Re: Concern for us collectors/ Nancy

Hello Nancy,
    I remember reading abut this one somewhere in the past year or so.. just can
not remember where now. I did belong to the Nature Conversancy, but dropped out a
while ago. Too big and too much bureaucracy. Getting so hide-bound no one can get
through to the top. I have contact with a local chapter member or two and they
complain about working for the national while trying to protect local issues.
    The poison ivy thing must be making the round as well.. had a speaker open his
talk with would you want an 'exotic' in your garden or poison ivy and then proceed
to get on the case of the individual who took the bait.
    Nothing worse than the newly converted to dogma.....
    Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: nancy swell <swell@EROLS.COM>
Subject: [SG] Concern for us collectors


> Gene,
> First of all, may I say that I really agree with you. Some exotics are real
> weeds, but we have quite a few pests of our own. Seems silly to ignore
> things like poison ivy..... a true native if there ever was one. Crazy as I
> am about ferns, some of our natives are truly pests. My present soap box is
> protecting areas to death, totally ignoring human intervention that has
> made the ecology there unique. Dolly Sods in the Monongahela Forest is an
> excellent example. It may have gone so far now that it is not reclaimable.
> Originally, a german family named Dahle used the top of the mountain to
> graze their cattle. In the process, they burnt it off every year. They
> created a heath, where only acid requiring or tolerating plants would grow.
> The balsam firs were kept back to the edges, and all sorts of huckleberries
> and blueberries grew among the rocks. Trailing arbutus and dwarf
> cranberries were underfoot, and there were all sorts of azaleas,
> rhododendrons and mountain laurel. The plumy bleeding heart was as near a
> weed as there was, and ferns and lycopodia covered the area. Now weeds
> cover the area where the huckleberries and blueberries grew. There are
> still a few left, but not for long. Did not see the first dwarf cranberry
> or trailing arbutus, when before you could not help walking on them. There
> was a lot more spotted knapweed than plumy bleedingheart. I could care less
> if the weed trees are native or not, if the soil was still as acid and
> depleted as it was, these things couldn't grow. So now it is a wilderness
> area, and is supposed to be taking its natural course.... there was never
> anything natural about what brought it into existence. They have a list of
> shame for groups that came with too many people. They can do without
> me..... I'll not be back. It isn't unique anymore.    Nancy
>
> Nancy Swell <swell@erols.com>
> Richmond VA   Zone 7 --- colder than Raleigh and Norfolk, warmer than
> Baltimore and Blacksburg
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