A basic primer: nps.gov/plants/alien/bkgd.htm If you dont know this stuff, and say you want to learn, you should read it. Terms like exotic invasive and native have definitions that objectively make sense and have their origins in scientific discovery and inquiry. And if you dont get why invasives are bad and need to be killed I hope you take this stuff to heart: According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an estimated 42% of the nations endangered and threatened species have declined as a result of encroaching exotic plants and animals. Exotic invasives are considered the 2nd largest cause of habitat destruction, right behind straight-up bulldozing stuff to build houses and roads and what-not. Habitat dominated by exotics is worthless to most native fauna and, contrary to the popular use of the term, most bugs and birds and animals cant adapt. How they make their living is determined largely by their biology, and a bug that has mouthparts that work on just a few types of native plants, mouthparts that are the result of a million years of co-evolution, cant adapt to eating a plant from the other side of the planet. And even if you have something a few native animals can use, say thistle seeds from a milk thistle, the problem is the thistle (any invasive) creates a monoculture and where you had a hundred different plants supporting a thousand different critters, you just have a handful of happy finches. Viewing the issue of natives vs. non-natives according to personal whims and feelings, whether you think something is pretty or would theoretically make a nice tea, is a terrible sort of destructive anthropocentrism, especially for a person who supports an organization like the CNPS. Weve destroyed enough of the natural world, the very least we can do with the last remnants of natural places is leave them alone when we can, and manage them for the benefit of indigenous species where we must, not for our indulgences. Invasives are a cancer we introduced and its our responsibility to deal with them.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:04:52 +0000
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