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RE: Natives vs. non-natives, long-term

In this discussion one obvious influence that has not been mentioned is the
roadside management in the different regions.  In the more metropolis area
of southeast Wisconsin, it is my opinion that more extensive use of chemical
control, regrading roads, and to some extent the edge encroachment of
farmlands on road right of ways have been used than in other less urbanized
areas.  It is always interesting to me to take a trip from the southern
boundary of the state north and see the gradual change in abundance of
native vegetation.  This seeems to me to be directly correlated to the
population of an area.  There will obviously be exceptions to this
generalization, but on the whole I think it works.

The other part of the influence that European settlers have had on this is
the fragmentation of the land: subdividing and subduing the land to our
wants.  This also goes along with the road grading projects, but it also
extends to all of the areas that would have been seed sources for these
areas once the regrading was done.  A prime example of this kind of plant
reintroduction is evidenced in the railroad right-of-ways.  Quite typically
these ROWs have a high frequency of native vegetation.  People have
accounted for this in several ways.  When the rails were constructed in the
mid to late 1800s there was ample surrounding vegetation to revegetate the
disturbed areas which were then left alone for the most part except for the
occassional burning of the ROW due to embers falling off the steam
locomotives or sparks from whatever metal parts happened to be dragging from
the train. There was very little use of herbicides on these ROWs and they
would typically not have been reseeded with Eurasian seed. Another dispersal
mechanism for these native plants was to hitch a ride on the trains and
disperse over a larger range than were typically present. Thereby filling in
recent ROW construction areas.  This is again a gross generalization, but
again I think this holds true on many ROWs.  This contrasts the local
development of roads, farmlands, utility right-of-ways that quite typically
employed herbicides and reseeding techniques on a more localized scale to
manipulate the land immediately surrounding a given community with more
frequent intervention than the railroads.

Patrick Daniels
Green County, WI

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-prairie@mallorn.com [o*@mallorn.com]On
Behalf Of Robert Wernerehl
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 2:55 PM
To: prairie@mallorn.com
Subject: Re: Natives vs. non-natives, long-term


John,
You live in the wrong part of the state (just teasing). We have native
grasses all over the roadside here by Arena and Spring Green. The soil is
sandy here and that helps. One thing Wis. roadside don't have that the
native grasses need is fire!
Bob Wernerehl
Iowa County, WI

At 11:29 AM 10/09/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>
>I'm puzzled by the fact that I don't think I've ever seen, say,
>little or big bluestem along a roadside here in southeastern
>Wisconsin.
>
>In recent years, I have seen them as far out as a half-mile
>from purposeful prairie plantings, so the seed will spread!
>But I don't think I've ever spotted them in a place where
>I subsequently don't find a nearby preserve.
>
>Are the non-native grasses introduced 100 or 150 years ago
>so strong that they out-competed and eliminated such natives
>in every instance, in every nook and cranny I pass?
>
>What does this say about today's plantings - are they forever
>doomed to be "hot house flowers" that can't stand up to the
>others in the long term?
>
>- John
>
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