<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
Hello David, Robert, et al,<br>
<br>
I too must disagree with your (Robert's) viewpoint. I do not work for NWF
or any other conservation agency, but then again maybe I do...I work for
myself and one is as a garden designer and consultant. I focus on small
gardens for the backyard gardener and promote/enlighten/educate them on the
use of native plants, invasive species, ecological gardening practices and
pollinator conservation. The consultation piece is that I prefer to work
with people who want to do their own gardening but need a design, advice,
invasive identification on their property or other help. By offering this
service, I have the opportunity to have a direct influence on them. <br>
<br>
I see the home gardener as key to these issues, especially the invasives,
which is one of my personal passions. Those very gardeners run the market.
If an <i>uninformed </i>Ms/Mr. Smith goes to her local nursery, sees they
are selling Japanese barberry, burning bush, shrub honeysuckles she may very
well buy them due to their "quick cover" (honeysuckle), "lovely fall foliage"
(burning bush) and "purple, dwarf" plant (barberry cultivar) that is touted
by the nursery person. However, if an <i>informed </i>Ms/Mr Smith goes to
that same nursery she/he may ask why they are selling them. They may also
ask for natives plants and if the nursery does not know and/or cannot accommodate
them...well, they will go elsewhere (and should make that known to the <u><i>nursery
owner</i></u> - not just staff).<br>
<br>
I was just asked today to do a talk (I do local presentations) on native
and invasive plants for a garden club. I will be reaching between 30-40
people at that one alone. They will tell friends and neighbors what they
have learned - and on it goes. I do believe that once the awareness is there
it can only grow. Like recycling. Once you begin, you usually do not stop
once you understand the effect it has on the environment. I also find that
when someone does learn something new (usually about their beloved burning
bush - big here in the northeast) they ask more, in order to understand more,
and they will get quite excited about it - just as I did when I first became
involved with these concerns many years ago. One of my most rewarding moments
was at a talk last year at a local garden club plant sale. The woman had
come to my talk to see what she could plant on her property. She came up
to me afterwards to say that she had planned to plant the <u><i>entire perimeter
</i></u>of her property (rural area in NH) with burning bush (<i>Euonymus
alatus spp</i>.) and had NO IDEA of its invasive tendencies and will plant
native species instead. Another woman said “Oh, I will NEVER get rid of
my burning bush” but I knew that in the long run the first woman had more
strength in her neighborhood and the market than the second woman who would
soon be left behind.<br>
<br>
So not to belabor the point, I think every individual who we can reach is
one more footstep in the long walk to a better informed public - like most
anything worthwhile it is one step/person at a time.<br>
<br>
Bonnie Caruthers<br>
Thyme & Tiarella<br>
Strafford, NH<br>
<br>
<br>
Bonnie Caruthers<br>
Thyme & Tiarella<br>
Strafford, NH<br>
<br>
<br>
David Mizejewski wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mids0f7defa.002@nwfxnet.nwf.org">
<pre wrap="">Thanks Robert. To respond to your last question first, yes, my book
does address the issues you bring up (although primarily it's more of
how-to type book that is relatively light reading, so it's not a
in-depth discussion of these issues).
I have to politely, but completely, disagree with your assessment of
wildlife/native plant gardening and its role in conservation. It is
through the garden that many people first start to appreciate the
wonderful diversity of native plants and wildlife that they didn't even
know existed, even if they can't completely replicate that diversity in
the garden. That's why National Wildlife Federation created the
Backyard Wildlife Habitat program 31 years ago and why we've stuck with
it. I talk to folks all the time who've gotten involved in the program
and who tell me that they had no idea that butterflies needed specific
host plants, or how important locally native berry-producing plants are
for birds during migration, until they actually started planting and
obeserving in their yards. As conservationists, by accepting the
convential landscape of lawn with a few ornamental exotics, we miss out
on a key opportunity to educate people literally right in their own
backyards. Reaching people at home is huge in terms of education - think
how many people in just your neighborhood would attend a workshop on
sustainable landscapes vs. the number of people out there actually doing
some gardening. There are maybe a dozen of the former and hundreds of
the latter. Multiply that across the country. That's why opportunities
like my Today Show appearance are huge and relavant for conservation -
I'm going to be delivering a strong conservation message wrapped in the
package of a something most Americans are more interested in: a pretty
garden.
In addition to the educational benefits, there are clear conservation
benefits to wildlife-friendly gardening, and not just for the wildlife.
Encouraging use of locally native species and reduction of lawn
significantly, if not totally, eliminates the need for long-term and
wasteful supplemental watering of the landscape. The same goes for
chemical fertilizers that run off into natural wateways and (ironically)
destroy healthy soils. Similarly, you can't have a healthy wildlife
garden if you use pesticides.
Learning to identify and eliminate invasive exotics in your yard helps,
in a small way at least, to keep them from further spreading into
natural areas. More importantly, it also keeps gardeners from buying
and planting the invasives that are still commonly available
commercially, or new potential invasive exotics that haven't yet
infiltrated. An educated consumer makes an impact, which is imporant
since most invasive exotic plant species were introduced into North
America for gardening purposes - I've read statistics as high as 75%.
And you'd be surprised how passionate people who started out as backyard
gardeners get about issues like overuse of chemicals and invasive
exotics - and get involved locally protecting and restoring natural
areas as well as altering political behavior to support conservation
initiatives.
All of these things do add up to an appreciable conservation benefit,
especially when many people in one area are doing them (NWF has a
community Wildlife certification element to encourage this as well).
But more importanly, I firmly believe that we can't have a single
approach if we're going to have any success in conservation. Obviously,
species protection and protection/restoration of wilderness and other
relatively undisturbed areas is critical, as are strong environmental
protection/ laws (neither of which you can have without an educated
public, either). But the reality is that the human footprint on the
landscape is huge and is only going to get bigger. The sheer amount of
land in private holding or that has been altered (or will be) by human
activity will dwarf the amount of land we can hope to protect and
preserve - if it hasn't already. We'd be missing a huge conservation
opportunity if we didn't try to educate those who have control over what
happens in our cities, suburbs and private property to help them make
informed decisions that help our communities actually have a positive
environmental impact. Human dominated areas don't have to be "dead
zones" in terms of conservation - and indeed they can't be just given
the sheer number of acres already in human use. There's no way we can
save enough wild areas to save more than a small percentage of the
world's species. I'm not suggesting by any means that gardens are going
to save the world or that it's an either/or scenario, but failure to
factor them into the equation is missing both a key educational
opportunity as well as a crucial piece of the conservation puzzle.
Thanks for sparking a great discussion!
David
******************************************
Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program
******************************************
David Mizejewski
National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 438-6499
fax 703-438-6468
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat">www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat</a>
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">"Robert Dana" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:robert.dana@dnr.state.mn.us"><robert.dana@dnr.state.mn.us></a> 07/16/04 12:58 PM >>>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->Call me a grinch, but I'm having a hard time understanding why anyone
thinks that gardening has much to do with conservation. Most gardens
will last only so long as people keep them going--without continuing
maintenance they will quickly be taken over by the numerous exotic
"weeds" that are so comfortable in human-dominated landscapes. In their
often naive enthusiasm (abetted by commercial vendors) folks are
planting "natives" helter skelter, even well outside their natural
ranges. This creates problems for us trying to conserve the plants where
they naturally occur as it becomes more difficult to deal with the
challenge of demonstrating that the occurrence is really natural and
not a garden escape (or an intentional planting). There is also the
specious challenge that since we can plant things why worry about
conserving natural habitats anyway. People rarely have any idea what a
tiny fraction of the species richness of natural communities is present
in gardens (or "restorations"). In my view, the whole wildlife gardening
business just diverts energy from what we really need to be doing for
conservation.
I'll be interested to see whether these issues get any discussion in
the book.
Oh, good luck, Dave!
Robert
*************************************************************
Robert Dana, Ph.D.
MN DNR
Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program
500 Lafayette Rd, Box 25
St. Paul, MN 55155
651 297-2367
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:robert.dana@dnr.state.mn.us">robert.dana@dnr.state.mn.us</a>
*************************************************************
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Plant Conservation <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:plant@plantconservation.org"><plant@plantconservation.org></a> 7/16/04 10:40:07
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->AM >>>
Just FYI.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:39:55 -0400
From: David Mizejewski <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mizejewski@nwf.org"><mizejewski@nwf.org></a>
To: David Mizejewski <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Mizejewski@nwf.org"><Mizejewski@nwf.org></a>
Subject: Today Show this weekend
Dear Friends and Colleagues - I wanted to let you know that I'm going
to
be making my debut on national television this weekend. I'll be
appearing on the weekend edition of the Today Show this Sunday (7/18)
between 8:30-9 a.m. to promote my book and National Wildlife
Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat program.
The book is called "Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard
Wildlife." It's all about sustainable gardening, native plants, and
of
course all of the cool critters (not just birds and butterflies) that
can share your yard. Check it out on NWF's bookstore at the URL below
(it's also available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble).
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://m1.buysub.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10701&storeId=10701&productId=14713&langId=-1&parentCategoryId=10067&topCategoryId=10066">https://m1.buysub.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10701&storeId=10701&productId=14713&langId=-1&parentCategoryId=10067&topCategoryId=10066</a>
Wish me luck!
Dave
******************************************
Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program
******************************************
David Mizejewski
National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 438-6499
fax 703-438-6468
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat">www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat</a>
_______________________________________________
native-plants mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org">native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org">http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org</a>
_______________________________________________
native-plants mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org">native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org">http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org</a>
_______________________________________________
native-plants mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org">native-plants@lists.plantconservation.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org">http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>