<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
pre
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<pre><i><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-style:italic'>“The concept of plants in themselves being capable of being "invasive"<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Is silly. It is attributing human qualities (implying malice in this<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>case) to unthinking organisms. Plants live, grow, reproduce (some are very<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>efficient at this) and die.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Calling a plant invasive is not necessarily silly it is just an attempt to clarify its potential to be aggressive in taking over a plot of land.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>It is not necessarily an attempt to give the plants human qualities,<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>it is just an effort to distinguish them from other plants that are less likely to spread rapidly. <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>“New or different plants do not displace established existing plants in healthy, undisturbed ecosystems. Plants do not<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Appear anywhere due to "spontaneous generation". They are brought in by humans or animals.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>I agree. The problem is that the majority of our inhabitatd land is unhealthy and disturbed to some degree. <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>So why add insult to injury by encouraging the planting of invasive plants when adding natives and non-invasives <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>could do a better job of restoring the land to a more healthy state and providing other benefits we want. <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>“I am offended at the concept that "exotic" plants are somehow inferior<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>To "native" plants. Especially since 90% of my diet and that of most<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>of us is derived from"exotic" plants. Demonizing "exotic" plants as "invasive<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>exotic" is inherently offensive . Which term is less offensive to you<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>"Invasive exotic" or "opportunistic colonizer"?”<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I think you are starting to unnecessarily muddy the discussion here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Most people that I know who are working to control “invasive” plants, <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>fully admit that most of our food plants and many of the ornamentals and medicinal herbs that we all grow are introduced.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>None of these people, that I am aware of, complain about a plant just because it is introduced.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>It is the invasives that concern them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>If someone moves into the neighborhood where I live and they make an attempt to live in an ecologically sensitive manner and they get to know the neighbors, I am pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>If someone else moves in and tears down 3 nice old homes, destroys a few acres of native plants and builds a 30,000 square foot home and puts in two acres of lawn, I am not pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>What is the difference.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>The first person tries to minimize their impact and be sensitive to the existing ecology of the place. <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>No question they have an impact, but it is a lighter impact.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>The second person destroys an excessive amount of the neighborhood and kills off some attractive native plants and maybe drives out some native people.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>“What I find even more troubling is the knee jerk reaction to their<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>presence. Lets just kill all the bad plants we don't like anymore and<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>everything will be fine. First we gather all their names up and put<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>them on a list. Target these for extermination. Next we will make up more<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>lists of plants that "might" be "invasive" in the future and ban them too. Here<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>in NY State we already have county executives issuing "executive decrees"<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>banning the use of any but "native" species in any future plantings on<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>county property. How dare they do this? Yet, this is a logical<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>extension of the current polices we are formulating. Why should we be denied<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>daffodils, daylillies, tulips or apple trees or Kentucky bluegrass (another<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>exotic import) because someone has decided that they are evil?”<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>It is usually not a matter of someone deciding they are evil.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>It is not just a matter of calling plants bad.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>It is a matter, most likely, of a number of people recognizing that some plants are a threat to fragile native plants<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>or a threat to other plants and habitats or a threat to existing economies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I don’t know the details for your area but that is how it occurs here in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>In <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">King</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> there are different levels that plants are rated at on the “Noxious” weed list based on how big of a threat they are.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I do agree with you that banning everything but native species is an unnecessary extreme measure.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I can’t imagine that approach catching on in too many areas in light of the money and power in the industries that make money from non-native plants.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I guess part of it comes down to personal taste.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I like a lot of the native plants in my area.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I also like a lot of the introduced plants and I grow many introduced plants.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I would hate to see where I live, <st1:place
w:st="on">Vashon Island</st1:place>, get further engulfed by the English Ivy which is weakening and eventually killing many native trees and shrubs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I would much rather see a forest with a wide diversity of trees, shrubs, and low growing annuals and perennials than a forest that is 70% English Ivy which is what we have in some areas.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>We have that problem partly due to bad logging practices in the past and partly due to too many people planting English Ivy and English Ivy being well adapted to live here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>We can’t unmake the past but we have choices and options now and in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I am now in the process of removing a lot of the English Ivy from my land and other areas <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>and replacing it with a wide range of the plants that most likely used to be in those spots.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>This is also helping to bring back more of the native birds, mammals, and fish.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>One of the things that I like most when I travel <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>is finding the cultural, historical, and ecological elements of what make that place unique and what help define that place.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I dislike it when Wal Marts, fast food restaurants, and other chain stores move in and make one place look like another.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>I feel the same way about certain plants moving in and making one ecosystem look like another and possibly making that system less stable and less resilent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>For now, one final thought.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>To me a lot of this environmental and sustainability stuff comes down to the choices we have available to meet our needs and interests.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>If you can choose a compact fluorescent lamp (CPL) instead of an incandescent lamp <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>and the CPL will save many dollars more than its extra purchase price thru energy savings, help reduce climate change, and much more, <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>why not do it, it is a better alternative in many ways.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>In the rare case where you need a special quality of light maybe only an incandescent or quartz halogen lamp will do.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>In that special quality of light situation the CPL choice does not meet your need.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Same with plants, if you can get food, medicine, erosion control, ornamental beauty, ecological restoration, and other benefits from natives and “non-invasive” introduced plants, why not choose them and avoid the possible problems from invasives? <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Why choose a likely “invasive” plant when there are so many other good options out there?<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Are invasive plants growing on strip mined land better than having no plants on that strip mined land and allowing for massive erosion? YES THE INVASIVES ARE BETTER THAN NO PLANTS IN THAT CASE. <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Will we ever eliminate “invasives”? NO<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Are some expenditures of limited money and human labor in removing invasives better spent on something else? YES<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Is a good solution made bad because it is not perfect? NO<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>But why unnecessarily make the problem worse from choosing invasives at the times when other options exist and will work?<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Michael Laurie<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><i><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'>Vashon</span></font></i></st1:City><i><span
style='font-style:italic'>, <st1:State w:st="on">WA</st1:State></span></i></st1:place><i><span
style='font-style:italic'> <o:p></o:p></span></i></pre><pre><i><font size=2
face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><i><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></pre><pre><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre></div>
</body>
</html>