{"id":42259,"date":"2019-01-04T09:42:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=42259"},"modified":"2019-01-04T09:42:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:42:50","slug":"the-troubles-of-invasive-plants-collateral-damage-monsanto-and-the-tragedy-of-pinyon-juniper-eradication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=42259","title":{"rendered":"The Troubles of \u201cInvasive\u201d Plants: Collateral Damage, Monsanto, and the Tragedy of Pinyon-Juniper eradication"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Troubles of \u201cInvasive\u201d Plants: Collateral Damage, Monsanto, and the Tragedy of Pinyon-Juniper eradication<\/a><\/h3>\n
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St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum). Photo by KtS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This <\/i>is part one of a three part series. In this part we discuss: a) the negative effects of invasive plant removal methods, b) the involvement of Monsanto in popularizing invasion biology, and c) the tragedy of Pinyon-Juniper forest eradication in the western U.S. under the rubric of \u201cnative invasive species management.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Defining \u201cinvasive species\u201d is a slippery proposition.<\/p>\n

The U.S. federal government defines it<\/a> as \u201can alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Wildlife Federation elevate s environmental considerations, describing it as<\/a> \u201cany kind of living organism\u2026 that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Connecticut Audubon society is less discriminating about the effects of introduction. For them, an invasive is<\/a> any \u201cnon-native species that has been introduced, either intentionally or accidentally into a new habitat or has escaped cultivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A plant species doesn\u2019t have to venture far outside its native range to be considered invasive. Such is the case of the endangered<\/a> Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa<\/i> ), which \u201c is a frequent target<\/a> for the chain saws of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department\u2014even though two small stands in Monterey, just fifty miles south, are cherished and protected as natives.\u201d Meanwhile, a 500 mile drive north<\/a> of its relict range , a large specimen planted by European settlers<\/a> in the 1850\u2019s is an officially designated \u201cOregon Heritage Tree,\u201d which we assume grants it some safety.<\/p>\n

The State of New York includes a native plant<\/a>, Silphium perfoliatum<\/i> , on their \u201cProhibited and Regulated Invasive Plants\u201d list because its growth is \u201caggressive.\u201d Here the non-native requirement has been dropped entirely because the plant has committed the crime of thriving.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Troubles of \u201cInvasive\u201d Plants: Collateral Damage, Monsanto, and the Tragedy of Pinyon-Juniper eradication St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum). Photo by KtS This is part one of a three part series. In this part we discuss: a) the negative effects of invasive plant removal methods, b) the involvement of Monsanto in popularizing invasion biology, and c) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5493,23705,19307,4131,23703,23704],"class_list":["post-42259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-counterpunch","tag-invasive-plants","tag-kollibri-terre-sonnenblume","tag-monsanto","tag-nicole-patrice-hill","tag-pinyon-juniper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42260,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42259\/revisions\/42260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}