[PCA] [APWG] Herbicide Application Techniques Prohibit Re: NEWS: Studyfinds one-time herbicide use decreased native plants, may h

Thu Sep 24 14:37:23 CDT 2009

I would suggest staying on track and reacting to what it actually says.  The study 
simply shows what it shows and should be read for what it says.   Its focus was on a 
"one-time" spraying.    It didn't condemn any and all spraying.    Apparently there is 
some reaction or impression that this might be the case or construed in that fashion.

I would say that I seriously question to what extent we have learned from past 
lessons and mistakes and hence we need studies exactly like this one.     These 
chemicals typically are in fact not in the hands of truly qualified professionals that 
know how to handle them.  That is the point.   So the point of the study is:  if you 
don't know what you are doing, then there can be serious unintended consequences.   
Certainly in fact science-based observation have proven that again and again.    

Here I now go off on my very own tangent.    

We also continue to have numerous legal or other requirements where corporations 
and others are NOT required to make any follow-up at all.   Take some of the 
discussions about restoration/reclamation.    We could talk about the lack of follow-
up required of oil and gas companies in "restoring" oil pads and other areas 
damaged by their activities.   Instead they perform a one-time event using the 
services of individuals that are typically not highly qualified, and leave, washing their 
hands of the problem.     I suspect exactly the same to be true with various kinds of 
herbicide "treatments" and the lack of follow-up leading to problems that were worse 
than when they began.

Maybe the problem is that our problems are human-derived, yet we are expecting 
humans to somehow fix them?

Tony Frates

Date sent:      	Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:28:46 -0400
To:             	"Karen Adair" <kadair at TNC.ORG>, "Wayne Tyson" <landrest at cox.net>,
	<apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>,
	<native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>
From:           	Bill Stringer <bstrngr at clemson.edu>
Subject:        	Re: [APWG] Herbicide Application Techniques Prohibit Re: NEWS:
	Studyfinds one-time herbicide use decreased native plants,
	may have  increased invasive plants

I'm with you, Karen!!

Bill Stringer

At 12:53 PM 9/24/2009, Karen Adair wrote:
>A one-time application of such a virulent herbicide as Tordon without
>follow-up is irresponsible. Given that the application was made 16 years
>ago, I suspect that Tordon's effects were not as commonly known at that
>point. I'd also add that the practice of herbicide application as a
>management technique was not as common 16 years ago as it is today and
>the necessity for follow-up was often equally misunderstood.
>
>All this study shows is that man is prone to making mistakes and that
>those mistakes can have grave consequences. It doesn't show that
>avoiding general spraying is right, it shows that the misuse of an
>herbicide is wrong. The problems associated with "the use of general
>spraying as a weed-control technique" are human-derived. This study
>supports why land management activities need to be carried out by
>professionals who understand the need for a thorough, intelligent, and
>committed approach.
>
>Science can never prove something to be right, only highlight when
>something has failed. "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me
>right; a single experiment can prove me wrong." Albert Einstein
>
>I will gladly repeat and repeat: "I hereby eternally swear that I shall
>eschew irresponsible methodology and application in weed-control
>techniques."
>
>Karen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
>[mailto:apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Wayne
>Tyson
>Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 11:05 AM
>To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org;
>native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
>Subject: [APWG] Herbicide Application Techniques Prohibit Re: NEWS:
>Studyfinds one-time herbicide use decreased native plants,may have
>increased invasive plants
>
>AT LAST!  But SIXTEEN YEARS to declare the obvious that can be
>demonstrated by one simple experiment?
>
>Actually, I'm not surprised. But let us all repeat and repeat: "I hereby
>eternally swear that I shall eschew the use of general spraying as a
>weed-control technique."
>
>This is not to say that direct application of the minimal lethal dose by
>wick, by brush, by injection, by highly directed, low-pressure
>pneumatically-driven application to target plants only should be
>abandoned.
>
>WT
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org>
>To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>;
><native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>
>Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:39 AM
>Subject: [APWG] NEWS: Study finds one-time herbicide use decreased
>native plants, may have increased invasive plants
>
>
> > http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=7522
> >
> > Study finds one-time herbicide use decreased native plants, may have
> > increased invasive plants September 22, 2009 -- Melynda Harrison, MSU
> > News Service
> >
> > Matt Rinella, faculty in Animal and Range Science at Montana State
> > University and an ecologist at the Fort Keogh Agricultural Experiment
> > Station in Miles City, recently published the results of a 16-year
> > study in the journal Ecological Applications.
> >
> > See the link above for the full press release text.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > PCA's Alien Plant Working Group mailing list
> > APWG at lists.plantconservation.org
> > http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/apwg_lists.plantco
> > nservation.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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William C. Stringer
President
South Carolina Native Plant Society
<http://www.scnps.org/>www.scnps.org

PO Box 491
Norris, SC 29667

Clemson University
Entomology, Soils and Plant Science
864 656 3527
bstrngr at clemson.edu

"Go my Sons, burn your books.  Buy yourself stout shoes.  Get away to 
the mountains, the valleys, the shores of the seas, the deserts, and 
the deepest recesses of the earth.  In this way and no other will you 
find true knowledge of things and their properties."

Peter Severinus, 16th. century Dane educator