[PCA] Native restoration and exotic control need economics

Fri Sep 7 11:49:32 CDT 2012

Dear Joe and All,

Thanks for your reply.  Because we live in such a huge country, and we are
so rich, it is easy for us to not be affected by whatever abuse we dish
out to the environment.  So an issue like native pollinations, or the
genetics of a grass, important to us may be too abstract for the general
population.

EXOTICS KEEP US & OUR COWS FED. We as a people, are exotic-fed.  For
example,  we can strip off all of the native grasses and wildflower fields
on a continent wide basis, but once we stripped off the native grasses and
wildflowers, we had to do something to keep our cows and sheep eating each
year.

So in California we introduced intentionally and accidentially, 1,000
species of exotics, so we can continue to feed 5.5 million cattle, 1.7
million cows and 1/2 million sheep every year.   We planted an exotic
plant buffer, so we did not feel the direct impact of our devistation of
the native understory on a continent-wide basis.

That is why I choose projects where the native cover or the lack of native
cover, makes an immediate difference for the survival of the people living
there, like Haiti or Pakistan or India or Arabia.  And they have no
buffers, they feel the  impacts of the depauperate environment
immediately, in the form of droughts,  floods and poverty.

So what I am talking about, is actions in the part of the world that is
missing the exotic plant buffers like the USA has, and doing restoration
on the scale of a whole country like Haiti or the entire Arabian
peninsula, or one billion acres worldwide.

WE NEED TO BE THE INVENTORS. Living in the USA we still have time, unlike
Haiti, Arabia, India or Pakistan, so we can start inventing restoration
techniques that can restore large areas quickly, and in a weed-free
manner.  That is why I am working on my test plot for the last three years
here in Palo Alto. Based on the results of the last two years of test
plots, what I am going to try and get between now and February, is 99.5%
native cover.

ECONOMIC UNDERPINNINGS. However, any project, either done in the USA or
overseas like Haiti, must have an economic underpinning supporting them. 
This is very different than just doing pure research, were you get money
to research a topic, but there is no direct or immediate economic benefit
from the results of the research.

For example,  one of the purposes of the Haiti project is to put cover
back on the land so that the topsoil is not washing away into the rivers,
and the immediate and direct economic benefit, is that the farmers can
grow some crops and make money that way.    If you look at <Google Images>
of Haiti rivers, they look like chocolate milk.  What we want, is to be
able to count the rocks at the bottom of the rivers, that is why we call
our project the <Crystal Clear Rivers> project.

In Pakistan, India, and Arabia, the proposal is to replant the native
perennial grasses and wildflowers, to keep the Dust Cloud from forming
each summer, which causes drought wherever it exists, and causes floods
whenever the Dust Cloud blocks and stalls the rainfall, that you can see
at http://www.ecoseeds.com/2012drought.html.  The Arabia-Pakistan Dust
Cloud is more powerful than the strongest hurricane, like the Category 5
GONU that it snuffed out in the Straits of Hormuz in 2007.

CARBON CREDITS AS THE ECONOMIC DRIVER. Up to one billion acres worldwide
of barren arid lands could potentially be replanted with local native
grasses, wildflowers and native savannah trees.  I am suggesting that this
replanting be funded by carbon credits from the native grass root
sequestration.

So in this country, we should make sure that all native restoration or
weed management projects, have some annual economic underpinning.  Like
converting all of the cheatgrass areas in the Great Basin, back to local
perennial native grasses, should be able to be funded with carbon credits
sold for that project.

PUBLIC LANDS NEED ANNUAL EXOTIC/RESTORATION BUDGETS. It does not make any
sense to buy land as public open space and then not budget to annually
manage the exotics and restore the natives, but that is what we have been
doing in the USA ever since we set aside any public lands and establishing
railroad and highway right-of-ways here.

So locally, like where I live, when public agencies are currently spending
$200 million to buy 1,000 acres a year as open space, then you can lobby
those agencies, like POST and Midpen to include exotic management and
native restoration as part of the whole package, like at
<http://www.ecoseeds.com/midpendeal.html> and
<http://www.ecoseeds.com/postdeal.html>

If you piggyback on the massive amount of funds being acquired to preserve
the land, you can try and make sure that annual funds are established to
take care of the exotic issues and the native restoration issues.  That
way, annual exotic control and native plant restoration needs are not
forgotten after the land is purchased.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333