permaculture

[mangodance <bmn@iglou.com>]

Ava Devenport wrote:
> Dear ?:

sorry...it's barry

> Possibly I should have made a clearer reference considering 'endangered'.
> I am not necessarily speaking of what the Federal Gov't, States, etc. have
> determined are endangered.  I'm speaking from a herbalist point of view
> regarding the native medicinals which are becoming endangered, threatened
> and at risk due to invasive/noxiuos weed laws, unethical wildcrafting and
> the stance that many have taken regarding agriculture, rangeland, pasture,
> etc.

so we are talking about locally or possibly even regionally being
uncommonly found?  I think that's an important distiction to
make.  Many times though, we aren't looking in the right places. 
I find goldenseal in the middle of the urbanized city tree
patches but not where folks hunt regularly.

> And you may not care for my disagreement with you regarding another post to
> Scott, or was it Toby?, but the truth in the matter is that the majority
> has decided it is a weed if it interferes with human activity, agriculture
> and grazing.  If a native plant lives within it's boundaries in field or
> forest and we decide we prefer pasture, it is considered noxious and/or
> invasive.

Disagreement is fine.  None of us learn anything about each other
or new ideas unless we communicate.  The term "weed" is used
rather arbitrarily to connote the very meanings you mentioned. 
Noxious or invasive exotics are another construct.  They are
meant to convey the meaning that the plant is out of place,
aggressive, and harmful to the natural populations.  This
unfortunately gets skewed by the ag community sometimes.  It
helps to be more consistent, but humans tend to bend meanings to
suit their positions.  

> Also, how can it be that we as humans can decide what plant/animal should
> or should not exist within a certain locale?  Does it not become native if
> it migrates from one area to the next?  Where should that migration cease
> and who should make that decision.  I know that some of my ancestors are
> not native to the US, but here I am!  All 'pests' will change form, region,
> habitat, etc. as it evolves toward saving it's own species.

Invasive exotics can easily become naturalized... but not
native.  Plant migration does not usually occur to the same
dispersive degree or close to the time-scale as human-caused
introductions.  Surely, winds had blown the Chestnut blight
fungus here from china for centuries before some folks brought
over chinese chestnuts harboring it.  The rest is history.  Then
what happened?  Japanese grass crowds out native grasses.  Garlic
Mustard inhibits entire communities.  If I knew where you lived I
might be able to point out pertinent problems there.  Human
induced disturbance is drastic, far reaching, and tenacious. 
Natural drift, selection, adaptation is usually a much more
gradual process.

...barry
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