildflowers and native
grasses.

> > You can see photos of the potential of what California used to
look

> like

> > 300 years ago, before we got 99.99% weed infested at

> > http://www.ecoseeds.com/wild.html.

> >

> > My project is right next to the parking lot at the Palo Alto

> Arastradero

> > Preserve, so anyone is welcome to come and watch as the
project

> > progresses. All the native animals are coming to visit,, a
coyote,

> > butterflies, hundreds of bumblebees in spring, two doves,
gophers, a

> > rabbit and a couple of lizards, within a few months of
establishing

> the

> > natives as a solid 99.99% weed-free stand.

> >

> > Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333

> >

> >

> >

> >
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> >

> >

> >

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