An invasive species is an invasive species
Six years ago, a coalition of state and federal agencies launched an effort to eradicate nutria from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge where the animals, a species native to South America, had destroyed thousands of acres of marshland. They appear to have succeeded and the effort is seen as a great victory for the environment.
Maryland officials have also been trying to remove another invader, mute swans that have destroyed submerged aquatic vegetation, habitat that is considered extremely valuable to many native Chesapeake Bay species. But instead of a triumph, the next and perhaps final step in this effort is seen as a "slaughter" of the remaining 500 or so of these "beautiful" animals by protesters.
What's the difference? The only significant one is human aesthetics. People love to look at swans with their white feathers and elegant long necks. Not so much with nutria, which might generously be described as a cross between a beaver and a rat.
Mere aesthetics is no way to manage a complex ecosystem. Aren't we past this sort of arrogance? If aesthetics are to rule the day, we might as well turn forests into manicured parks, kill all the snakes and other species we deem ugly or frightening, and watch the laws of unintended consequences bite us in the tail feathers.
While my colleage, Glen McNatt, may see beauty in the mute swan, perhaps he should poll the terns, black ducks and other waterfowl that suffer because of the swan's presence. Not to mention the juvenile blue crab and fish that depend on underwater grasses for their survival.
What's needed is to bring the system into balance. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources really has two choices -- eliminate the invaders completely now or gradually over time. The second option is an expensive indulgence. The money would be better spent on restoring habitat.
To mute swan lovers that may sound cruel, but it's the way nature works (and the way wildlife management should). Their appearance doesn't make them any less harmful to the environment. We don't cry for the zebra mussel, the northern snakehead fish or the grass carp. They are understood to be pests. Let us not assign value to another invasive species because it happens to suit our human criteria for beauty.
Comments
I am 100% in agreement with you. We have to do the responsible and adult thing to protect our ecology.
I see the same illogical reaction at my blog from cat lovers who don't care they're enabling the murder of up to a billion of our native wildlife each year. I call it the "cuddle factor." If only we could dump all those critters in their yard they might change their minds!
Posted by: BirdAdvocate | June 23, 2009 9:52 AM
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Could I suggest a story or op ed piece on another invasive species that hasn’t received much in the way of editorial attention despite sweeping through Maryland on a major scale? Maybe something like this:
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What’s Killing Maryland’s Trees?
Its specifications read like something out of a grade B horror flick: It’s a vine that destroys even the tallest trees in its path, as well as all other vegetation, by the simple but devastatingly effective method of its remarkable growing speed – 60 feet a year or more (under ideal conditions in the spring, a foot a day). Its leaves out-grow and block sunlight to all other plants’ and trees’ leaves, which kills them. In some cases the sheer weight of the mass of the Kudzu vines brings a tree down. The end result is that this invader turns the landscape into a surreal collection of tree-high vertical lumps concealing dead trees, and broad areas of green mesh that look like green snowdrifts and conceal rocks, holes and other objects that lie hidden beneath. In the words of one observer, “The first time you see it, it looks like there's something wrong with the landscape. It doesn't look like a normal field, it looks like something . . . apocalyptic." Good-bye to the biodiversity of the trees and plants destroyed and of all the animals that depended on them for food and shelter.
[picture inserts: landscape and individual leaf – images available from istockphoto.com and other image services]
Getting rid of this invader once it’s well-established has been almost impossible. Its root system can reach as far as six feet underground, and can weigh several hundred pounds and will regrow if even a small piece is left alive so attempts to kill it are often ineffective.
The name of this species is Kudzu (technically Pueraria montana var. lobata), made famous as “the plant that ate the south” – 10 million acres of it. It is still smothering new territory at the rate of 150,000 acres annually. Cold winters discourage it, so global warming is presumably responsible for its move northward from the southeast into the mid-Atlantic region and beyond, with some growth reported as far north as New England and in the Pacific northwest.
Once you become aware of Kudzu’s distinctive look, you will see it all over the place – in the patch of woods on your street in your neighbor’s back yard, along the Light Rail and mile after mile of it along I-83 or I-95. It buries buildings too – see the green mountain on Mylander Lane in Towson.
The scale of the Kudzu assault is too massive to halt by anything less than a counter-assault on the same scale. Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service have found a fungus that shows promise in this respect. But there are still hurdles such as safety testing to assure that the fungus doesn’t inadvertently kill some other kind of plant as well.
In the meantime, the best solution to Kudzu infestation is to not let it get established in the first place. That means tearing up any plants you see in your neighborhood, or, for a larger effect, joining organizations such as the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club or the Urban Weed Warriors program of the Baltimore City Recreation and Parks in their efforts to control Kudzu and other invasive plants like it.
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Background
Quote was from:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wosu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1314301§ionID=1
For big picture overview:
National Invasive Species Council
http://www.invasivespecies.gov/index.html
USDA National Invasive Species Information Center
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/
For pictures and USDA article on the fungus Myrothecium, see
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jul09/fungus0709.pdf
MD Sierra Club site
http://maryland.sierraclub.org/action/Weed-Warriors-050605.asp
Urban Weed Warrior Progam, above and
http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/recnparks/conservation.php
Posted by: Kurt | September 22, 2009 11:29 AM