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<font size=3>Craig:<br><br>
Thank you for the clarifications, which are so noted. I now
understand that you are using mileposts for transect points and I am
satisfied with that. <br><br>
I do wonder, however, whether or not your data collection procedures will
be considered useful or even acceptable by your peers, but I must admit
that this observation about your work may be another artifact of my
ignorance of your exact procedures. You are obviously expending a
huge amount of energy and heart on your project, and I quite agree that
it would be worthwhile to do more of it on a wider scale. If your
goal is to do it all yourself, you can, of course, do it any way you
like. If, on the other hand, you want to enlist the aid of other
ecologists, I think now is the time to subject your methods to peer
review to ensure broad cooperation and even financial support. It
would be a shame for you to do all that work without taking full
advantage of all the opportunities that many decades of ecological
research experience affords. <br><br>
May I suggest that you write a paper for the Ecological Society of
America's blog or listserv describing your research and requesting a
critical review? That way, you will have a much better chance of
the eventual publication of your monograph, and I would hope, many, many
additions to it in the coming years. My concern is that if you
continue with your present methodology, which has many good features, you
run the risk of your project being only a cry in the wilderness--as it
were. By this I am not suggesting that you turn over control to
anyone else; only that you have the benefit of all that experience.
You can expect both useful and perhaps even rude comments, but the latter
can simply be ignored. <br><br>
For what it might be worth (probably nothing) I would not follow all of
your procedures, primarily because they are not quantitative where they
could easily be so. Terms like "scrappy remains present,"
for example, and "decent shape" cry out for a clear basis for
their definition. <br><br>
As to your last two questions, my answer is yes, certainly, and I though
I had made that clear in all my previous responses. <br><br>
Again, I think your work will be valuable as it is, but with a little
modification it could be so much more. If I have missed something I
should have caught, or if I am presuming too much due to ignorance of
details you have not revealed, please correct me. <br><br>
Best,<br>
WT<br><br>
At 09:59 AM 11/7/2006, Craig Dremann wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear Wayne and All,<br><br>
Thanks for your email. <br><br>
Please note that I have only been summarizing the details of the
1997<br>
Megatransect data on these list-servers, that is now a 80-page,
8-1/2"x<br>
11", four columns to the page with maps and commentary format<br>
Word-document (with the 100+ photographs extra), so it will probably<br>
have to be published as a monograph in the future, because it's just
too<br>
huge for a journal article.<br><br>
However, I'm not quite sure exactly who would ever publish or
utilize<br>
my Megatransect data if it was ever published, or be able to
resurvey<br>
the roadsides in the future, to measure any ecological changes, or<br>
perhaps preserve some of the good native ecosystem examples that are<br>
left? <br><br>
For example, the PLANTCONSERVATION.ORG list-servers, is currently<br>
limited our discussion about the mapping of natives plants and
exotic<br>
plants along the roadsides, to only the revegtation list (rwg@) and
it<br>
is not being posted on the native plants list (native-plants@) nor
the<br>
exotic plants (apwg@) list any more.<br><br>
HERE'S THE PROTOCOL for taking notes for the Megatransect:<br><br>
1.) Data was taken at every post-mile along the highway, the phyical<br>
post-mile acting as the "point" for the transect. Plus
there are other<br>
geographic notes made, like where the transect crosses highway<br>
interchanges, rivers, mountain passes, towns, etc. to give other<br>
reference points.<br><br>
2.) For the 1997 transect, the presence or absence of any species of<br>
native grass is noted, the species is/are present are identified and
the<br>
extent and density of the cover at each mile-post is noted, as
follows:<br><br>
a.) Only a single plant of a native grass was present at that
point.<br>
b.) Only found growing along the roadsides, usually a single
species.<br>
c.) Also on other side of the fence, but only scrappy remains
present.<br>
d.) Also on other side of fence, and in decent shape, usually
multiple<br>
species of native grasses, plus sometimes native forbs.<br>
e.) Pristine grasslands, usually solid and weed-free and usually
large<br>
areas like a square mile or more.<br><br>
3.) All exotic grasses are noted (Smooth brome, crested wheatgrass,<br>
cheatgrass, etc.) or intentionally-sown exotic plants (yellow sweet<br>
clover, white Dutch clover, etc.), if they are seen at any
mile-post.<br><br>
So with the 1997 Megatransect, we now know the exact locations of
the<br>
native grass refugia as of that data, and how important they are for<br>
certain species, plus the exact locations and extent of a few of the<br>
important weed species like cheatgrass and the sown crested<br>
wheatgrass. <br><br>
Once this roadside Megatransect is published, anyone could go back
and<br>
measure changes that have occurred in the last nine years, or at any<br>
time in the future. And anyone could go out tomorrow and recheck
the<br>
Nevada US 93 from Jackpot to Wells, and see if that pristine prairie
is<br>
still there!<br><br>
I firmly believe that roadside ecological Megatransects for each of
the<br>
48 lower States should be conducted in the next 10 years, so we have<br>
some baseline large-scale data to measure future ecological trends
for<br>
the United States.<br><br>
Shouldn't we try and map the big picture of weeds and ecological<br>
conditions in the United States, to get a census at a particular
data<br>
and time? <br><br>
And wouldn't even one roadside ecological Megatransects from each
State,<br>
provide a valuable snapshot of those current conditions?<br><br>
Sincerely, Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650)
325-7333</font></blockquote></body>
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